Pak Attack: Retro Jam 3 + DLC: Vertical Metal / Runic Theme (2015) [BQTN 147 | PC w/ Quakespasm]
2I wasn't sure what to expect coming into this jam and its "DLC" - it can seemingly be harder for metal/runic maps to stand out, and maps with lots of verticality can easily become frustrating. There were still some standouts in this set, though.
00:00 - Intro
05:20 - The Shores of Zin by FifthElephant
This jam unfortunately starts out with by far the weakest map of all 3 retro jams thus far. This map suffers a severe underabundance of resources, relative to the absolute onslaught of enemies. It does not seem to have been balanced across difficulties, and this very much plays like hard difficulty, to the point where the secrets are pretty much required, and even then I ultimately gave up on the final room because it was too much BS and I got tired of retrying it a dozen times. FifthElephant has made plenty of decent maps, and this isn't one of his first (this released after Func Map Jam 1-5); I'll have to assume there just wasn't enough time to tune it properly.
33:33 - Acrophobopolis by Skacky
This map has far more solid design, and in retrospect I realize it rather nails the vertical part of the theme as well - I don't think I realized just how many layers this map had as I played it. Playing on normal, this map felt like it compensated for Fifth's - you could have transplanted 25% of this map's resources into the other one and it would've made the pak way better.
1:09:59 - It Seemd to Devour Light by Ionous
This is (alphabetically) the first map in the "DLC" pak released separately. All 3 maps in this pak seem to vary a bit more thematically, and this map certainly stands out in that regard. Structurally it reminds me a bit of Gehennae Perpetuae Cruciatus / Per Aspera Ad Inferi (also by Ionous) as it is largely composed of many square rooms adjoined by stairs, though the rooms in this map are much more claustrophobic, which reduces the action to enter a square, fight a couple of enemies, repeat. The lighting and detail work in this map also seem in constant conflict, as the map is rather dark but absolutely littered with fullbright light textures. It looks cool, but isn't terribly conducive to poking around for secrets.
1:46:40 - Oth by Negke
This map again has a few unique stylistic accents, and I felt like this map did a particularly good job with constantly opening up vertically both above and below the player, while not being overwhelmingly vertical as a whole. There was one point where I misread what a switch did and got 2 similar-looking air vents confused, but I kind of inflicted that upon myself by mistaking what was right in front of me for backtracking when it was actually the way forward.
2:10:05 - Oblivionaut by Skacky
Yes, Skacky had a map in the jam proper, and _another_ in the DLC. Both of Skacky's maps incorporate all aspects of the theme well; this map in particular stands out for its open exterior and awesome skybox.
---
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 BQTN live on weekends at 8PM US Eastern on YouTube, Twitch, or Glimesh! You can find links to all 3 on my site at https://cney.stream/ along with a page listing everything I've played in the series.
Other Videos By CnEY
Other Statistics
Quake Statistics For CnEY
There are 11,726 views in 184 videos for Quake. There's over 31 days worth of watchable video for Quake published on his channel, or 29.23% of the total watchable video on CnEY's YouTube channel.