An exciting new fan-made fan Quake single-player map pack that explores the Internet’s favorite architectural style, Brutalism. 35 maps that offer all sorts of specific hells, from living quarters and control facilities to otherworldly ritual spaces and straight murder pits. Having spent most of my early thirties sledding around the Barbican, I really enjoyed these varied Brutalist experiences. And the monster. The same goes for monstermurder’s pleasures. Here, come admire how beautiful the center is.
I really, really like that central level. The shapes! Ominous blocks to choose difficulty level! Crossing! Dummies of benches and trash cans! The secret playground is buried in the abyss! What a completely unsettling opening.
Hosted by “Makkon”, Map Pack Quake Brutalist Jam made by 34 mappers over the course of two and a half weeks. That leads to a range of styles and experiences that I would love to explore. Walk through a white door, and who knows what you’ll find?
Some of the maps are your usual Quake, key corridor, and murder map. Some are huge spaces or mazes to explore (and kill in there). One is a huge battle through the wide streets of the city with dozens of enemies. Is one, I think, a non-violent exploratory horror story with multiple endings and some huge secrets that I’ve only glimpsed a naughty rogue? I really want to find out that mystery.
It’s interesting how different mappers do with the Brute and specific jam theme. Some are sci-fi, some fantasy, some horror, and some completely mundane. Some build residences or offices, echoing common real-world uses of Brutalism, albeit dragged into a hellish void. Some go for the control-y otherworldly vibe, where the ordinaryness of the concrete amplifies the strangeness of the things inside, the space is not man-made but is meant to be astonishing to feel. familiar to us. Some draw inspiration from prestigious Brutalist cultural centers and designers. Elsewhere are brutalist industrial spaces. Some maps feature unreal, pristine concrete, forever sparkling in a utopia complete with walls of verdant greenery. Others lean more towards the ultimate reality of concrete, crumbling and collapsing, exposing reinforcement.
It’s a good map pack to go through the various areas of Brutalism’s complex legacy (a lot of which, you know, it looks great). Also, the murder is fun and it’s usually pretty pretty.
I really like modern Quake maps that are formed from those old angular Quake building blocks but use modern processing power to render many, many of them. Huge constructions and dizzying scenery could have melted the Pentium 90. Also perfect for Brutalism.
Downloads and credits are this way. This pack is made to play in Quakespasm, an updated community version of the Quake engine. I don’t know if it works with Quake’s fancy modern Steam version of Bethesda (which they’re still updating, recently). added Threewave’s CTF); I used Quakespasm. It also combines Coppera Quake polish mod with some minor tweaks and bug fixes.
Disclosure: Robert Yang, who wrote to RPS About Quake and level design, there is a map in this pack.
