Thy Flesh Consumed

Thy Flesh Consumed is the fourth and final episode in The Ultimate Doom.

All of the level names, as well as the episode title, are phrases taken directly from the Bible (with the exception of the secret level "Fear"). The list was compiled by Kevin Cloud, and John Romero assigned names to the individual levels. This episode was also Tim Willits' first contribution to the Doom series, as he joined id Software after the release of the original Doom (version 1.666) and Doom II.

Plot
Since the expansion was produced while id Software was involved in other projects, not much thought was put into making it consistent with the previously developed plot of the game (which included Doom II, a portion that occurs after the added episode), and the designers simply concentrated on straightforward action (which was already the general focus of the games, in any case). As a result the locales of the levels are unclear, and one is not certain if the protagonist is still in Hell, already on Earth, or somewhere in between. The final message and screen with the rabbit Daisy arguably reinforces the acknowledgment that the designers' main concern at that point was the levels and not the background story or any general aesthetic considerations.

Story-wise, the episode is both a sequel to Doom and a prequel to Doom II. It chronicles the Doomguy's battles against the legions of demons that the Spider Mastermind had sent through the doorway between Hell and Earth, the very same gateway that the player had earlier used to return to his home planet. (It is presumed that there are two distinct regions of "Hell". The first is what the Deimos moon floats over and where Episode 3: Inferno takes place. The second is the marine's home of Earth which will undergo terraformation at the hands of demons and become a Hell in its own right.) As such, the episode most likely takes place on Earth, in a complex of buildings set up by the hellish forces, on the Earth side of the portal that the Doomguy used to return home. Ultimately, though the player is victorious, inflicting heavy losses on the invaders and avenging the death of his pet rabbit Daisy, it turns out to be an empty victory as the demons eventually overrun the major cities and the stage is set for Hell on Earth.

It may be set on Earth, with the background sky being a sullen, hazy orange, similar to the ending cutscene of Inferno and the starport levels of Doom II. The graphical style is generally hellish, though there are a handful of techbase themes used. The fortresses resemble those in Inferno, generally made of somber greenish-gray stone or wood, with a large number of lava pits. While there are a few features carried over from Doom II, such as switches that require keys (and the intermission screen), all of the music, textures, monsters, and weapons are of the original Doom. And possibly because no Doom II monsters were brought over into the episode, Barons of Hell are very common.

Description
Getting started in this episode is considered much harder than for the three other episodes and Doom II, or even Final Doom. Unlike the other episodes, the difficulty in Thy Flesh Consumed does not follow the expected learning curve as one progresses through the levels. The first two levels are extremely difficult, as the player faces a large number of enemies, including Barons of Hell, while suffering from a relative shortage of supplies. Then, at the beginnings of the secret and third levels, the player is immediately exposed to hostile fire from all directions and is forced to scramble for cover. By contrast, the later levels are tricky but relatively straightforward, as the monsters are more dispersed and can be dealt with piecemeal.

Unlike for the three earlier episodes, but like Doom II, the designers didn't bother to create a map of the locations of the episode to display in the intermission screen. In fact, the intermission simply uses a black-and-white version of Doom II 's intermission screen.

Levels

 * E4M1: Hell Beneath
 * E4M2: Perfect Hatred (Exit to secret level)
 * E4M3: Sever the Wicked
 * E4M4: Unruly Evil
 * E4M5: They Will Repent
 * E4M6: Against Thee Wickedly
 * E4M7: And Hell Followed
 * E4M8: Unto the Cruel (Spiderdemon is a boss)
 * E4M9: Fear (Secret level)

Current records
The Compet-N records for the episode are: