Someone on the Discord pointed out that the levels are randomly assigned "by type" so it doesn't make sense to divide up the levels like this. Dammit! Oh well, I'll do an index post at the end.
Asteroid SG-3 Levels
Dream Den by Kaffy Kathy
A real delight of story-focused Doom with some real hard challenges in them. The only flaw was one I rammed right into - you can find a secret with an invulnerability but you can't get out if the door closes behind you. Nor do you die inside. Lame. Other than that it's just about perfect. 4.5 stars.
The Bone Furnace by Axamoretl
For some reason the last doors didn't open? And there were no pictures in my Pleasant Surprise. I don't think this one is quite working yet. DNF.
Empowerpriest II - NootsyNootsy
Crashes Zdoom three seconds in. Not sure what's up here. DNF.
Assissi Cynamonowy Sen Na Jawie by Felissander
A really nice and original level, with a unique feel - the exit in full immediate view, one of the keys a red herring, the keys revealed long before you can get to them, a consistent releasing of monsters rather than entering entirely new areas all the time. I enjoyed it a lot. 4 stars.
Geothermal by Motobug
Really nicely themed level - you can see the "civilization" of the geothermal plant slowly disappearing as you delve deeper into the evil caves below. Nice Doom-style storytelling and cool staging in this bite sized gem. 4.5 stars.
Freeform speedmapped slaughter map 02 by epicyolomaster420
"'Dead dove, do not eat.' I don't know what I expected." This one does attempt some new things - the use of the big bee boss monster is really nice, as is the placement of the archviles in the big fight. You can really get the monsters to infighting if you try. However, the limited space for the fight does make it extremely unlikely to be handled by skill. If there were even some teleporters down in the lava so you could calculate your chances at getting back onto the platform, or health available in the main area other than the few spheres, that could be used to manage your way through the battle, I think it could be a really nice slaughter map. I do love the "timed" nature of many of the fights - hold out until the gate is open or the teleporter is. It's not my thing, but it could be closer than what it is. 2 stars.
Imp Grove by theghoulfromhell
While there are lots of things to love about this - the oddly shaped mazes, for example, show a lot of attention to visually appealing spaces - there are also a lot of spots that are rough, including odd invisible walls, plainly textured and lit spaces, some very odd decisions in terms of teleporters and trickery (it works in the secret maze but not in the last red door crossing!) Overall the monster placement works (cyberdemon excluded) and it shows a lot of promise. 3 stars.
Hellville Maps
Corporate Despairs by PhantomTMac
An extreme attention to detail makes this highly complex map work and flow without frustration. The intro and ending made me laugh too (though I wonder how long the referent will make gamers laugh...) 4 stars.
The Metro From Hotline Miami but its a scuffed version by TwelvNighn
I actually like the idea of Hotline Miami adaptations in Doom just because the player character moves so quickly through the danger of the level in both games. But I think a little more attention to how Hotline Miami feels would be good - maybe make the bad guys a bit more deadly, make your fists more powerful, make the bad guys go down a little faster (clearing the upper floor is a pain with the ammo available on the map). But it's a fun idea! 2 stars.
a really messed up version of carmen sandiego by bsharp
By contrast, I am not sure I understand the theme here at all. It seems just like a regular wood-walled level. Taken on that level it's...fine. It has an odd difficulty curve, where the first few minutes are nearly impossible to survive but if you can get through that you can get yourself armed up to handle things for a bit. But other than that it's just a regular Doom level with bad music. 2.5 stars.
Cosy Cubby by meowmax
If I were a cubby I would simply be cosy. Cute. 3 stars.
This was for the sake of the righteous of course by Uncreative Output
It's a little hard to add it all up but I would simply say that the "cutscenes" don't add a whole lot to the level, and the hand drawn elements don't fit with the Doom style particularly well. I would almost be more interested in a more typical Doom level perhaps leaning towards the Duke3d/silly attitude first before we start seeing Terry.WAD levels of scribble. 2 stars.
Courtroom War by BackwardsFace
It's a level that runs. It's too big, the monsters aren't too interesting, and it's quite easy, but it runs. Time for your next step! 1.5 stars.
Decrepit! by Stace! Coyte
This one is a little more unsettling than difficult. I'm not sure that the looping mazes add much to the theme of the falling-apart level, which I found to be well-realized as long as it was pursued. Nevertheless I did have a good time getting through it. If you wanted to keep that stuff I would put the really odd spatial anomalies near the end and just make all the rules go out the window. 3 stars.
Atlantean Ruin Maps
Cave Escape by sanfrisco
A well made map that could use some polish. In the first moment of the game there's a space you can't quite fit into, and you have to shoot a button at the other end. I thought that was interesting for a natural-cave theme. It isn't set up for Doom Guy to move through. But it doesn't recur. And eventually you start seeing tech buttons too for some reason? I think some more ideas for how to emphasize the naturalness of the cave would be cool. The room shapes and lava pools are already there. A fun map. 4 stars.
Food For Vultures by ssfeareraser
I was shocked to find this was the creator's first map. It has a really finely tuned sense of difficulty. The encounters are often in extremely tight and highly irregular spaces, with little opportunity for cover or backtracking. The difficulty is almost never from an excessive number of monsters, but rather from limited weapons and ammunition. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the open and quasi-open spaces of the main canyon. Hitscan chaingunners are hidden behind opaque textures, the awkward climbing which seemed an interesting theme now impedes monsters from pressuring us fully and the second-to-last big fight is just a real drag of up-close cyberdemon battle on a platform that's too easy to fall (or be blown off of). Further, it's much too easy to get turned around in the maze of twisty rooms all intertwined with each other. You start to lose the sense of progress. Overall it's a map with incredible potential, and a really solid challenge. With only a few changes it could be a pure classic. 3.5 stars.
Rocky XXIV - Hell's Bells by Zerofuchs
I expected something with Christmas themes with that title? Oh well. It was...fine, until I had to take my pistol back out again once. The jump off of the elevator after collecting the red key also isn't so fun to do. A bit more polish - and thinking about exactly what you want the player to be doing - could make this great. Rocky doesn't shoot a gun! 2 stars.
Lost Water Ruins by Meyland 12
There are some good ideas here, but they don't add up. I actually like the slower, more powerful rocket launcher. I think you could get some interesting things going with it. Some of the bigger fights feel great as a result of the new weapons. And some of the underwater segments are neat. But I think they belong in two different maps. The sharks were swimming up out of the water into the air. Half the weapons would penetrate the water and half wouldn't. The swimming was slow, and that's not Doom Guy's style. I feel like it's a smorgasbord of ideas with little cohesion. But some of those ideas are genuinely great, so I'm a bit torn on how to rate it. 2.5 stars, I guess? Don't take that rating too seriously.
Break-In by Sparkwave
I don't like to say "oh this is nice 'for your first map' or 'for an early map'", especially for community projects like RAMP where even an experienced person can get into a time crunch or just want to try something new. But I do think there's a few key missteps here that hold it back a bit from being a classic. I love that you can see where you need to go before you take a long way around to get to it, but the rooms in this place are pretty barren. When a button is in a wall and the wall has a different texture than everything else you don't need an arrow to it. Some attention to how textures do or don't overlap with each other would also be great. It's very close to being a nice, eerie experience. It just needs a bit of work. 3 stars.
GRAVEWAD by Sputnik
You can softlock yourself by backing out of the door once you press the skull button to open it (and this is a normal way of dealing with an onslaught of monsters so you should expect it to happen). There's also some glitchy elements of the door where you can see through into another area. All in all it needs some more work to be considered fully cooked. 1.5 stars.
Take A Seat And Reflect On All The Good Things In Life For A Minute by DoctorNuriel
I did, it was very nice. 3.5 stars.
Flumen Mountain: RAMP Archliche's Lair over the Cliff by AVAtister
A really excellent attempt at something new - an almost fully vertical level. If anything, it's the castle at the end that's a bit of a slog, after the building excitement of the climb. A really cool concept that has often been attempted but rarely to this degree of success. If only the final ascent were as exciting. 4 stars.
