http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/otp_ion01.zip 

This map isn't posted on Quakeaddict is it? I can't find it on the webpage. 

Yep, TERMiNAL, it is so since after February 17, 2017. 

Played skill 3, 63/67 kills, 4/7 secrets. One of the few maps I didn't feel the need to scrub for secrets on.

First off, very challenging. I was under 10hp most of the playthrough. Monster encounters were constant and stressful. One of the spawns got stuck by the lift at the very bottom when you get the GK and I had to listen to his slimy ass jumping around the pools the rest of the game. But I hate spawns enough that I preferred listening to him jump in endless torment rather than go down and deal with him.

After you get the silver key and take the starting vent back up to the main floor, there's a shambler and spawn. I had 7hp and a quick save at that point. I died maybe 10-15 times just trying to get out of the shambler's range when I flew up. Unavoidable damage is never cool.

Your dynamic elements were hit or miss. The vents are cool in concept, but I didn't much like them here. Some of the more complicated setups you had worked maybe 50% of the time. I was crushed by the GK lift once for whatever reason. Why did you put the biosuits in the acid? Just forces you to take some damage before you can grab them.

The overall vertical/cramped design made for stressful play. Thin walkways coupled with the side vents that push you off said thin walkways made me afraid to press my move keys. The very top space was just an absolute clusterfuck of fiends, vores, knights, and scrags. Definitely wouldn't have survived without respawning HP packs and MH.

It wasn't a bad map. The geometry was cool and the dynamic elements (when they worked) were cool as well. But the heavy use of fiends, vores, and shamblers made it stressful enough that I didn't think about exploring or even enjoying myself. I just wanted to survive.

Demo 

https://aww.moe/516ixp.zip 

Why did you put the biosuits in the acid? Just forces you to take some damage before you can grab them.
OR... you could grab the new biosuit just before the previous one expires. 

I think the submerged biosuit gets raised by a lift you activate later. 

Cheers 

What's intriguing about maps like this one is the challenge of getting mileage out of a limited space. Layout and progression are much more vertical and condensed than in regular maps. Makes for some intresting setups, how to reuse areas, possibly change them by opening up or closing parts, interacting with the environment at different heights, and so on.

Of course, the downside is that often movement and combat suffer since confined spaces can get problematic in Quake with it's speed. Easily feels cramped if the player bumps into walls all the time, or unfair if being cornered by enemies with little room to escape; or if the environment works against the monsters even more than under normal circumstances, up to the point of rendering them useless or negating encounters and ambushes.

Should be explored more, I think. Bit of a technical challenge not unlike 100b or 1024 maps. 

Did not record a demo but enjoyed it a lot. Obviously the attention to detail is the highlight of Ionous' work as usual and I liked the verticality.

Only issue for me is after getting stuck a few times on the ceiling in the GL area and then realizing these were traps - part of the obstacles to come later. I believed it was part of the gameplay but couldn't be sure at the moment. Since that's a sort of new type of "trap" it might have been good to introduce that mechanic earlier in a less crazy spot. Or really launch the player into a different part of the map. Didn't ruin anything and still a very unique and fun level.

Really looking forward to your next map Ionous. 

The level is certainly vertical in progression but the combat is mostly horizontal. The start was very promising with the death knights pressuring the player to move down the stairs and deal with an enforcer and grunts at the same time but it quickly goes downhill from there.

Too many shamblers and vores, and ineffective usage of them; they failed to invoke feelings of shock or terror due to either their commonality or how safe cover from their attacks is immediately and plainly present the moment they appear. I just sighed whenever another one of each appeared.

The gold key placement/teaser was not very well executed, I didn't even notice it until my third playthrough; it could have been submerged the whole time and I would not have noticed the difference.

Navigating the level honestly feels more annoying and tedious than it should be. The early part with the shootable switch and elevator seems to be designed for the player to fail to catch it (and likely fall) in his first try, which is okay, but hopping over the gap at the start and pressing the vent switch, going back up then down then shooting the switch again then waiting for the elevator, just damn. Very tedious.

The platforming section also seems to be designed deliberately to be nearly impossible to beat on the first try, and again there's nothing wrong with that, but with the way the level is designed, it just feels arduous and aggravating having to find your way back to where you fell from even though something like that can and should be made fun. It's doubly aggravating if you land in between the newly spawned fiends whose teleport-in sounds and presence one might not have noticed because it would have been masked by the concurrent spawning of the scrags (one would also likely have had his attention focused upwards towards the ascending platforms by default).