Dwell

dwell ep1: when this came out, i was at the height of my love for quake. it's easily one of the best experiences i had with quake in every single aspect (design/music/etc). i think i played it three times (i prefer to play things once) and discovered a majority of the secrets. i also did a level critique stream too? it's been awhile but i skipped it because i wanna experience it fresh when all four episodes are released.

ep2: the biggest downfall of this is that it's not episode 1 and wasn't released the same year... i have a kind of nostalgia for that time. it's not as strong as ep1, but it's still quite incredible. i'm horrible at secrets, as i averaged about 60% for the first five maps, and very little for the others.
i see complaints in other reviews for M7 & M8, and i get it! but i loved them! M7 i was a little confused but that was mostly on me. M8 was so much fun! i admit i had to savescum to complete that jumping puzzle section with the nails at your back, and i rocketjumped to a couple places i didn't have the skill to get to. but it's honeslty pretty fun to just marvel at a map that's HUGE yet didn't suffer in detail or effort - are you human, mazu?

ep 3 and 4, i'm very excited for and do not mind them cooking in the oven for however long they need to take! thank you all! i love y'all!

This shall go down in history

Wow! Dwell, as of the Episode 1 release, is a journey well worth taking. It presents a series of large and extremely well constructed maps, each dripping with Lovecraftian themes — from open-air ruins and blood-fueled temples to amorphous eldritch flesh and spires floating in the void. What may really catch your attention though is the swell of location appropriate music, especially given its Egyptian flair. My only real complaint is an over reliance on horde-style encounters, but that is obviously personal preference. Regardless, I can't wait for Episode 2!

This is one of the best Quake mods of all time... there's no need to say more.

Phenomenally crafted, Dwell (part 1) is a visual feast. Very consistently high quality with good detailing and artistic vision. Overall feel is like vanilla+ (similar to id1 with necessary and suitable enhancements) which goes very fittingly with the detailed visuals. An excellent pack and source of inspiration.

One of my favourite mods and arguably one of the best quake mods ever made. It's main accomplishment is that there's a clear vision and central story idea for each episode and all the maps piece together very well to create a living, connected world to explore. While the earlier maps feel majestic with their impressive architecture, grounded in a more worldly setting, the experience takes a frightening turn as you travel deeper and deeper into far more nightmarish and alien environments with hostile and oppressive atmospheres. Together this really teases the imagination and makes for a very immerisve and intriguing experience. While I like Epsiode 1 the most because I find the ancient egyptian theme really interesting, Episode 2 is just extraordinary with that new art style and inspiration taken from the Cthulu Mythos. Quake was always wating for a mod like this to make the most of it's ideas and take them to the next level. All the mappers deserve praise here and their strengths and mapping styles are applied to create a very well crafted episode.
Great work!

PS: Abyss of the Troglodytes is a fucking fever dream

If I had to choose just one single favourite project for Quake, among all of them AD, Alk, Rubicon, UDOB, PUN... all of them! that would be Dwell. To me it feels like self-contained game. Total conversion at the very least. It is still Quake, it feels & plays normally, but evolved in every aspect.

The most notable & invaluable thing is environmental storytelling - it's best among anything you ever seen done for Quake. Every single map here is with its own story and all of them are readable by just observing the surroundings. And, damn, the story of Dwell is frightening! True mystic lovecraftian horror with bits of SiFi and Dark Fantasy (Very dark fantasy). All in all visually evrything is accenting story bits not details for details, and I admire & respect that alone

As for gameplay it's extremely varied here. Some encounters are extremely brutal due to being very enclosed, some are vice versa lazy sniper shootouts from afar. Sometimes it's fast paced encounter that ends in seconds, sometimes it's prolongated encounter with stages & unexpected waves. Most of times encounters aren't bland, not just enter and shoot, nope. Most of times encounters are well-thought out and carefully predefined (in a good way). If you up for secrets than you will be rewarded with puzzles head scratching - secrets aren't easy in here (while there're some kindergarten secrets of course), some feel like mini games

All in all it's not just mod, just game. It's an experience. Immersive & memorable. More of that experience you would want to go thru more & more - yep, replayability is all here

1001 stars out of 5

Best of the best. Must play to anyone who loves FPS, not just Quake fans. Not to mention that environmental storytelling is all here, so it's not just shoot & run. It's immersive & atmospheric

Not a proper review as I've only played 3 maps of Episode 2 yet, but, just wow, it's a work of art so far. Love everything: the level design, the beauty of it all, the new monsters and weapons, the secrets, the music.

The rotary shotgun is simply the best addition to quake.
It's an upgrade without making either shotgun obsolete.
And serves a great alternative to the nailgun when you want to preserve its ammo - wihout slowing down the game as the super shotgun.

Finisdhed playing it today. Nothing much to say, this is one the best, if not the best, custom episode for Quake. Absolute must play.

Just finished a complete playthrough of both episodes last night.

I think it's safe to say that every rework in E1 was a definite upgrade, especially D1M1 and D1M4, the latter of which is probably my favorite map in the episode now. The new final fight in D1M8 feels really good too, less drawn-out and maybe even more intense than the old one (whoever had the idea of adding the Serious Sam kamikazes to Dwell, I salute you). D1end is a great finale for the episode: beautiful brushwork, an amazing boss model and a series of escalating encounters that don't give you a single moment's respite.

Moving on to Episode 2, D2M1 through D2M5 is an absolutely incredible sequence of maps. They have all the ingredients that make a great Quake level in my eyes: gorgeous environments, well thought out combat encounters and a true sense of progression in difficulty within the map itself. Bal's D2M4 and Fairweather's D2M5 are my personal highlights here, a pair of jaw-droppingly beautiful maps that flow seamlessly from combat into exploration and back again.

Unfortunately, the later maps of E2 are not really my cup of tea. I can appreciate the obvious skill and effort that went into making them, but they are very grindy and in parts quite confusing to navigate for my pea brain. As mentioned earlier in this review, I love the tightly choreographed combat of the first five maps and especially D2M7 and D2M8 are pretty much the exact opposite of that.

D2end ramps up the difficulty substantially compared to the first episode's boss and it feels very rewarding once you finally manage to survive that fight. Very cool to see some "proper" bosses to cap off the episodes compared to vanilla Quake and even most mods.

Regardless of my criticism of individual maps, the complete package that is Dwell, including the outstanding soundtrack, as well as the new enemies, power-ups and decorations/textures, deserves no less than 5 stars. Thank you to everyone who made this mod possible, it was an absolute blast to play.

Amateurish Quake is so far surpassed simple fan-made projects. Dwell II is lifted up the range of non-professional development for another level, equal and even higher some AAA commercial projects. There has not been such an exciting adventure for a long time. New enemies and decoration models among with successfully chosen texture theme creates an exciting and scary Lovecraftian atmosphere. Perfect!
Waiting for a next episodes. Thank You all, Dwell team!

You'll get a lot of fun. Excellent logic of the playing process, the structure of the maps, and enemy/ammo.

This is fantastic. I wasn't sure if I'd even played the first episode but as I got into it I realised I had, but the addition of that boss map was nice. Very nice boss battle with the intermissions.

It starts out nice although I think d1m1 could do with some polishing, but just keeps getting better, the highlight for me is the atmosphere of d1m5 by Henry. But d1m3 that outdoor area is fantastic. d1m6 some beautiful texturing. d1m7 unfortunately just couldn't figure out where the SK is, I noclipped for 10mins. I don't think I had this issue first time I played it. But overall it's out of place as a void map and I'm not a fan of voids. Mazu's is nice without being overwhelming although a void at least it's not floating jump pads.

But then the second episode takes thing to a new level from the offset, d2m1 to m5 just beautiful. d2m3 with all those angles this has to be visually one of the best levels I've played, without the need for huge set pieces, which d2m5 is similar but with the set pieces. Bal is such an artist.

d2m6 probably the weakest looking, that could do with a bit more detail in the first half, or even scrap that part altogether.

Unfortunately d2m7 while it looks great, is confusing to finish. Again I noclipped for probably 15mins I have no idea where that last power cube is. Eventually just noclipped to the exit because there were only 20 enemies left. Probably missed some unclear button or teleport that doesn't look like a teleport somewhere.

I heard d2m8 was a chore so I made sure to do that one on easy, which was actually perfectly fine, it felt easy. I know Mazu maps can sometimes get a bit too much on normal and above. Maybe easy was a bit TOO easy. Of course those few annoying puzzles I noclipped through - I'm not playing Quake for puzzles. But the map looked great. Then the boss map was awesome, what a wicked boss and quite unique. New bosses/enemies in Quake have tendency to just be the same old thing, but this boss felt different.

I can't wait for ep3/4 especially if they get even better than this. I would personally just polish up a few of the under-detailed maps here, fix the navigation issues in d1m7 and d2m7 and and get d2m8 a bit less of an overwhelming deathtrap.

Probably my favorite Quake mod to date. A prime example of how modern design in a classic game can mesh so well together. It's 2023 and Quake modding is still going strong - can't wait for episodes 3 and 4 now!

I love everything about the desolation and melancholy of these fallen worlds.

Extra special shoutouts to "The Waters Below" by JCR, so masterfully encapsulating the unnerving Lovecraft mythos: treading in a place so hostile and obscure, yet inexorably tugging your curiosity to explore it, against your better instincts.

It pains me to notice that most people in Youtube walkthroughs are playing this map with a Quake port that doesn't display the outdoor weather/lighting effects which are crucial to its atmosphere.

Future episodes have a tall order to follow and I hope the authors will take as long as it takes to realize their vision.

Thank you for the journey so far!

I absolutely adore this mod. The architecture of the levels are beautiful, the new weapons and enemies breath new life to Quake already-rock-solid combat, and it even has custom music to boot. Sometimes the monsters feel a bit excessive, which is sometimes exhausting but usually leads to incredibly adrenaline-fueled highs of gibs and gunpowder. The layouts of certain levels and finding secret levels can be a bit too much for me. However, I honestly prefer the sequential nature of the levels to the you-pick-which-whenever style of other big mods like AD and Alkaline. At this point, ID could probably release this as its own game. I'd be willing to pay the price just to expose more people to the sheer effort that went into this mod.

This has been one of my favorite Quake things ever. The atmosphere and environmental progression is just utterly top-notch, all the maps synergize with each other really well, and Aleks's soundtrack ties everything together perfectly - I'm always amazed at how good music can set the tone for a map. Also, the powerups and new weapons are absurdly fun, and fit the world so well, especially with how they can be combined. Markie's sounds really elevate them a ton too, berserking makes you feel truly powerful, and the ticking with haste was so good. These were genuinely all amazing, but a few notes on individual ones:

Under a Funeral Moon by Voidforce is quite visually unique, especially through its expert use of lighting. The colored minlight adds a ton, along with the red highlights you see here and there. Figuring out the fights was also a welcome challenge - especially the last one. Seeing the leaping enforcers on the platform you had to stay on was wild + figuring out how to get away from the two shamblers on one side/bombers on the other side when the fight first starts. Also, I love the rapid-fire button shooting secret, and I wanted to wander out into the desert forever in the outdoor section

Ankhs for the Memories by Fairweather put a smile on my face for the entire time. Jesus christ that was good. The music synergizes especially well, and going through all the intermission areas, each themed around a new powerup, was an absolute blast. The map is visually flawless, idk, I can't say enough good things about this, and it's a well-deserving finale to episode 1. Some of the most fun I've had in Quake. Fairweather is always so good at keeping the adrenaline going in really creative ways

That We Should Voyage So Far by Bal is the first map I've played that gave me the same feeling Tears of the False God did, which I guess is appropriate given the author. The music/lighting/skybox/everything just feels so beautifully sad and mystical at the same time. The secrets were fun to find, and the gameplay was exciting/challenging, especially with a shotgun start, but what truly sells it is the atmosphere, which is uncontested. I've noticed that about a lot of Bal maps - they tend to have a very melancholic and alien feeling to them that is very difficult to find anywhere else - that sort of creeping/slow atmosphere is often overlooked, but it feels absolutely magical. One of my new favorite maps - it's absolutely beautiful, to the point that it was honestly making me a little weepy lol. It's maps like this where every element comes together perfectly, and really shows how special Quake can be. This also has my favorite music track on it, and I love the snails

Abyss of the Troglodytes was one of the most inventive maps I've played. The encounters are so well thought out, and I loved all the jumping puzzles! That's so rare in Quake, and I wish it was wasn't, because Quake has the best movement out there. The secrets also incorporate these, and were really creative as per usual with Mazu, particularly the mirrored room one. I just want to munch all the Mazu secrets like a jar of cookies, there are just so many! It's addictive. Also, the entire gold key sequence was insane, and learning all the ins and outs of it was a real treat, especially with how it constantly forced you forward and kept the adrenaline going. This has been the hardest map I've done deathless so far, which took some doing, but I loved every moment of optimizing the run and figuring out the best ways of going through everything, and I'm looking forward to trying it again on coop. On that note, I also really love how open-ended this is. There are so many ways of routing through the map, that basically no two playthrough are going to be the same, especially combined with the orb doors around the water temple. Mazu is truly amazing at gameplay, and his maps are very inspiring.

Apeirohedron by Bal and Fairweather was visually stunning, especially how the caves vanish off into the blue distance - I don't think I'll ever forget that image. The boss on top of it was super fun to fight - you don't get too many challenging bosses in Quake, but both of Dwell's bosses thus far have absolutely knocked it out of the park, and they both look so amazing. I still have to find the mailbox here, though. I forgot, and I'm assuming there is one, and I'm going to find it, and I'm going to smack it with my axe.

That being said, every map in here is fantastic and was an absolute pleasure to go through, but I don't want to write an essay, so all I'll say is I'm looking forward to going through them all again and again. Thank you to the entire Dwell team for this, it truly is special.

DWELL is amazing so far! I've only done the first episode (my first time is this updated V2 version) but I already know I'm going to like Episode 2! Down the line, can't wait for episodes 3 and 4 as well!