First 'official' QUAKE episode in two decades, and ... it sucks! Lazy difficulty based solely on providing about a quarter the ammo and health as usual and just spamming the spongiest and most annoying enemies in tight corridors over and over. Fairly well-constructed levels, but that's it. Nothing new. Cheap! Crappy! Bad job!
Pretty good! When it comes to the feeling, the atmosphere, and the total lack of concern for story, this is the most faithful to the original Quake of any of the expansions I've played so far. The map design and enemy encounters are much different, borrowing the abstract approach of Quake 1 but little else. A lot of maps are designed symmetrically, with multiple tidy loops that all bring you back to the beginning. Most maps have at least one enemy encounter that is designed to be overwhelming, nearly impossible to survive without fleeing. I imagine this is frustrating for the type of Quake completionists who feel the need to kill every enemy in every map, but once I realized that was not going to be possible for most of these maps I actually found it quite freeing. The whole experience is pretty interesting, like playing a Quake that's informed by 20 years of genre evolution. It doesn't always work, but it's never boring.
It's fine, better than the 2 mission packs before it, but it has way too many of my least favourite enemy (death knight). Luckily it's pretty short and doesn't overstay its welcome.
pretty solid set of levels though it kind of feels like "more quake" rather than its own thing
it's likely due to the lack of new weapons/enemies, but even then it's some good quake-ing
it's likely due to the lack of new weapons/enemies, but even then it's some good quake-ing
Well, the first 2 levels were great! And then the episode completely shits the bed immediately afterward.
A good expansion, mod, level pack, etc should emphasize a game's strengths, but Dimension of the Past mostly emphasizes Quake's weaknesses. The Knights are a pretty dull and uninteresting enemy in the base game, so here, DotP throws what feels like hundreds of them at you. CONSTANTLY. The second secret level is, no joke, nothing but 50(!) Knights and a handful of Vores thrown in. Ugh. People joke that to be good at Serious Sam, all you need to do is press the "S" key, but I think I backpedaled more playing this one godforsaken expansion more than I did playing through the entire Serious Sam franchise!
Also, did I mention all the bullshit instadeath traps you'd have no way of knowing about until you've already died to it? sigh
Oh and have fun never having ammo because the bullet sponge knights eat it all up unless you're finding most of the secrets (and even then I was still running out of ammo somewhat regularly and had to melee the knights to death.)
What a miserable slog this was.
A good expansion, mod, level pack, etc should emphasize a game's strengths, but Dimension of the Past mostly emphasizes Quake's weaknesses. The Knights are a pretty dull and uninteresting enemy in the base game, so here, DotP throws what feels like hundreds of them at you. CONSTANTLY. The second secret level is, no joke, nothing but 50(!) Knights and a handful of Vores thrown in. Ugh. People joke that to be good at Serious Sam, all you need to do is press the "S" key, but I think I backpedaled more playing this one godforsaken expansion more than I did playing through the entire Serious Sam franchise!
Also, did I mention all the bullshit instadeath traps you'd have no way of knowing about until you've already died to it? sigh
Oh and have fun never having ammo because the bullet sponge knights eat it all up unless you're finding most of the secrets (and even then I was still running out of ammo somewhat regularly and had to melee the knights to death.)
What a miserable slog this was.
Short and sweet well-designed levels with well-placed arena battles.
A return to form for Quake expansions. Just Quake through and through. Benefits a lot from the return of the Trent Reznor soundtrack. Slot this baby and its follow-up into your standard Quake playthrough routine.
Primera expansion moderna de Quake: muy mediocre, corta e innecesario.
Too difficult and level design is not interesting, average fun
I think I played this one earlier in the year and just forgot to log it. So I'll just set the completion date for today. Thought it was aight from what I remember. Lotta fun high speed shoot bangs that Quake is known for. Was a nice distraction during my lunch breaks. Scourge of Armagon would probably be my favorite Quake 1 content if well Dimension of the Machine didn't exist.
Played through this with my brother and a randy we came across named StarL who was a pretty damn great comrade. The Shamblers and putrid Ogres had no chance against this deadly trifecta!!
I honestly think I liked Dimension of the Past a little more than the expansion packs. It's very stripped down, with only the base Quake enemies and weapons appearing throughout the ten levels. Where it shines is level design—I don't think I disliked a single level in this episode. The maps are arguably more linear than the previous mission packs, but there aren't many cheap or frustrating moments. This was the first episode I finished on nightmare difficulty, and I rarely felt pressed for ammo compared to points of Scourge of Armagon on normal difficulty. Even though it ends with a bit of a whimper, the rest of the ride makes up for it.
quake clasico pero con una estupida dificultad
Easily the hardest of the Quake expansions, often creating artificial spikes in difficulty by holding back ammo in sections that seem borderline impossible with the full arsenal. MachineGames shows plenty of the skill in the level design department, although reusing the Shub-Niggurath level from the base game seems more than a bit lazy. Solid, if a bit unimpressive.
Improves on the original Quake, but is a good bit more difficult. Sometimes that difficulty is through requiring carefully planned and used ammo economies to get by on minimal resources. Sometimes that difficulty is jamming seven or eight Death Knights into the tiniest space possible.
It was aight, level design wasn't really all to interesting and it kinda just felt like more base Quake, which is still fun, just unremarkable.
nice architecture but pretty limp in most of its encounter design. dark knights are in abundance. at least it's very short. it knows that it runs out of steam quickly and doesnt have a lot of ideas, so i can respect that. but it's just very ok, the original expansions are worth more of a playthrough.
DOOMATHON entry #5.5/20
List: https://www.backloggd.com/u/Mariofan717/list/doom--quake-campaigns-ranked/
After playing hours of mission packs deviating from the base game's theming, I found this episode to be a very well executed return to form. It's not as ambitious as Scourge of Armagon or Dissolution of Eternity, but every map here is damn solid, and if not for a few instances of obnoxious Shambler spam and a final map that indulges in the worst design tendencies of these games, I'd probably place this on par with episodes 2 and 3 of the base game. A very nice addition, even if not an essential one.
Cross-posted on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mariofan717/status/1748164386534121494
List: https://www.backloggd.com/u/Mariofan717/list/doom--quake-campaigns-ranked/
After playing hours of mission packs deviating from the base game's theming, I found this episode to be a very well executed return to form. It's not as ambitious as Scourge of Armagon or Dissolution of Eternity, but every map here is damn solid, and if not for a few instances of obnoxious Shambler spam and a final map that indulges in the worst design tendencies of these games, I'd probably place this on par with episodes 2 and 3 of the base game. A very nice addition, even if not an essential one.
Cross-posted on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mariofan717/status/1748164386534121494
Eh
It’s short!
A pleasantly surprising return to form for the Quake expansions. The modern level design influences and expertise from MachineGames pay off. The levels are creative and interesting, and the increased enemy levels present a refreshing challenge. Well worth playing.
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6,0/10 - Length
10/10 - Price
4,5/10 - Performance/Bugs
4,0/10 - Gameplay
3,0/10 - Story/Experience
Score = 5,5/10
6,0/10 - Length
10/10 - Price
4,5/10 - Performance/Bugs
4,0/10 - Gameplay
3,0/10 - Story/Experience
Score = 5,5/10
A pretty good little vanilla campaign through Quake. While I wish it did more; it’s a pretty good reminder of Quake’s best qualities in a short experience.
Maybe as average of a Quake episode as you can get... but in the end, it's still Quake. As far as the deprivation of health and ammo in this episode? I really didn't feel it, at all. Especially if you're privy enough to find a few secrets, you should be fine - but I still recommend playing conservatively here.
The final "boss" is extremely anticlimatic, but i'd argue that's every boss in Quake, but it is meant to serve as a prequel after all. The level design is fine but definitely a run of the mill Quake episode.
Hint: Almost every bloody grate you see is a secret. Recommended, but mostly simply to experience it. The real pull here is Dimension of the Machine...
Personal favourite level: The Otherworld
The final "boss" is extremely anticlimatic, but i'd argue that's every boss in Quake, but it is meant to serve as a prequel after all. The level design is fine but definitely a run of the mill Quake episode.
Hint: Almost every bloody grate you see is a secret. Recommended, but mostly simply to experience it. The real pull here is Dimension of the Machine...
Personal favourite level: The Otherworld
I have no clue whose bright idea it was to make an episode that purposefully starves the player of ammo in a fucking id Software shooter but holy shit what a steaming turd of an hour this was
A decent episode until the game decides to pull off some insane amount of ammo conservation for you and sending way too many shamblers your way to deal with.
This felt pretty unremarkable, even generic at times.
Designers chose a very simple way of making this expansion more difficult by just putting a lot of hard enemies while giving you a very scarce quantities of ammo and other resources.
DOPA’s worst map (Map 3: The Dark Days) is not only some sort of big medieval sewer, but is also by far the expansion’s brownest level. The juxtaposition of these two memes makes the map feel pretty much like a joke. Besides that, is simply a dull map with lots of backtracking through underwater sections. The other incredibly awful maps is the last one: they just simply copypasted Shub-Niggurath’s pit but without Shub-Niggurath. Epic meme down there.
The rest of the maps seem to have pretty much the same ammount of ups and downs. Frankly, the first two levels (both are tech-base levels) felt to me like the most solid ones.
I guess it’s worth a try, but i don’t see myself coming back to this one in the future.
Designers chose a very simple way of making this expansion more difficult by just putting a lot of hard enemies while giving you a very scarce quantities of ammo and other resources.
DOPA’s worst map (Map 3: The Dark Days) is not only some sort of big medieval sewer, but is also by far the expansion’s brownest level. The juxtaposition of these two memes makes the map feel pretty much like a joke. Besides that, is simply a dull map with lots of backtracking through underwater sections. The other incredibly awful maps is the last one: they just simply copypasted Shub-Niggurath’s pit but without Shub-Niggurath. Epic meme down there.
The rest of the maps seem to have pretty much the same ammount of ups and downs. Frankly, the first two levels (both are tech-base levels) felt to me like the most solid ones.
I guess it’s worth a try, but i don’t see myself coming back to this one in the future.
Fun, but a fair few levels seemed like they were trying way too hard to be hard. Ammo is extremely scarce and oftentimes there's just a few too many enemies in some rooms. That said, it's pretty short with generally solid level design so at least the frustrating moments don't last too long. Definitely the least memorable Quake campaign that I've played though.
A lot more solid of a continuation of the original game than Scourge of Armagon. Levels are fun and smartly designed, the aesthetic is kept perfectly - it's a winner
Played the remastered version included in Quake (2021) but didn't want to mess up its rating.