Pak Attack: Dwell v2.2 E1 [BQTN E177 | PC w/ vkQuake]
1It's been nearly a year since I played Dwell E1 for the first time, and over 2 years since its initial release. After much anticipation, Dwell v2 was released a few weeks ago, followed by two patch releases comprising over 100 additional improvements.
The big news with Dwell v2 is of course the entirely new 2nd episode, but many of the maps in episode 1 have also been updated, so I wanted to replay that first. The first level seems largely reworked; E1M4 has a new section to introduce a new weapon; some levels have new enemy encounters, and D1M8 has a completely reworked end arena due to there now being a proper end map for the episode which presents a far more interesting (and less problematic) challenge.
This playthrough skips the first episode's secret level, as I have been told it hasn't really changed, and I felt like that level wore on for too long in my first playthrough; that probably would've easily added another hour. As-is, this E1 playthrough clocks in at longer than my original v1 playthrough, partly thanks to the additional end and bonus maps, and completely new and highly-explorable start map.
The new weapon seen in v2's E1 can be very satisfying, but takes a bit of getting used to at first, and I find it tends to involve a lot of weapon-swapping if you want to attempt to avoid wasting ammo with it; that being said, E1 on normal difficulty without scratch starts typically doesn't short the player on ammo much (even rockets, which Copper tries to balance by halving ogre drops).
There's evidently also another new weapon that I suspect I'll be seeing in E2, which I ended up spoiling in the bonus map unlocked after completing E1. It looks like it'll be very fun to use.
The one thing I really wasn't much a fan of in the updated E1 was the addition of Kamikazes from Serious Sam. I can somewhat appreciate what they add in terms of gameplay (though I also somewhat _don't_ appreciate that, honestly), but they feel completely tone-deaf relative to literally everything else in the pak. Dwell overall feels like it has a very serious and at times somber mood (further conveyed by the great soundtrack)... and then you have these incessantly screaming guys making a beeline for you (or, in rare cases, comically running around aimlessly when they can't reach you).
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For more BQTN (Better Quake Than Never), see details and the full playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfGxDQwmTH6y1mhQzUaCZ6XxXxspG7Z19
This was originally livestreamed. Catch Quake and other FPS playthroughs live on weekends at 8PM US Eastern on YouTube or Twitch! You can find links to both on my site at https://cney.stream/ along with a BQTN page listing all of the Quake paks I've played.
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