Ramp2025 Reviews Part V
What, they did another RAMP thing in 2025?! Golly!!!
Index of my Ramp2025 reviews on Google Docs.
Solitude by Razza
A master class in difficulty combined with a solid use of supplies to ensure that the difficulty never feels insurmountable (even when it gets real hairy!) You always feel like you could do it if you just routed a little differently. The yellow skull room and the final showdown both are frantic, exciting showdowns. The one thing that doesn't quite work are the misty/foggy textures. You end up just squinting a bit. I don't knock anything off for it because it still looks and plays great, but it just didn't seem necessary. 5/5
Tomb of Wenet by Trotian
The first half has a fantastic soundscape, scale, danger, and excitement, and then the door opens to the second half and the whole thing turns completely upside down. What a blast. The only misstep is the revenants up on the wall. I'm having such a great time zooming around the big arena dealing with everything you give me there, it just becomes a pain to add that One More Thing. Let them loose when the exit is opening maybe? I don't know. It was fantastic though. 5/5
I EAT WITH MY HANDS by HOLE
As much as I love the relentless style, the mini-game feeling of the many levels, and so on, I couldn't give this a perfect score because the disco arena and the arena that happened one minute later were just a little bit too much the same (and both the weak point of the anthology, in my opinion.) Still an amazing accomplishment and a great map. 4.5/5
Corrupted City Power Facility by Painville098
It took me way too long to figure out that the "cords" to the cyberdemons were the ones powering the doors and not the other way around. I did actually like the cyberdemon placement, the central arena was very fun. My struggles came in the side chambers and other rooms. By the time the doors are open, I really wanted the cyberdemons back! I feel like there's a great push/pull style that almost manifests here but doesn't quite add up. 3/5.
Thousand Yard Stare of a March Hare by Mildly Nuclear
Fantastic! The kill to live play cycle has been used before, but this one was a real blast. (Weirdly, the first arena was the one I had the most trouble with.) 4.5/5
Chancellery Grand Duty by Makros the Black
This must be one of those American Doctors Who where they have a shotgun! In all seriousness, though I do love the design of the levels, the monsters are fantastic and the showdowns are great, there's just too much doubling back again and again to collect and open everything. If you go in the wrong order the level gets very tedious. It might be better as a more linear experience (like watching the show!) Still a huge accomplishment. 4/5
Something Evil Is Happening by scottiethefox
A little short on ammo but little touches like the last gate shows great potential. 2.5/5
Morph Yard by Azul
Love the 1-bit look of the main textures, but there isn't much of anything here to do or not to. 1.5/5.
Hostile Process by nave
Great little multi-theme hub and spoke map, with a unique use of teleportation both for me and for the monsters. I couldn't figure out what to do witht he skull...unfortunately I also knew the computer map wouldn't help because the BFG secret wasn't visible on it either! 4.5/5
In Conel by Creamsicle
Smooth quick, I would reduce the monster closets since the ambushes are already so numerous. A bit more health in the last encounters would also not go amiss. 4.5/5
Operation Azure Fleece by CrazedCleric
I love the mission feel, something I very rarely say about DooM levels that take that form. It really feels like the best combination of both the focused objectives of the mission versus the openness and speed of the best DooM experiences. 4/5.
Mothership Disconnection (draft) by novaplusplus
While we do indeed see the edges of this purported "draft", there was more than one moment when I cackled out loud. I normally don't review levels that are marked as beta or incomplete or draft, but I feel like I get a great picture of it. Two things that stand out as not quite working - I think the blade monster is a little too hard to track, you never quite know when it's ready to fire and the projectile moves very fast. And I think the conference room fight is flatly too hard as a result. Beyond that it's fantastic. 4/5
Mount Doom by DWE-Tampa
I don't mind the tweaks to the chaingun, but the blue ______ is annoying and messing with Doom's perfect shotgun animation/sound is sacrilege. Still, it's extremely atmospheric, with even some sense of beauty. 3/5.
Darkness Descends by Dom
A really nice survival horror vignette; I think a little more attention to what the jump scares reflect in the world of the game will go a long way - is it a monster jumping out of a closet, or what? 4/5
Escape from Venice by Zergarthca
A somewhat plain attempt at a "naturalistic" level contains within it several quite surprising battles, a fresh-looking tunnel at the very end and some good solid DooM. 3.5/5
Doom Club by Noodly Nood Bo
Absolute cinema. The cacodemon porn scene made me howl. Only reducing it by .5 because I had to "back to hub" at the end! 4.5/5