History YMMV / Sigil

* NintendoHard: This WAD was designed to be a lot more consistently difficult than Episode 4 of ''Ultimate Doom'' ("Thy Flesh Consumed"), with frequent cramped combat scenarios, some very nasty Cyberdemon usage, and a general lack of health, ammo, and strong weaponry. While far from the hardest WAD out there, more casual Doom players jumping in on Ultra-Violence and expecting something on the level of the original two ''Doom'' games because they heard Romero made it will be in for a rude awakening. Popular "boomer shooter" youtuber WebVideo/Civvie11 in his review of Sigil would even advise people to play on Hurt Me Plenty (medium) difficulty first if they weren't avid ''Doom'' players, while WebVideo/Gmanlives stirred up controversy within the Doom fandom when he complained that Sigil was too hard in his review... after only playing on Ultra-Violence.

** In the sequel, some secrets can only be accessed within the first 30 seconds since the start of the level. While it's an already existing gimmick in Doom mapping and has been used in several custom maps, it's been used rarely for a reason, namely, that it can render obtaining 100% items and secrets impossible. And ''Sigil II'' has the misfortune of stepping on the same rake, with nary a clue as to where the secrets could be and how to obtain them within the strict time limit while having to deal with enemies at the same time.

* ScrappyMechanic: The eye shooting switch is introduced as early as in the first level, but the way the trigger linedefs used to be placed before the version 1.2, (the first one has the switch be sealed off permanently while the other one either opens the door or raises the bridge) you could set off only the nearest one (usually the switch that raises the floor and closes the sector) by using a melee attack or missing your shot and thus render the whole level UnintentionallyUnwinnable. This had since been fixed with the version 1.2 however.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Sigil was criticized for initially lacking a Chaingun pickup in most of its maps, forcing players that Pistol-started each map to be stuck using just the Shotgun for 90% of the maps or tediously shoot down enemies with the Pistol. In response to this criticism, Romero would make a Chaingun available in every map on all difficulties in version 1.2.
** Version 1.2 would also fix softlocks and several pits being inescapable.

* ThatOneLevel: '''[=E5M4=]: Paths of Wretchedness''' has a lot of player-unfriendly gimmicks thrown in by Romero himself, most infamously the crusher labyrinth with moving plates (the monster sectors are safe to stand on, but it's hard to make out at the first try) and the locked door that takes several seconds to fully open (thus stalling the player and keeping them occupied with several enemies).
* OlderThanTheyThink: John Romero had used the lava scratch cracks on the floor and ceiling as far as in 2016 when he [[https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Tech_Gone_Bad made the remaster]] of [=E1M8=].

* ScrappyMechanic: The eye shooting switch is introduced as early as in the first level, but the way the trigger linedefs are placed (the first one has the switch be sealed off permanently while the other one either opens the door or raises the bridge) you can set off only the nearest one (usually the switch that raises the floor and closes the sector) by using a melee attack or missing your shot and thus render the whole level UnintentionallyUnwinnable. This appears to have been fixed with the version 1.2 however.

** Version 1.2 would also fix softlocks and several pits being inescapable.

---> ''Version 1.2 would also fix softlocks and several pits being inescapable''.

---> Version 1.2 would also fix softlocks and several pits being inescapable.

** Version 1.2 would also fix softlocks and several pits being inescapable.