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I adore Wolfenstein, I love Doom, but I never could get into Quake. id Software released three revolutionary shooters in a row and for a while there, Quake seemed to get the most attention. Quake is also a very inconsistent series. The original Quake is unrelated to its sequels, with a very dark fantasy aesthetic and atmosphere. Quake II has you preventing an alien invasion of Earth and Quake III Arena is strictly a multiplayer game. Quake 4 brought back the single player component, continuing the story of Quake II. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars was another multiplayer-focused game, Quake Live was an updated version of Quake III Arena, and the latest release, Quake Champions, is yet another multiplayer only title. As you may or may not know, I’m not a multiplayer guy so the only games in this series I really care about is the first two and Quake 4. Developed by id Software and published by GT Interactive, Quake was released for DOS in June, 1996. Gameplay wise, Quake resembles more of Doom than Wolfenstein 3D but what made Quake unique was its full real-time 3D rendering. I don’t know what it was but for the longest time I just couldn’t get into Quake. I was only six years old when it released but I didn’t even try playing it until many years later. I guess I just wasn’t into the whole dark fantasy theme. But I really didn’t give it a fair shot since every time I would play it, I would give up after the first level. This time I decided to give it a real chance and went all out. This review will cover the original Quake campaign and all three mission packs which include Scourge of Armagon, developed by Hipnotic Interactive and released in Februrary, 1997, Dissolution of Eternity, developed by Rogue Entertainment and released in March of that same year, and Dimension of the Past, developed by MachineGames and released in June, 2016, for Quake’s 20th anniversary. But that’s not all, Jeremy and I were able to get Quake running in split-screen thanks to the FTE QuakeWorld engine, which did work but had some issues. I’ll also be taking a look at the Quake 1.5 Weapons Pack which includes redesigned weapons which are not centered on the screen, giving the game a more modern feel. Quake 1.5 also includes new gore effects. Finally, I’ll be looking at Arcane Dimensions 1.5, an incredible mod, or I guess map pack, that acts more like an expansion with its own campaign.
Due to legal reasons, the official soundtrack was removed from all digital versions of Quake but you can still obtain the soundtrack CD rips from the GOG version. You can also obtain the soundtrack, with each song in the OGG file format, from Quaddicted.com. Now I played through the original game, all three mission packs, and Arcane Dimensions, using the Quakespasm source port. According to the website, Quakespasm is a modern, cross-platform Quake 1 engine based on FitzQuake. It supports modern operating systems, widescreen resolutions, custom music playback, there’s bug fixes, and all kinds of other little tweaks to improve the experience. I should mention that a new map was recently released for Arcane Dimensions and it’s so huge and detailed that it exceeds the limits of even modern engines. A specially modified version of Quakespasm (for Windows and Mac) was released just to support it. As of this review, this modified version of Quakespasm is the only way to play Arcane Dimensions with the new map. We used the FTE QuakeWorld engine for local split-screen and it also supports Xbox 360 and Xbox One controllers. We did encounter some significant issues and have yet to find any solutions. After two levels, the game would always freeze and crash, without fail, and it would sometimes crash upon quicksaving which would then corrupt the save file, forcing us to restart the entire game. We downloaded this version of FTE QW from a Steam guide and upon encountering these crashes, we decided to look up some solutions but didn’t have any luck. Instead, we found either an updated or different version of the engine. We had to tweak the controller configuration a bit to get it just right and eventually we did get it working. However, every time we would aim upward, whenever we would press the fire button, the view would immediately shoot back down so we’re looking at the ground. It was very annoying and I have no idea what was causing this. It might be a control option or setting we overlooked but after an hour of fucking around with controls and different settings, we just got fed up. I’m not sure if these issues were because of the PC we were using or the engine but after completing two episodes, we decided to call it quits on split-screen. We were hoping to push through at least the Quake campaign, even with the crashes, but the sporadic save file corruption was the ultimate factor in deciding to call it quits. During our play time, we did notice that when player two is far enough from player one, the sound effects for player two will fade out, eventually becoming silent until player one is in close proximity. Unfortunately, if you have to load an existing save of a multiplayer or split-screen campaign, player two will not retain the weapons they had equipped upon saving. Needless to say, there’s definitely some issues with the split-screen support but when it does work, it works great and ran smooth with no real hiccups. Quake 1.5 is a mod that only modifies the weapons and gore, it does not alter the gameplay. The redesigned weapons look amazing and stay in line with the original designs, just with a more modern look. They come with new animations that look fantastic and even include excellent new sound effects. The new gore effects look pretty good with blood that looks more realistic and enemies exploding in more gruesome ways. The only issue I noticed with this mod is that the weapon projectiles still fire from the center of the screen. When you’re moving and strafing around in the heat of battle you probably won’t even notice but if you’re standing still it’s definitely noticeable and kind of weird to see. We used the DarkPlaces source port to play Quake 1.5. According to the website, DarkPlaces is described as an improved Quake. It includes things like visible shell casings falling to the ground and improved bullet impacts. DarkPlaces does run on modern systems, supports widescreen resolutions, and includes several options to enhance the overall experience.
Quake consists of four difficulty modes – Easy, Normal, Hard, and Nightmare which is hidden in the hub world. From the hub world you can access each episode via teleporters and each episode consists of about seven or eight levels each, including one secret level. After you complete an episode, access to that episode in the hub world is blocked off and after completing all episodes, a new passage opens up that takes you to the final boss. Just like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom that came before it, the story in Quake is not really shoved in your face and the only story elements that do exist come in the form of text that appears after completing the last level in each episode. Because of Quake’s unique theme and aesthetic, it’s not really clear as to what the hell is going on. In Wolfenstein 3D and Doom it was a bit more obvious. Wolfenstein 3D revolves around B.J. Blazkowicz escaping castle Wolfenstein and stopping the Nazi regime. In Doom you need to stop the forces of Hell. These are relatively simple stories of good versus evil. Quake’s story is also like this but the game, itself, is inspired by dark fantasy influences, including that of H.P. Lovecraft. His name seems to come up often in the gaming community but I’m really not too familiar with Lovecraft’s work other than what I’ve seen in games. From what I’ve researched, you play as a protagonist known as Ranger and he is sent to stop an enemy known as “Quake”. Apparently Quake connected its own teleportation system with ours and sent death squads to the human dimension. The Ranger’s goal is to collect four magic runes which can be acquired in the last levels of each episode. These runes are the key to stopping Quake and ending the invasion. The first mission pack, Scourge of Armagon, consists of three episodes, with seventeen new levels. There is no hub world so you play through each episode sequentially. I think you’re playing as the same protagonist from the base game and you need to stop Armagon, a general of Quake’s forces, from invading Earth. The second mission pack, Dissolution of Eternity, brings along a new hub world, and includes two new episodes, with fifteen levels total. Apparently, the story here takes place directly after the first mission pack’s story. The protagonist wants to stop Quake once and for all and enters the dark realms to do so. The third mission pack, otherwise known as Episode 5: Dimension of the Past, doesn’t seem to have a story but does consist of ten new levels and from what I’ve researched, it takes place between the main game and the other mission packs. Honestly, the storyline feels very similar to Doom with a new coat of paint. All of the same core story elements that are in Doom can be found here. I’m guessing the Ranger is some kind of military soldier, teleportation goes horribly wrong, and you need to stop an evil force from invading. So if you’ve played Doom, that should sound pretty familiar. With that said, the story has kind of a “been there, done that” feel to it, but like many games from that era, the story is not the focus and, in fact, the story in Quake feels more irrelevant than anything. For all I know there could be even more backstory and lore that requires more research to uncover but I guess even id Software didn’t care all that much about the story since the sequels ended up being completely unrelated to the original game. John Romero was the lead designer for the original Quake so I guess after his departure, John Carmack and the rest of the team decided it was best to go a different way with future titles. But you can’t deny that the original Quake is the standout of the series mainly because of its aesthetic. Even to this day, I can’t think of any games that even resemble or come close to what Quake was able to capture in terms of theme and atmosphere, making it a truly unique experience.
Many of the weapons in Quake are unique but several are what I’ll call traditional. You start out with an axe and a standard pump action shotgun. Eventually you’ll acquire the double-barreled shotgun which is usually my go-to weapon. The grenade launcher and rocket launcher are pretty self explanatory. Although, I don’t like the fact that both launchers use rocket ammo. Because apparently grenades are rockets now. The unique weapons include a nailgun which fires nails from two barrels and then there’s the super nailgun with four barrels that rotate and rapidly fire with precise accuracy. The super nailgun also consumes two nails with every shot. Basically the nailgun acts like a machine gun and the super nail gun acts like a chaingun. Finally there’s the Thunderbolt which fires a stream of electricity followed by the sound of booming thunder and is the most powerful weapon in the game. I would consider Quake to be an “explosion-fest” shooter because if you’re not using the grenade or rocket launcher much of the time, you can easily get overwhelmed, especially in later levels, and several enemies fire explosive projectiles. Luckily, there’s plenty of ammo, health, and armor scattered around the levels and there’s even power-ups to collect. The Scourge of Armagon mission pack adds three new weapons. The laser cannon fires two lasers per shot and the lasers will bounce off surfaces. It’s a very deadly weapon and it’s one of my favorites just because it feels satisfying to use. The proximity launcher is a reskin of the grenade launcher and fires proximity mines that explode when you or an enemy get close to them. And this weapon, too, shares ammo with the rocket launcher for some reason. Finally, there’s the Mjolnir, a large hammer that emits lighting upon impact provided you have fifteen cells. Now there’s really no new weapons in Dissolution of Eternity, but instead, several of the existing weapons get what I’ll call “upgraded” with an alternate fire mode. The nailguns can fire lava nails which obviously do more damage than the standard nails. The grenade launcher can fire a grenade that breaks into smaller grenades upon impact and the rocket launcher can fire multiple rockets at once, making it easy to take out most enemies very quickly. The Thunderbolt can double as a plasma gun that fires a giant plasma shot that will decimate most enemies in seconds. All of the weapons do serve a purpose and some weapons are better for specific enemies. The only weapon I find myself never using often is the axe. Melee combat just won’t work in a game like this.
The gameplay in Quake is simple. Blow everything away. This is a very fast-paced game and circle strafing is the key to survival. Thankfully health, ammo, and armor are plentiful in most levels and there’s also several power-ups that can be used for a limited time to aid you in combat. The Pentagram of Protection makes you invulnerable. Quad Damage is, by far, the most useful power-up, and quadruples your weapon damage, perfect for turning every enemy you see into a steaming pile of gibs. The Ring of Shadows makes you invisible and finally there’s the Biosuit, which I guess can be considered a power-up as well. It enables you to jump in hazardous liquid without taking damage and reduces the damage received from Lava. Scourge of Armagon adds three new power-ups. The Horn of Conjuring will summon a friendly monster to fight by your side upon pickup. The Empathy Shield returns fifty percent of the damage received back to the attacker. And the Wetsuit lets you move faster under water. Dissolution of Eternity introduces two new power-ups. The Power Shield protects you from frontal damage by seventy percent and the Anti-Grav Belt allows you to jump really high and float down slowly. All of the power-ups can prove to be useful to some capacity but the Quad Damage power-up is the most fun to use. I recently discovered that there are items and even power-ups that are exclusive to multiplayer or I just didn’t find them in the campaigns. Specifically the Grappling Hook and Vengeance Sphere, both introduced in Dissolution of Eternity. I remember people talking about the Grappling Hook since it lets you swing around the environments. The Vengeance Sphere will strike at enemy players when their health is low enough.
I have to say, I’m torn when it comes to the enemies in this game. The enemy designs, themselves, are actually quite excellent. They look great, they’re unique, and they’re definitely memorable. But many of the enemies are just annoying. Each episode normally starts you out against the lower tier enemies like the Grunts that carry shotguns, Enforcers that carry laser rifles, and Rottweilers covered in blood. After dealing with these enemies, you’re introduced to one of the more common and annoying enemies in the game, Ogres. An Ogre wields both a chainsaw and a grenade launcher and I thought that was pretty cool at first. But then I saw how many of these fucking things populate the levels and it’s just ridiculous. Grenades will be flying at you from every direction and if you’re not actively dodging grenade blasts you’re waiting for them to explode so you can proceed to attack or move forward. Get used to listening to grenades bounce off of surfaces because you’ll be hearing it a lot. Sooner or later you’ll come cross Zombies and they hurl flesh at you. Zombies normally appear in groups and what makes them annoying is that can only be killed from explosives or by somehow turning them into gibs. Otherwise, they’re pushovers. If they take enough shots from a non-explosive weapon, they’ll fall over only to get back up again after a short time. More annoying are Spawns which are these elastic blobs that jump around areas rapidly, making them hard to shoot, and they can smack you around. They also explode when killed. These are just the definition of annoying. Now the three most threatening enemies in the game are usually the death of me. The Fiend, the Vore, and the Shambler. The Fiend is an asshole that leaps around and slashes you if it gets close and can jump on you for even more damage. His jumping attack just seems way overpowered. Another issue I have with Fiends is that sometimes they’re placed behind a closed door and they’ll leap at you the moment you open it. It just feels like cheap enemy placement. The Vore is a spider-like creature that fires these spiked pods that home in on you and will explode upon impact. If you see these creatures in an area always be alert because it’s very easy to miss the homing pods if you’re strafing around all over the place and the next thing you know you’re on the ground. The Shambler is just a gigantic dickhead. This thing can fire an electric beam at you and it’s a hitscan attack so if you’re in view or not far enough away, you’ll immediately get hit. It’s ridiculous and overpowered as far as I’m concerned. I find the best strategy is to get close to them so they try to slash you but not too close that they make contact, but also not too far away so they won’t fire they’re electrical attack. The rest of the enemies are not too bad. Knights and Death Knights are actually my two favorite enemies. They come charging at you with swords. However, Death Knights are bullet sponges and they can also cast a barrage of fireballs. Scrags are floating creatures that are very easy to eliminate. You just need to avoid their poison spray. Whenever you’re underwater you’ll need to avoid the Rotfish which are easy enough to blow away.
Scourge of Armagon introduces three new enemies. The Centroid is some kind of mechanical scorpion creature armed with nailguns and it can also dodge some of your attacks. Gremlins are kind of funny looking, weak, and hop around, slashing you if they get close. They usually appear in large numbers but they don’t pose much of a threat. The third enemy is the Spike Mine which is just this floating mine that homes in on you if you’re detected and explodes upon impact. Dissolution of Eternity introduces several new enemies and for the most part, I like the new additions, but mainly because of their appearances. Electric Eels populate the waters, Statues can come to life and attack you, and Phantom Swordsman are basically these large swords that attack after they detach from the walls. Apparently somebody thought adding Multi-Grenade Ogres was a good idea, making them deadlier and more annoying than standard Ogres. Mummies just seem like larger variants of the Zombies. Wraths look like flying reapers that fire red spiked balls, similar to the Vore’s spiked pods. Hell Spawn’s are green variants of regular Spawn’s. Finally there’s the Guardians which I would say act more like sub-bosses. They’re pretty cool, though. A Guardian wields a staff that can fire beams at you. I want to be clear that even though I find many of the enemies in this game to just be annoying, they don’t ruin the game, at least not for me. The firepower you’re given is more than enough to deal with the threats. Unfortunately, there’s a significant lack of bosses. The Quake campaign only has two. The first episode ends with an easy battle against the Chthon, which is this giant lava monster that hurls fireballs at you. The next boss is the final boss after completing all of the other episodes and it’s also not a very exciting boss fight in my opinion. The only boss in the Scourge of Armagon campaign is Armagon, himself. He’s some kind of half-biological, half-machine creature. You shoot it until dies and it’s not a bad fight. I would say Dissolution of Eternity has two real bosses, one at the end of each episode. The first is the Overlord, leader of the Wrath. He’s some kind of robed skeleton creature that flies around and fires balls of energy. The second and final boss of the mission pack is a flying dragon the can breathe fire and it even has a lightning breath attack. This is, by far, my favorite boss in the entire game. It’s just a shame that there’s not more bosses to battle because other than the final boss of the main campaign, the bosses that are here are pretty cool. Sadly, Dimension of the Past includes no real bosses, no new enemies, and no new weapons. Your final encounter is with Shamblers. Yeah, very disappointing.
The level design in Quake should be familiar if you’ve played Doom. Although, I found the level design here to be less confusing. I did get lost a few times but the levels don’t seem nearly as maze-like as some of the levels in Doom II and even Final Doom. In fact, many parts of the levels like walls and structures consist of arrows that point in the direction you should be going. One of the things I really like about Quake is that the game is informative. By that I mean, whenever you need to activate something or activate a series of buttons to progress, text will appear on the screen to let you know how many are left or if what you did activated something significant. You will be backtracking through some parts of levels, some buttons will open up secrets in different areas of the map, slipgates will take you to different parts of the same level, you’ll always be on the hunt for keys to gain access to new areas, you push or shoot buttons to activate things, you’ll be riding elevators and platforms, flying through wind tunnels, and there’s plenty of secret areas that contain goodies like health, armor, ammo, and power-ups. You’ll need to be aware of your surroundings since there’s plenty of environmental hazards and traps like lava, spikes, crushers, and things of that nature. I guess you could say Quake contains some horror elements since it gives off creepy vibes at times. There’s flickering lights, shadowy areas with enemies waiting to attack, creepy sound effects, crucified bodies on the walls, and other kinds of little shit to keep you on edge. There are some “tech-y” looking areas, especially in the Scourge of Armagon campaign, but many levels have a gothic medieval theme. You’ll traverse through castles, citadels, towers, and even sewage tunnels. The mission packs retain the same overall theme but Scourge of Armagon does have some futuristic and modern areas that make up the first set of levels including a research facility and even a military complex. Recently, I’ve discovered that some players prefer Scourge of Armagon to Dissolution of Eternity. I really don’t know why and I think I actually prefer Dissolution’s levels. Dissolution consists of some levels with the same gothic medieval theme as the original game but other levels mix things up with themes of ancient cultures like Greco-Roman and even Egyptian. Since I didn’t really know what the hell was going on in terms of story anyway, I thought Dissolution’s new level themes were a refreshing change of pace. Many of these levels are also much longer than any of the levels in the main game and even the other mission packs. Now the third mission pack, Dimension of the Past, seems to be a random set of levels with the same theme as the original game, nothing really new. It’s not really a bad thing, it’s just more of the same. You’ll navigate through a military base, catacombs, and even a stronghold, among others. But Dimension seems to consist of much more difficult levels than anything we’ve seen before it. I found some areas to be rather cheap with unexpected hazards and traps that don’t give you enough time to react. During the end levels, I found myself in dire need of ammo but that may be because I missed secret areas or something. Still, I never really had that problem with the base game or the other mission packs. But the best part of Dimension of the Past is that it’s completely free so there’s no real reason not to play it.
In my opinion, the visuals in Quake did not age gracefully and it’s really the theme and aesthetic that carry the visual presentation. My issue with Quake’s visuals is the same issue I have with a lot of early 3D games. Character models are blocky, animations are stiff, and it’s just not as timeless as sprite work. Over the years, 3D modelling has improved, but I’ve always felt that 3D games gradually become less appealing, visually, as they age. I’m not knocking the game or any game, really, because games are also products of their age and the technology available at the time. In 1996, Quake’s visuals were revolutionary. The 3D rendering was a breakthrough for the gaming industry and I respect and understand that. Basically what I’m saying is that my issue with the visuals really come down to my own personal preferences. On a positive note, I will say that even to this day, watching enemies explode into gibs is still satisfying. So at least that didn’t age poorly. But as for the environments, they actually hold up pretty well. Each level is well crafted, the lighting is pretty good, and each level oozes with atmosphere and gloom. When it comes to the audio design, the sound effects are what you would expect. Moans, groans, growls, and the appropriate weapon sounds. Nothing really stands out in terms of sound effects, at least not now. Maybe they stood out back in 1996, but I don’t know since I didn’t really play it in its heyday. As for the music, I obtained the soundtrack from Quaddicted.com and if there was unique music for the mission packs, which I think there was, I don’t have it. Regardless, most of the music I was able to obtain really isn’t music. It’s just a bunch of ambient sounds. The music was composed by Nine Inch Nails. Now I know people are obsessed and in love with Trent Reznor’s music but I’ve never been a fan of industrial rock or metal or whatever genre of music Nine Inch Nails is associated with. To be clear, I have nothing against Trent, himself. He seems like a pretty cool guy. And even though I’m not a fan of his stuff, I’ve got to say the music that is here is fitting. It matches the whole aesthetic and theme the game is going for and the one song, that I’m assuming is the Quake theme, is actually quite catchy. On the technical side I didn’t experience any crashes or serious problems, the game ran fast and smooth, but I did encounter some bugs and glitches. I saw some texture clipping here and there and a few times enemies would spawn in and just explode which is actually more comical than anything. But I don’t think that was supposed to happen. I noticed that if you type in the “give health” command in the console, your view becomes tilted as if you were dead but you can still move around. This may be a bug with the Quakespasm source port, I’m not sure. In Dissolution of Eternity I reached a point where I just couldn’t progress. After twenty minutes of searching I decided to do some research and discovered that I’m not the only one who experienced this and it is actually a bug. When I played through the same area again using the DarkPlaces source port and Quake 1.5, I was able to get through it without a problem. I also noticed that, with DarkPlaces, spinning blades were not moving like they should.
Just like the classic Doom games, Quake has a very active and impressive modding community, keeping the game alive. This was my first time really getting into Quake so I had to do some research to find the best single player mods available and Arcane Dimensions would frequently pop up. Arcane Dimensions is just insanse. The amount of detail is insane, the new enemies are insane, and even the weapons are insane. The texture work is phenomenal and there’s even new visual effects that improve the overall experience. There’s new weapon sound effects and enemies tend to explode more often, making the combat ever so satisfying. There’s a new weapon called the Widowmaker Shotgun and it fires three shells at once. This is probably my favorite new weapon because it just looks and feels badass. There’s also a Plasma Gun which seems to be a separate weapon from the Thunderbolt. However, it feels more satisfying here and can fire rapidly. Unfortunately, I don’t know the official names of the new enemies but I can tell you that most of them are really cool, well designed, and it’s great to see a large cast of new creatures that fit in perfectly with the existing ones. There’s new flying creatures, large statue golem things, and even wizards or necromancers that can teleport around and fire blazed horned skulls that resemble Lost Souls from Doom. Arcane Dimensions manages to keep the vanilla gameplay relatively intact all while improving almost everything about it.
Arcane Dimensions has two hub worlds connected by a slipgate. I believe one of the hub worlds was added in the 1.5 update. Every level is significantly larger than any of the levels in the base game. The level design is just so incredible, it’s jaw dropping. The structures, atmosphere, and even enemy placements are just perfect. Clearly, the creator is a Doom fan since once map is a recreation of E1M1 from the original Doom. I was smiling the entire time I was in this map. There is a boss battle or two with actual new and unique end bosses and they’re actually really fun and action packed battles. The environments are also somewhat destructible in Arcane Dimensions. You can shoot through some wooden doorways and planks, glass, and even blow open crates. You can tell every level was designed with careful thought and planning. There’s also plenty of variety when it comes to the levels. They all retain that medieval feel but not all of them gave me that dark fantasy vibe. Some levels are made up of swampy areas and I’m never keen on these types of environments but I enjoy others like the one snow themed castle level. I loved the lighting in the Mountain. And Necromancer’s Keep and the City are two of my favorite levels. Actually, I could say all of the levels are my favorite because even with the sections I wasn’t a fan of, the levels usually consisted of more enjoyable sections than bad. And my issues with these sections are not really the design but just the idea. I don’t like traversing through water and swampy areas, or catacombs, or spider infested hallways, but then you leave these areas and end up in some kind of eye popping castle or building with beautiful architecture and plenty of rooms and paths to explore.
Arcane Dimensions has a very nineties feel to it and it’s just immensely replayable. What I do I mean by “nineties feel”? I don’t know, but few games can capture it nowadays, let alone a mod. It reminds me a lot of my days playing platformers like the Spyro games or Crash Bandicoot Warped for the original PlayStation. Even Mario 64 which I played much later in life. There’s plenty of levels and secret areas to explore, treasure to find, and items to collect. In this case, there’s an entire new bestiary, new weapons, and even Runes. There’s four Runes scattered throughout the dozen or so maps and finding them all will reward you with a final bonus map. However, trying to find these can be tedious, since as far as I know, there’s no real way to know what maps they’re in. Also, most maps can easily take you a half-hour or longer to complete on your first playthrough so you may be playing this for a while.
I do have a few issues with Arcane Dimensions but I’m telling you right now that these are easily overlooked once you start playing. The frame rate would tank during my time in The Realm of Enceladus map. It would tank only in certain spots and I’m guessing because it’s so big. I also fell through the floor in this map at one point. Funnily enough, this is not the new map that exceeded the limits of the engine. That honor goes to The Sepulcher map, which, by the way, has some of the greatest architecture in the entire mod. It’s also very easy to get lost in some maps because they’re just so huge and it’s not always clear where you need to go or what you need to do. For example there may be four or five keys you need to hunt down and there’s no way to know which one is needed first, let alone where it is. Other than these things, I encountered nothing that really brought down the experience and Arcane Dimensions is one of the best mods I’ve ever had the pleasure of enjoying.
Ultimately, I enjoyed my time with Quake. I’m glad I finally gave it a real shot because Quake is a very unique game with an aesthetic that has yet to be matched in any games since. Personally, I would take Doom over Quake any day but I can see why people hold this game in such high regard. It’s fun, it’s fast-paced, and it’s action packed. It has a unique style and fun gameplay. Even though I found many of the enemies annoying, that didn’t detract from my overall experience. The mission packs added some great new stuff and, honestly, I prefer Dissolution of Eternity over Scourge of Armagon. Dimension of the Past is just more of the same but it’s free so I can’t really complain. It was also created by the same developers that brought us Wolfenstein: The New Order because they’re just awesome like that. Quake is considered a classic and rightfully so. It’s only disappointing to know the series became very inconsistent with sequels that share no real relation to the original game other than the Quake name.