Epochs of Enmity

Easily the most fun I've had playing Quake. These levels are a blast.

Called To Muster sets the tone right away, something creepy is happening. Tombs of Omega has one of the more beautiful chambers I've ever seen. Knight on the Towne was a top notch highlight, too. A doomed medieval village square. A very logical flow with a perfect amount of exploration packed into a compact area. I loved running around this map very much. At this point I was so immersed and in love with the vibe of these maps I never wanted it to end.

The Citadel of Twilight is an incredible castle/fortress, keeping the feel going. And it just keeps going. I love this.

Played through it on skill 2 using the IronWail source port.

Very good set of maps that capture the old school aesthetic while including modern sensibilities such as hordes and combat puzzles. It is slightly harder than the original wads, but not as extreme as some modern interpretations.

Aesthetically, the maps alternate between different styles such as techbases, greco-roman styles and castles. Even the more exploration heavy maps, make a good use of architecture to guide the player through the different nooks and crannies without ever getting lost.

The maps scale on difficulty, reaching the climax on the last level which relies a lot on monster re-spawning and gratuitous quad damage runs to clear previously populated areas. Combining these with an ingenious use of level traps to clear some of the bigger baddies and the best use of the ring of shadows I have seen on Quake level.

I don't think that the episode accomplishes the goal of feeling like a 6th episode; as it feels more modern than retro, but it is still quite good and hard collection.

Favorite maps:

1. Knight on the Town

2. The Augur's Mold

3, Knavel Orange

Fun episode. Some of the maps (such as Terrorcotta, Obliteration Domain, and Knavel Orange) were more memorable than others, but overall the whole thing worked well together. The main (small) criticism I have, is that the opening map felt a bit weaker, and less interesting, than the others...which may cause some folks to drop the episode, if they're quick to judge.

Extremely cool episode with major vanilla vibes, but also very pretty looking levels mixed in. Set pieces and moments in this episode are great while exploring twisty layouts and hunting for keys is still important. There are plenty of memorable moments in EoE and I will highly recommend playing it!