13/04/2025 - "Infernal Falls" by Lord Waffnuffly & Juan Pancho Eekels

[Sat42]

Map Title: Infernal Falls
Author: Lord Waffnuffly "War Bonnet" Letz, based on "NyLeve's Falls" by Juan Pancho Eekels
From: EXU2 - Batshit Insane
Filename: EXU2-BI02-InfernalFalls.unr




Video Playthrough:


Synopsis: First, there was darkness... then came - strangers. They were a race as old - as time itself. They had mastered the ultimate - technology...

Discuss!

[Semfry]

This is the first EXU level to really show how the map remakes work after the semi-tutorial nature of the first map. Nyleve is made appropriately hellish, and looks very different despite the layout being nearly the same, even the interiors get more ancient looking textures to suggest they're much older than Unreal itself implies. The main impressive addition though is the giant satellite dishes around the edges of the map, with these kind of intricate modern structures being something that shows up in lots of Waffnuffly/Buff Skeleton's maps.

After the intro this is the first map to show the kind of semi-sandbox gameplay EXU has, as well as introducing the Shitgun (and being the first place you can use the Flare Gun), which, with all the pupae and other grounded enemies, gets plenty of use despite the amount of open areas here. If you use flares to wipe out certain groups the Shitgun can't, the enemies here are pretty manageable. The Piddledopers being the only ranged option can be a problem if you run low while fighting Gasbags, although the Shitgun does also have surprisingly long range for a Biorifle variant. If you missed it in the first map, I guess the main perk of exploring the lower region is to get a second Piddledoper, if you already have it though, then I guess the lower part just lets you build up some general supplies if you deal with the combat well enough.

This does introduce a couple of things used throughout EXU I'm not a fan of, like the random tiny enemies with even more firepower than usual who are kind of a trial and error moment unless you nuke them by accident. There's also the readability issues, namely with the Gasbags who have rock-like textures while frequently against a background of rocks. At the end you get a hint warning about a powerful enemy guarding the exit, which is odd because there doesn't seem to be anything worse than usual there, and since the hints are only on Easy and Normal it's not like it's something for the higher settings either. I guess it's a leftover from an older version?

[UB_]

At the end you get a hint warning about a powerful enemy guarding the exit, which is odd because there doesn't seem to be anything worse than usual there, and since the hints are only on Easy and Normal it's not like it's something for the higher settings either. I guess it's a leftover from an older version?

Back in the day the Rrajigar entrance was guarded by a Fuckoff Mercenary, was able to shoot streams of gigantic explosive rockets. Either that or some other form of strong Mercenary boss.

[Sat42]

Those giant satellite dishes around the scene are so 1337

It obviously helps that it's based on NyLeve's Falls, but Infernal Falls goes beyond the call of duty and is a great map which does a couple of crucial things: fully showcase EXU2 gameplay (it's intensity and scale, which the first time round was quite shocking to me), and confirm that we are now in Hellscape: Na Pali (indeed massively contrasting with the original NyLeve's Falls impression - btw it's funny how with this MOTW I noticed some confuse the blood with lava, subconsciously remembering ONP's NyLeve's Falls redux?). What also helps is that the level uses Cybernetika's Lost Technology track, which fits perfectly here and is still one of my favourites by the artist (oh and to anyone who doesn't know: the lines spoken in the song are from Dark City, highly recommended).

I also like the addition of the purple crystals in v7.2: they can "amplify" the Piddledoper's primary fire, acting like the ASMD combo!

It's definitely not a relaxing "comfort food" map - it is challenging though mostly still warming up compared to what comes later in the campaign. Very smooth video playthrough as usual, Semfry!

Back in the day the Rrajigar entrance was guarded by a Fuckoff Mercenary, was able to shoot streams of gigantic explosive rockets. Either that or some other form of strong Mercenary boss.

Oh yeah that Mercenary boss can fuck right off! OK I'll show myself out...
But wait! I checked: the Fuckoff Mercenary (see screenie below) in both versions 5.03 and 7.2 is filtered out of difficulties 0 and 1, so really you have no way of encountering this unit here on Easy and Normal. So to Semfry's point: yeah the hint not overlapping with the enemy filtering is a mistake.



And of course to wrap things up, when you die the sky turns a brighter shade of inferno and the Chef Fucker surveys the scene!

[Aspide]

Infernal Falls, the second map of EXU2 if you don't count the intro, this is the real first map of EXU2 where the game reveals what this campaign is all about : insanity . EXU2 maps are all about pre-planning, being very careful where you go, trying to attract enemies so you can kill them one by one, using the flares and of course : saving the game every 5 minutes.

The map uses the original Nyleve Falls as the base, however the level was changed so much that it's almost unrecognizable, the textures, sounds, enemies and weapons are completely different, not to mention the lots of extra stuff that was added to add more details. The geometry from the original map was left intact for the most part, however new brushes were added like the cracks on the walls and the satellites in the background. By the way the satellites aren't meshes, they are brushes, amazing brush work and a lot of work for something that's just a background detail......, or are they? . The texture choices are great, it's weird seeing the map with lighting turned off since the lighting makes the level look so different, the maps from EXU2 are a great example of how textures and lighting can be combined to do something breathtaking. Texture alignment is also amazing, thankfully the texture alignment of the original Nyleve Falls was already very solid, so this map didn't had to worry so much about fixing the issues from the original map.

The sound design is fantastic, EXU2 is a master on how to use sound effects in a map, plenty of Ambient Sounds combined with Dynamic Ambient Sound are used to create the unique atmosphere of this campaign. The music is also a highlight, the song is called Lost Technology by Cybernetika and it fits the map perfectly, where the atmosphere is all about you being thrown into a hellish environment with monsters from another dimension where all the odds are against you.

Also I want to mention the excellent use of special effects in this map, especially the skybox with the use of panels, projectiles and textures.

Gameplay is also great, this map is the first map of EXU2 where you have to learn how to play this campaign properly because if you don't, you won't survive long. The enemies of this map are very varied and they all require unique strategies to beat them, but thankfully you do have enough tools at your disposal to defeat them, especially the flares, they are your best friends, you have to use them only when you really need them and they are the best tool to clean an entire room that you haven't been yet, also the flares are very useful to deal with the toughest enemies in this map. The key to beating this map is taking your time, attract enemies to a corner so you can kill them one by one, using the purple crystals with the Piddledoper's primary fire (the EXU2 Automag) and using the flares sparingly, because you will need them in the next maps. Also you need to explore this map as much as possible, there are plenty of hidden pickups and flares. This map is very difficult and it requires a lot of trial and error, so save often, make sure the save system doesn't break, after all EXU2 is infamous for the save glitch.

Also in high difficulties be careful with those volcanos, they are not there just for show

And also be very careful with the Turbo Queens in higher difficulties, they are the worst.

Issues I found :
- The EXU2 maps have an actor called EXMapInfo which gives you some default inventory when you open the map from scratch, however all EXU2 maps have that turned off for some reason.
- EXU2 has a hint system for lower difficulties, however there's no hint system when it comes to using the purple crystals.
- There are no secrets at the top of the ship, there's something but it only appears in lower difficulties and it appears very rarely.
- The elevator that takes you to the bottom section is CrushWhenEncroached and it doesn't use EncroachDamage so it only affects you.
- There are many ammo pickups that don't appear in higher difficulties, which I think it's a problem since you need more ammo in those difficulties.
- At the section in the original NyLeve Falls where you fight the first Brute, the movers that take you to the bottom section are already opened in
Infernal Falls, however the movers use KeyNum 1 and the keyframe 0 is out of bounds for some reason.
- The last doors are ReturnWhenEncroached.
- The map uses a normal Tentacle carcass instead of using the EXU2 counterpart.