Hell (Doom 3 level)

"Welcome to my domain! Behold the shape of things to come. The time has come for the forces of Hell to escape their prison and drive Mankind into darkness. Your darkest fears will soon be realized as your soul burns in Hell! There's nowhere to run. I am everywhere. And you will never find the thing you seek!"

- Dr. Betruger to the Marine

Hell is the twentieth level of Doom 3. The player has lost all weapons and ammo through the teleporter. The player must trek through Hell in order to defeat the Guardian (second boss) and retrieve the Soul Cube. The level contains a lot of nostalgic references, as it is made in old school manner of Doom/Doom2 in sense of some design and gameplay features, such as more abstract and less vertical architecture with suddenly lowering floors and ceilings, doors opening on remote trigger-on-walk, a pair of non-GUI teleports, hopping from isle to isle above the abyss while collecting supplies, mancubs on separate platforms, lava (though other kinds of "hot" surfaces, like acid, appear elsewhere a few times) and so on, and also the classic weapon arsenal (neither flashlight nor machinegun exist), unlimited stamina, slightly different skin of Imps and Hell Knights, both more like a decade ago, second and final appearance of "black medkit with horns" (berserk powerup) etc.

Walkthrough
At the very beginning, since you have nothing, turn immediately to the right and grab a Pistol, a Shotgun, and some shells. You'll need those, unless you have balls of steel and can take everyone out with your bare hands (metal).

Go down the pathway in front of you, up the stairs, and into the teleporter after Betruger finishes his speech. As you go up the stairs, you will hear the gargoyles scream to life. Once in the teleporter, you will hear the screams of tortured souls before a cage will form around, as you will be in the there for a while, and suddenly the cage will begin falling and does not stop.

After falling roughly 330 feet (100 meters), the cage will break and you will be released, and a trio of Imps will be revealed. Kill them.

After that, a bridge will form, so cross it. Continue down the hellish corridor, and at the end, a Hell Knight will appear alongside some demonic moaning. Kill him, being aware that a wall formed behind you, forbidding any escape. Watch out for any Cherubs nearby, though. They can easily be identified by their baby-like babbling, but as long as you don't go in side niches, they won't interfere. If you explore the niche, you'll fight a Cherub and a surprising Imp in a corner in the right side, guarding 2 Stimpacks, and 2 Cherub guarding an armor on left side. Don't forget to collect the Chainsaw near the exit of the room. It is near a third Stimpack, and almost invisible. Then continue. A wall will form again to prevent any backtracking.

In this room, you can see that there are rooms to your left and right, go into both of them and walk into the pentagrams. You will hear whispers, the walls will shift. In the left room, where the word "life" can be heard, there is a Chaingun, ammo and two Stimpacks. In the right room, where cries are heard as soon as you enter, touching the rune on the back wall will spawn two Imps (one on the spot and the other behind the pillars). Once the two runes have been touched, two new paths open in the central room, releasing many Lost Souls and allowing to continue. Both paths lead to the same place, and as usual, a wall will form behind you.

After exiting this set of rooms, you will be out in the open, seeing floating stone platforms that you must jump through. Beware of any Lost Souls that appear (you'll hear them appear as you step on yellow runes), as these can be daring enough to knock you off the platforms to your death, so kill them before they have a chance to decommission you from battle. You can collect an armor and a Medkit at the start, two additional Medkits on the path, and a forth one at the end. The platforms lead to another room, where two final Lost Souls will ambush you. Continuing here will both make the door closes behind you and a niche behind you opens up to reveal another Hell Knight, who can easily be destroyed with sustained Chaingun sprays to the head and two Stimpacks on the end of the corridor. After he is eliminated, about 3 Imps appear, in various points of the corridor. Another niche also opens, revealing another Imp, some Ammo Belts and two Medkits. Kill all Imps to open the gate to the next area. A Mancubus then appears in the end of the newly opened zone. Unless he is killed quickly enough (i.e. with a Chaingun), Cherubs will constantly spawn alongside him. A stone platform awaits behind him with a collectable Plasma Gun placed on top of an orange-glowing pentagram. Once this is collected, you will descend into a green room full of pillars. You then don't need to kill the Mancubus to proceed. Naturally, once down in the pillars room, there is no return.

This place looks like a catacomb. Immediately in front of you lies the second and last Berserker powerup of the game, which can be collected to help kill all the Imps and the Hell Knight that appear. Once they are dead, a second Hell Knight will appear, and once he's dead, a new small room will open next to the place from where you came. Grab all bonuses in the catacomb before exploring the small room.
 * If you play on PC version, this small area contains with a big door decorated with skulls, Plasma Cells, Rockets, Rocket Launchers and a PDA near this door. As usual, a wall will form behind you.
 * If you play on X-Box version, this small area just contains a teleporter, which is the exit of the current level. Actually, Hell is divided into two levels in this version.

The new room (the starting room of second Hell level if you play the X-Box version) looks like a jail at first. The path quickly leads to some bridge over lava, whit a massive decorated somewhat stalactite in the middle and ledges on the sides. If you walk a bit, the stalactite will fall (and actually initiate a "fall and elevate" pattern), a wall will form behind you and a Mancubus will appear on the right ledge. The best strategy here is, once again against a Mancubus, to run straight forward. Two additional Mancubi will appear on the left ledge in the process, but you are now in (relative) safety in a stair corridor. Kill the two Lost Souls here, and climb the stairs. Atop, there is an Imp and a balcony above the Mancubi room. Luckily, there are iron bars on both sides which prevents Mancubi's fireballs to reach you if you stay behind. You can then chose to kill the obese monsters or to ignore them. If you want to kill them, start with the ones on your right : the closest one can be killed with the Shotgun, the farther one can be killed with about 30 Pistol rounds. You can also kill the further one more easily by walking down the stairs and hitting him from afar, from where you can easily avoid his flames. The third Mancubus, alone on his ledge, can be killed by strafing between iron bars, pillar and open section of the balcony, with whatever weapon you want. If the 3 Mancubi are killed, a fourth one will sometimes appear on the left ledge. Once the place is safe you can jump from balcony to reach the right ledge and grab the pick ups they are here (Health and Ammo Belt). Whatever your choice, grab the 2 Medkits, the Rocket box, the Ammo Belt and the Cell packs at the bottom of the balcony. Then venture in the corridor starting from the balcony. As you walk a bit, you'll hear 2 additional Imps coming at you from the left. At the end is a jumping third Imp from the left, and a second decorated door.
 * If you play the X-Box version, the Plasma Cells, Rocket Launchers, Rockets, Medkits and PDA are here.
 * If you play on PC version, this place is empty.

When the door opens, inoffensive flames burst and a bunch of Lost Souls attack. Right behind the door are one niche on each side, containing both an Imp. In the left niche, there is also an additional hidden Imp and a Stimpack and an Ammo Belt. Then the path leads to a cave with lava at the bottom. A Lost Soul is on the ossuary niche on your left, and a second one si floating on the right. You can walk down a stair to grab a Stimpack, 2 Cell packs, an additional Plasma Gun and an armor if you want : you'll hear more ennemies, but actually there will be nothing. You have to walk up a spiral stair (again, you'll hear Lost Souls, but will be safe), and kill another pair of Lost Souls coming from the front once your are upstairs. You'll then see a third big door on the right and an Ammo Belt and Medkit on the left. Backtrack and pick all you can do, because the final wall will form behind you when you approach the door. Beware of the Health and Ammo packs too, as it will cause the unique the unique Hell Zombies to appear both behind you and in the next room(the Chainsaw is usable here).

Behind the door is a small room with a pillar at its center. As you walk in, a Hell Knight and a trio of Lost Souls teleports in. The room also contains two Stimpacks and a fourth big door.

Right behind the door is the sixth Hell Knight of the level, with a charged plasma ball on his hand, so be ready once again. You are now in some sort of cavern with a large opening at the bottom, a hole in the middle with lava at the bottom and a large pillar in the center. On the left side are a Stimpack and some armor shards. Walk a bit to awake two Imps, and kill them without walking too far, as it will make another Hell Knight to appear from the previous room and an additional Imp from near the bottom opening : when this occurs, it is advised to quickly dispatch the Imp first. The bottom opening offer a view on the hellish void, and has a balcony where Cell packs, an Ammo Belt, a BFG Cell, a Stimpack and a Medkit lie. Approaching it cause an additional Hell Knight to teleport in right behind. And behind the BFG cell is the BFG 9000 (the third of the game, but the first one obtainable without needing opening a locker). Picking it up cause 2-3 Lost Souls to teleport in nearby.

The path then leads to a corridor with a burning flame, where you can hear Cherubs. The 8th Hell Knight of the level will walk from here. Kill him and proceed safely : there are indeed Cherubs, and some Lost Souls also teleports in as you walk in, making some deadly combination if you don't eliminate them quickly from safe distance !

The corridor then leads to an armor and a big well-lit room, with a pillar in the middle once again. There is a Mancubus behind the pillar, you actually hear him. The holes in the floor are purely cosmetic, you are totally safe in this room (save of course for the ennemy). There are an Ammo Belt, a Box of Shells and 2 Medkits here, and a fifth decorated door. Beware as there is a Mancubus right behind it !

The door then leads to a small dark room with two burning flames. If you walk a bit, the 8th and final Mancubus of this level will awake on the left, causing Cherubs to spawn one after one other, in this room, the previous one and even the previous corridor. Be sure to eliminate all ennemies, pick the bonus hidden in the dark near the fires, and exit slowly : you'll see a strange greenish structure above you, in a dark small corridor. The 9th and ultimate Hell Knight of Hell is waiting for you to your left side, with a plasma ball ready at hand. Once he's dead, you have completed the level. Just check for a Stimpack and an Ammo Belt in a niche on the left just before the Hell Knight's cache, and follow the path : it leads to the 6th and last big door.

Behind, just follow the path until you see the teleporter (and a body, presumably Simon Garrick's). Take all health and ammunition there are here (especially the 20 Rockets). Don't jump right on the teleporter, but circle around to discover a hidden path which leads to 2 additional Cell packs and a BFG Cell. It will come handy. When all is set, enter the teleporter ; you'll be transported to the second real boss (or the third one if you count the Hell Knights duo of Delta Labs Sector 4 as a boss) : the Guardian. Check his section for tips.

Once the Guardian is dead, reclaim the Soul Cube. It will tell you about some stuff. You'll then be teleported back on the very first place of Hell, from where you will be able to activate the monitor and the teleporter back to Mars Base and the Delta Complex.

PDAs

 * Simon Garlick
 * Joshua Hebert (Not collectable in normal gameplay)

Characters

 * Malcolm Betruger (voice only)

Enemies

 * Guardian of Hell (boss)
 * Guardian's Seekers
 * Imps
 * Hell Knights
 * Cherubs
 * Lost Souls
 * Mancubi
 * Demon-fied Zombies

Weapons / Items

 * Pistol
 * Shotgun
 * Machine Gun (BFG Edition)
 * Grenade (BFG Edition)
 * Chaingun
 * Chainsaw
 * Plasma Gun
 * Rocket Launcher
 * BFG-9000
 * Soul Cube
 * Security Armor
 * Medkits
 * Armor Shards
 * Bullets
 * Shells
 * Clips (BFG Edition)
 * Ammo Belts
 * Plasma Cells
 * Rockets
 * BFG Cell
 * Berserker

Cabinet Codes
None

Trivia

 * All of the weapons that were in the classic Doom games can be found in Hell (with the exception of the Super shotgun).
 * At the beginning of this level, when you are caged and then dropped to the ground, you are instantly surrounded by three Imps and bits of ammo on all sides of you. This is very similar to the start of the first level of Episode 3 "Inferno" in Doom 1, which also has three Imps and ammo on all sides of you. (This is assuming that the difficulty setting is on "Ultra Violence" or "Nightmare".)
 * Unlike other Doom games, this is the only level in game which takes place in Hell.
 * In the BFG Edition, the text for the loading screen of Hell reads as "For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" This statement is taken from the text in the Revelation 6:17.
 * On X-Box version, this level is divided on two levels.