Doom 64 TC Level 25: Unholy Temple

Level 25
Unholy Temple:

Doom 64 TC level 25: Unholy Temple

You begin this level in a moat of sorts. Above you, on terraces, are several nightmare-demons waiting to chew on you. Higher up are some barons of hell. Neither the demons or the barons pose any immediate danger, but down in the moat with you are several arachnotrons that can.

Make your way carefully around the perimeter, staying to the inside, and take out the spiders with the big shotgun. Near the start, and also at the other end of the moat, are two teleport pads (1) to take you to the next level up. Be sure to clear it of the nightmare-demons first. These guys are tough, often taking several rockets to bring down, but they will give you all sorts of grief if you don't remove them before teleporting up.

On the next platform, the barons can sometimes tag you with a fireball, but most often they only end up hitting the wall in front of them. The most immediate and constant danger along this walkway are the fireball traps. Whenever you pass east to west in front of one of these at points 2, they start firing for a time. Always RUN through and take cover until they stop. These traps will continue to operate as long as you are in this level, so try to remember them.

At point 3 is a lift up to the walkway the barons are on. The ledge across the moat will lower if you shoot the face on the wall, then you can jump down and collect the goodies there if you need them. On one end of the upper walkway is a switch that lowers the posts blocking the entrance to room 4. In room 4 are two barons on high platforms next to the entrance. Take them out, then proceed up the stairs beyond.

Blue Key:
At the north end of the walkway there are some bars that require the yellow key to open. At the south end you can see some combat armor. This is where you must go next.

Save your game before heading toward the armor as the next area is a brutal trap. The apparently dead-end hallway where the combat armor is will convert to a stairway down to area 5. The walls will also lower to reveal an arachnotron on each side. Once you go into area 5, an insane number of bull-demons will begin dropping in everywhere, followed be a trio of barons! The alien laser or plasma rifle is good for the hoardes of demons, then switch to the rocket launcher to pound the barons of hell. When the battle ends, find the switch on one of the columns to lower the pedastle holding the blue key. The arachnotrons are fairly easy to take off of their perches with the shotgun.

Red key:
Find your way back to the small structure with the blue keyed door. Inside are some lost-souls and the red key. Picking up the key will start two crushing columns to start moving. Time your exit to avoid them and go to the red keyed door.

Yellow key:
As easy as it was to find the red key, the yellow key is also just beyond the red keyed door. It is guarded by a squad of zombies, supported by a couple hell-knights on raised walkways to the sides. As you approach the yellow key, however, it suddenly moves up to a higher inaccessible area and three arachnotrons teleport in behind you.

It is near impossible to avoid all damage in this situation. The best way to handle it is to dodge back and forth firing rockets as fast as you can. When the spiders fall, steps will form to allow you access to the upper walkways and yellow key. There is also a secret area here with more rockets.

All keys aquired, and yet the exit remains blocked. Near the exit is a blocked switch with a three-colored plaque next to it. There are three of these type of switches in the level, marked by 7 on the map. To open them, you must get back up to the top level and go through those yellow bars you saw earlier.

Room 6 has a couple zombies in it, and an arachnotron in an alcove. Take them out and examine the central structure with the three colored switches on it. Each of the locks at points 7 are opened here by activating the colored switches in the proper order:

Room 5 switch is red, blue, yellow.

Room 8 switch is yellow, red, blue.

Next to the exit is blue, yellow, red.

You can enter all of these combinations one at a time here. To get to the arachotron's alcove and the soul-sphere, jump across the chasm as if you were leaving. You will hear a sound and the post at the south end of the color switch column will lower. Run back and a teleport will take you there. (That's how it is supposed to work, but sometimes a glitch in the game prevents it from happening.)

Each of these three switches lowers a block in front of the exit. Two of the rooms have already been cleared, so activating them is painless. The third remains in room 8, which is where you need to head next.

Head into room 8 and knock down the hell-knights in alcoves adjacent to the entrance. As you go around the back of the central structure, several arachnotrons will teleport in. There will then be a switch across from the entrance. This will cause the floor of the room to drop, and also raise up a "Y" shaped walkway between the two alcoves where the hell-knights were.

The two switches in the alcoves raise some columns to run across, and expose a switch on the opposite side of the central structure. Don't worry about falling off in this room. It looks like lava, but it doesn't do any damage. If you do fall, the "Y" shaped walkway will lower to take you back up again.

Hop around the tops of the columns and activate that fourth switch in this room. This will open the last switch at the far west end, but also summons a pair of nightmare-cacodemons. It is best to jump down and go back to one of the alcoves to fight them, then go activate the final switch. The teleport takes you back up to the "Y" where you can jump back to the entrance and make your way to the exit which will now be open.