“Its soundtrack by Thorr is incredible”
Ripping and tearing in SIGIL II
THIS MONTH
Chainsawed a Cyberdemon. Died horribly. ALSO PLAYED
Crysis, Max Payne 3
Ideliver chainsaw death to the demon horde, all the while dodging incessant gunfire, balls of fire and flying, shrieking, flaming skulls. Oh, and did I mention I’m doing this in hell, with lava and poisonfilled pits all around? This is John Romero’s SIGIL II, the hard-asnails unofficial sixth episode for Doom, and it’s simply awesome.
As someone who played the OG Doom when it released, I played and loved Romero’s first return to making full episodes for the game that made him, John Carmack, and the rest of the id Software team development legends back in the 1990s, with the original SIGIL released back in 2019 dramatically rekindling the original Doom fires. And there was no better fire stoker than Romero, who always brought an extra level of Doom Guy inferno to the legendary FPS.
SIGIL II builds on SIGIL by taking everything up to an even more metal, insane level. If you thought you needed to rip and tear to the maximum in SIGIL then think again, as this episode really is the most devious, hellishly hard and brutally satisfying episode of Doom ever made. And its soundtrack by Thorr is just incredible.
ICON OF SIN
SIGIL II’s levels are something to behold, a hybrid of the human and hell worlds, and vary dramatically in size and complexity. Romero clearly loves to surprise gamers and keep them on their toes, as there is a subversion here, a twisted, warpedness to how levels flow and how enemies appear and attack that is fresh and adrenaline inducing.
It’s clear that, despite Romero very carefully building SIGIL II as an extension to the original Doom, the master level designer has elevated his craft to a new plane, all the while maintaining that made-in-the-1990s feel. A good example of this is how Romero introduces extra levels of verticality within these levels, or shootable Baphomet eyes that allow progress or unlock secrets.
But it’s the synergy of the whole experience that reminds just how groundbreaking the original Doom was. In SIGIL II, with heavy metal blazing in your ears, a shotgun in your hands, the armies of hell encircling you, FPS nirvana is attained.