After 24 Years Doom 2's Last Secret Has Finally Been Discovered (polygon.com)

"Almost 25 years after it was released, Doom 2 has finally given up its last secret..." writes Polygon. An anonymous reader quotes their report: It's secret No. 4 on Map 15 (Industrial Zone). Now, the area in question has been known, seen and accessed by other means (usually a noclip cheat code). Getting to it without a cheat appears to be deliberately impossible, according to Doom co-creator John Romero. Romero tweeted out congratulations to the solution's discoverer, Zero Master. Zero Master figured out that the way to trigger the secret was to be pushed into the secret area by an enemy (in this case, a Pain Elemental).
Apparently the secret sector was an area just below the floor of a teleporter -- but entering that teleporter meant players rose up to the level of the teleporter's floor, according to Romero, so "you never enter the sector... you would never get inside the teleporter sector to trigger the secret."

One Reddit user notes Zero Master "has the first legit Doom 2 100% save file on earth, after 24 years."

Comments

That music nostalgia

[guruevi]

Kids these days don't know but that game, music and sound effects all fit in less than 15MB and was infinitely more fun than whatever we have now.

Re:That music nostalgia

[alvinrod]

I think the most recent Doom recaptured a lot of what made the originals enjoyable. Rather than loading the game with cut scenes and spending large chunks of time spouting exposition at the player (for a plot that's probably nowhere near as clever or engaging as the developers imagine) Doom cuts that to a minimum to allow people to actually play the game.

People might like to complain about how everything these days is about graphics over substance or other arguments that are a little lazier than they should be, while forgetting that Doom (and later the Quake series) were at the time major drivers of graphical improvement themselves.

I don't think that every game needs to be like Doom in order to be enjoyable. Sometimes a good narrative is exactly what a game needs, but by the same token their also need to be games like Doom where your just fighting hordes of demons and enjoying the visceral experience of tearing through the legions of hell-spawn. For a long time there was an absence of that as the FPS genre had evolved away from the type of game. However, I'm glad that it's back now.

Re:That music nostalgia

[Dutch Gun]

I can go on Steam / GOG, the PS store, or Xbox store and find a bunch of old-school side-scrollers, RPGs, beat-up-ups, or whatever genre you like, all with graphics and gameplay teleported from many decades back in addition to the most modern, slickest of AAA productions, and just about everything in-between. So, "whatever we have now" encompasses a broader and more diverse range of games than we've ever had before. And I can legally browse and download a vast selection of it over the internet, which is pretty much as convenient as things could possibly get.

Personally, I think gamers are living in a fantastic time, with more access to a broader range of games than we've ever had before. Yes, there are trends which are annoying or even alarming, but all in all, things are pretty great for modern gamers. If you're not enjoying games like you use to, maybe it's just you, not the games.

Re:That music nostalgia

[war4peace]

1. Minecraft -- user narrative

Indeed, it's a true sandbox game.

2. PUBG -- user narrative

Fail. PUBG has no narrative whatsoever, it's a "easy to play, hard to master", game in the like of Counterstrike, Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 Arena. One of the reasons it's so popular.

3. Diablo III -- dev narrative

...with optional lore. You can play it without giving a shit about the narrative. Skip all dialogue, hack all monsters, win.

4. WoW -- dev narrative

Agreed. While you can play the game even while minimizing lore impact, sooner or later you will find yourself having to learn its essential aspects, otherwise you'd not be able to progress efficiently.

5. The Sims -- user narrative

Sandboxes are all like that.

Doom (2016) captures the essence of the original Doom

...and does ONLY that. It's why I disliked it after the initial "awww this brings memories back" feeling. Of course, many people liked it because they just wanted to play the old Doom with nicer graphics and shit. I wanted more than that, but I know I'm a minority so no biggie.

How....

[Luthair]

would anyone be sure this is the first? Its not like Doom 2 has required an active internet connection for the past 24-years.

Re:How....

[93 Escort Wagon]

would anyone be sure this is the first? Its not like Doom 2 has required an active internet connection for the past 24-years.

Dude actually accomplished this 18 years ago - it’s taken that long for his AOL dialup connection to go through so he could upload the video.

Re:Why do I see a quake tag

[DontBeAMoran]

Because the article is totally UNREAL!

Absolutely not

[complete loony]

Apparently the secret sector was an area just below the floor of a teleporter -- but entering that teleporter meant players rose up to the level of the teleporter's floor

Absolutely not. Doom is a 2.5D game. A sector has a floor and a ceiling height and is surrounded by either other sectors or the area outside the map. There is no *above* or *below* a sector. In this case the sector is marked as a secret, and the walls are marked as teleporters. Touch the walls and you are transported somewhere else, *before* entering the sector and claiming the secret.

Re:Is there a video

[umberleigh]

Yeah, it's linked in the summary: https://www.polygon.com/2018/8...