Back to Hell I go
Playing through Doom again has been a little odd.
It’s been 13 years since I last played it, and that, particularly considering the new look made possible by source ports and fan-updated textures and models, SHOULD mean that I don’t remember anything. I mean, how long can a computer game stick with you?
Apparently, at least that long.
It’s not like I can breeze through the levels with my eyes closed, but I have occasional flashbacks: there are some rooms that I walk in to and immediately remember where the secret doors are, and there’s been a few instances of dodging crushing ceilings without knowing why I was doing it.
Oh, yes, and the very beginning of episode 3, where you have a pistol to kill a Cacodemon? THAT I remembered. I love the first couple of levels in episode 3 for that, starving you of ammo and giving you just enough to fight your way to a little more, then letting you build up reserves slowly… It’s great, a complete change-up that makes you play cautiously and strategically while you get yourself requipped. Much abusing of save / reload during the process. 
One thing I’m pretty sure was completely new was finding one of the secret levels.
It’s possible that I’ve done it before and forgotten, but taking an out-of-the way exit and getting dropped into a room with four Hell Knights, followed by a freakin’ ARMY of Cacodemons? It was just a wee bit of a shock when it happened and I think I’d have remembered it.
