Vestige of V'othlog

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Vestige of V'othlog is a short four-level episode inspired by the classic themes of Quake.

The project began after I fell in love with the game again thanks to 2021 re-release, which prompted me to try and develop a map of my own. As my ambitions to expand it beyond a simple vanilla episode grew, I realized that what I was working on would no longer fit with the new vision for the mod so instead I have decided to re-purpose it into a prequel and a shorter episode that should hopefully be still enjoyable to play.

The pack was designed for 2021 re-release (KexQuake) but it has also been tested with Ironwail, so you can play it on either of these. I can't ensure it will run well on other source ports though. Supports 4 player coop aswell.
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Reactions: Tonhao, Maribo, Custom Longplay and 6 others
Submitted by
JackOfBlackPhoenix
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456
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1,354
Release date
Nov 11, 2023
First uploaded
Last update
Rating
3.85 star(s) 13 ratings
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Tonhao
Excellent job!!! Looks like a 90's official expansion.

My blind playthough:
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zaratzara
Fantastic stuff. Haven't seen anything which honours the form and style of the original Quake so well and so succinctly in ages. Atmosphere is impecable: the author has absolutely nailed the sense and craft of 1996 Quake textures, brushwork & mood.

The final showdown was utterly joyous: the episode progressively builds up a sense of scale and foreboding, and last two big discrete environments are consummate. It's a rare joy to feel so immersed in these desolate & brutal worlds.

Particularly worthy of note from a craft perspective is the brushwork: I loved the spikes and trees in particular as indicative of having totally grokked a consistent resolution of mechanical detail that can yet express as much holistic world detail as necessary. It's something you don't notice when it's done well but stands out like a sore thumb when done badly, incredibly hard to get right and even the seasoned professionals trip up on it in their weaker moments; likewise there are invisible clipping brushes in place to prevent undesirable physical hiccups while keeping the appearance just so — that's a rare and laudable attention to detail.

The combat isn't particularly exciting, and there isn't much internal drama to the journey. The first map in particular, and in the quieter moments, the second, occasionally betray that this is more an exercise in practicing style and craft than a specific vision per se. But from the README this was a scaled down and intentionally limited work to distinguish prior efforts from more ambitious work to come — that's very judicious, and I applaud the restraint and gumption. More than anything I'm very excited to see what JackOfBlackPhoenix has in store for us!
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Custom Longplay
A very nice episode consisting of 4 maps. I enjoyed being chased through the maps without any hectic pace. For me as a pleasure gamer who doesn't want to be overrun by enemies, this was something very special. The structure of the maps was solid and I also liked it. Make more of them.
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zenialynn
This was a very charming id1 style mini episode running old Copper. A mostly linear experience across all maps but designed in a satisfying way with a good flow. The experience could definitely be altered for higher difficulties by adding more higher tier enemies, or just enemies in general, there are a lot of doors that never open that I expected them to be monster closets, and when it would have made sense to have monsters come out of said doors, they instead get teleported in.

What I thought the pack did well other than progression and artistry was making the player actively look for secrets by luring them in with minor things like a small window that you can't quite access or shooting triggers that either make sense within the game world i.e. shooting skulls in an "Egyptian crypt" in the style of DoE or buttons that are slightly hidden but they don't stick out like a sore thumb when found - it's playful in a video game-y sense and encouraging exploration is fun.

The moving platform puzzle thing in map 2 was great, it can definitely be brute forced/solved without thinking too hard about it or even cheesed by having the first platform be accessible, touching a plinth, rushing back to the first and as it gets removed carry on jumping, but that's fine. It would've been great if similar additional pieces were found in other maps, it adds something to do in between navigating the pretty environment that is in a slight need of more enemies/harder encounters.
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