E4M8: Unto the Cruel (Doom)

E4M8: Unto The Cruel is the final map of Thy Flesh Consumed in Doom. It was designed by Shawn Green and uses the music track "Demons on the Prey".

Overview
Unlike Shores of Hell and Inferno, the level does not automatically end upon the death of the boss. Her death, however, will lower the center which you can walk into to exit. You can instead choose to also kill the other monsters if you wish.

Strategy
Relatively easy compared to the rest of the levels in the Episode, as you can beat without too much difficulty on Ultra-Violence, even if you warp in and start with the fist and pistol.

After killing the four imps, the door below is activiated by a switch. Open up the door, but do not proceed through it yet, as you cannot open it from the other side. Instead, making a gunfire sound (i.e. punching your fist) to alert the enemies, and then retreat. Open up the door from time to time in order to pick off former humans that walk through, and grab their ammo.

The tricky part is when you go through the teleporter. The new area is pretty open, exposing you to considerable fire, so it is advised that you get inside as quickly as possible.

The boss battle area has plenty of ammo and health, and there is ample places to hide since you can retreat to the previous area that you cleared out. While initiating monster infighting may cause you to take some damage at first from the Spider Mastermind's chaingun, it is worth it since that will take care of the Barons of Hell.

Walkthrough
Get the Shotgun in front of you, and kill the Imps around you. Then go down the stairs, and flip the switch down here, and the door to the left will open. Kill all the Zombiemen, Shotgun Guys, and Spectres in here (or let them fight). From the door we entered, go right, and follow this hall to a wall with a Demon head. Check it. It should open, revealing the Red Key. Turn back around to the door we entered to get here, and cross the bridge to get to this platform. On here, open the Red Bars, and inside you will find a Baron protecting a skull switch, so kill the Baron and flip the switch. Now leave this platform and go back to the door we used to get here. Follow the other hallway to a Demon head. Check it. Go in, and take the teleporter.

Kill the Imps and Shotgun Guys in here. From the teleporter, go straight, and head up the staircase. At the top, go left, and follow this bridge to another platform. Kill the Baron on here that appears on hard skill levels, and get the megaarmor. In here, go down the stairs, and follow this bridge (consider the U-shaped ledge patrolled by a shotgun guy on the right-hand side of the bridge) into another room. Kill the enemies in here, and hit the switch in here. When you do hit it, take the lift down to the lift.

Down here, follow this hall to the Yellow Key, killing any enemies in your way (watch out for 2 Barons on hard skill levels). When you get the Yellow Key, turn around, go straight, and hit the switch to the left. Ride this lift up again, and up here, backtrack your steps to the teleporter we used to get here. In here, open up the Demon face door. Now cross the bridge to the center platform again, and this time open the Yellow Bars. Slay the Baron and flip the skull switch it guards. Now, instead of crossing the bridge we used to get here, cross the new bridge on this platform. Climb the stairs, and open the door.

In here, walk around the pillar to get to the Spider Mastermind. Kill it. Here are some tips. 1. Use your Rocket Launcher or BFG to kill her. It only takes 2-3 BFG hits to kill her. 2. On hard skill levels, there will be a few Barons in here too. You can use them to weaken/kill the Spider Mastermind. 3. Near the Spider Mastermind is a hidden area with a BFG and some ammo. Check the walls while she's in a fight with an enemy so you don't risk being killed. When you do kill the Spider Mastermind, the pillar we walked around will lower, revealing the exit teleporter. Take it, and you've finished the game! Congratulations on defeating her!

Official
The area you start in contains six alcoves along the outer wall with tortured corpses in them. Press the use key on the left center one to open a nearby secret item cache.

Non-official
1. In the room where you grab the Yellow Skull Key, press the wall directly behind it. Take the teleporter it hides and it'll warp you onto that U-shaped side platform (which has a shotgunner patrolling it) near the southeast end of the map, which you can see - but can't reach - from the bridge that connects the "caged" rooms. Take the goodies and then return to battle.

2. In the final room of the map, right behind the Spider Mastermind's starting point, there is a secret alcove in the wall that hides a BFG 9000 along with 2 energy cell packs. These can come in handy when facing the boss and its hordes of demons.

Records
The Compet-N records for the map are: