Sigil is a Doom PWAD developed by former series designer John Romero, with a high quality soundtrack composed by Buckethead and an oldschool MIDI soundtrack by James Paddock. It serves as the unofficial fifth episode for the original Doom. It was announced on December 10th 2018, the same date as Doom's 25th anniversary, with a release date on May 31 2019 for free users. Those who ordered the limited edition got the mod on May 22 2019.
After killing the Spider Mastermind in "Thy Flesh Consumed", Doomguy prepares himself to go back to Earth and save the planet from the forces of Hell, but Baphomet (the Icon of Sin) drags him to the deeper depths of Hell after sabotaging the final teleporter with his powers. Now Doomguy must slaughter every demon that stands in his way in order to return to Earth.
A sequel, simply called Sigil II, was released on Doom's 30th anniversary on December 10th, 2023.
The mod and its sequel can both be downloaded here
, and are available officially as free DLC's for the current console, smartphone, and PC releases of Doom.
Tropes:
- Dragged Off to Hell: The episode starts with Doomguy being dragged back to Hell by Baphomet, and your mission is to get out of there and back to Earth.
- Drought Level of Doom: The entire episode is notorious for having a low amount of available health pickups, and non-shell ammo being scarce outside of secrets. It's also stingy with weapon pickups, so those pistol-starting each map will be stuck with just the shotgun for large chunks of most maps. While it never gets as unfair in this regard as Hell Beneath was in Ultimate Doom and you'll always have enough ammo to kill everything without having to resort to melee, there isn't a lot of room for error on Ultra-Violence, and unless you sniff out several secrets, you're sometimes going to need to kill Barons with just the shotgun or Berserk fist and little room to maneuver. SIGIL was even more dry of resources in versions pre-v1.2, where most maps completely lacked a chaingun, forcing pistol starters to have to use their pistol deep into maps.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Baphomet, the one who pulls you back to Hell, is the Icon of Sin, final boss of Doom 2. You don't actually get to fight him in this one.
- Interquel: Takes place between the original game and Doom II.
- Last Lousy Point: Invoked in SIGIL II with there being at least one secret in every level marked by the infamous Fireblu texture that is usually just one zombieman and an item pickup which will certainly irritate those seeking 100% Completion in each level.
- Nostalgia Level: The secret level for SIGIL II, "Shattered Homecoming", is a Remixed Level of the entirety of "Knee-Deep in the Dead", mashing several setpieces together. Fitting for what is an anniversary title.
- Number of the Beast: The megawad, with the Buckethead soundtrack, is listed for €6.66 (about US$8) on Romero’s website. Additionally, the "G" in the WAD's logo is a stylized 6.
- Trick Shot Puzzle: A recurring feature of the levels is the Evil Eye, a switch you need to shoot to activate mechanisms in the levels. Due to being found through small hidden-away holes in the wall, alongside Doom disallowing vertical aim adjustment in its original form, part of the challenge is typically lining yourself up to properly shoot it.
- Unintentionally Unwinnable: In earlier versions with the shootable eye switches, it was possible for your shot to activate the linedef trigger behind the eye that closed off the eye switch but miss activating the switch itself, preventing you from accessing the area the switch was supposed to open up, leaving you in a softlock if it was the only path forward to progress in the map without resorting to noclip. Version 1.2 fixed this problem.
- Underestimating Badassery: Baphomet apparently thought that trapping Doomguy in his domain, the deepest part of Hell, would seal his fate. Needless to say, Doomguy proves to be too tough to contain.
