Zigi's map out of Alkaline is his best imo. Especially if you will be looking for secrets, because they are not about the goodies but open up new playable areas. With secrets map is twice longer/bigger. I see Terminus as the masterpiece.

Lovely addition of Mazu's map out of JJJ. Polished & expanded a bit. One of my fav among Mazu maps

Bal's expanded map is just gorgeous. But all his maps are gorgeous so it's not a surprise

Mista Heita's map is perhaps a gem in this mod pack. Because it pushes the boundaries of what's possible in Quake and as a player you experience not just base SiFi but clearly a cyberpink thing - in a good way. Bladerunner style to me.

Jesus! All maps are HQ!!! Recommended to all Q fans as a must-play and play it twice!

This is just plain excellent. I am very jealous of these mappers' skills... Thanks for the efforts!

Seriously one of the most solid releases lately. All maps are way above good. Well done guys and thanks for the hours of entertainment you bring to the community.

Wonderful project! Can't wait for Alkaline 1.2, with more wonderful levels! There are 3 to go, as far as I can tell)) BtW, the web page of Alkaline mentions Edie and Tormentor monsters... Haven't met them. Are these two in-game?

@Escalate_krsk Yes, these new enemies are present; however, being relatively late additions, they've been utilized sparingly. I know Edie is present in Grome's map & the Tormentor appears in EmeraldTiger's map when playing in "Hard" mode.

@Greenwood Thanks! Found them... Tormentor is... tormenting! Epic miniboss that puts Shamblers & Vores to shame) Can't wait for more of Alkaline, thx for the great game! The double/triple jumpboots make action fresh and more vertical, hope they will reappear in the future)) There is no story (obviously), but it seems like Quake monsters are slowly turning into Stroggs... or the Stroggs are "product" of original Quake chthonic enemies... Can't stop my imagination, sorry)) I wonder if you'll add a boss enemy in the new levels, like Shub, Chthon, Armagon, Travail's Azoth or Quoth's Vermis.

I've played about half the maps so far and this is a work of genius! Just started Bal's and it looks incredible. One question though...how do I rate it here? I have looked everywhere and can't see any way to do it! I'm looking at this using Chrome on an Android phone

Oh... seems I have rated it! I selected the 5 stars earlier but it doesn't take effect until you post a review (I think!)

Until you refresh, actually.

I broke Foundation for Corruption at the very end. I tried standing where the monsters spawn, hoping to telefrag them on arrival, but they stopped spawning. So, I stepped off, and one of the laser trooper types appeared. I offed him and stepped back on the spot, and again, nothing. I stepped off again and stood there for a long time with nothing. Even tried noclipping my way back to the teleporter and teleporting back to the final platform, but they still wouldn't start spawning again.

Awesome!

I am the first to rate 3/5.

Generally, the maps are difficult and austere. It's nice at most, with Dancing in the Golden Sun and Tellus Terminus as must-haves. But too difficult.

Monsters use - The new enemies have a lot of potential to reinforce different identities, but aren't used as such, reducing the overall quality. For example, Ogres should be reserved for kitsch atmospheres, while serious atmospheres should do without.

Alkaline should to remix - I think Alkaline would be ultimate if it had the ability to absorb and remix other maps. Examples: (ad) Arcane Monstuosity, (sinister625) Rust in Circles, (smejjam) Buttons & Bulkhead...

Coop compatibility: Overengineering Mania need coop boots. Beneath a Silicon Eclipse has one force field that doesn't turn off.

Another unpopular opinion here. 3/5. The technical achievement is awesome and the effort into creating atmospheric, well brushed levels is up to the best but that is where it stops. Getting the ogres and death knights to match the look of the base monsters is good but the fiends are still too Lovecraftian. The Malice monsters are AWFUL, yes I get it, you want to make it more challenging. The four legged assholes that look like something from Toy Story. I can take them out, that's not the problem. Problem is it's just so boring cos it takes so long and wrecks the flow of gameplay. Also making it harder for the monsters to fight each others (a favorite strategy of mine) is a big step backward. It makes gameplay one dimensional. You have to shoot everything yourself. No choice of calculation, have I got enough ammo or not. Just blam blam blam. Boring. As for the maps, only one is worth playing. The others were, as usual, beautiful architecture and good atmosphere but almost unplayable for the poor progression and confusing layout. The exception that proves the rule here is BAL's Dancing in the Golden Sun, which has made it to my top 25 in spite of other issues. Just goes to show what an awesome mapper he is.

This mod has no changes to infighting.

alk_corrupt is a no go with QSS. The doors to the slipgate for the last area won't open. QSS is so broken that I hotkeyed noclip.

tellus terminus also does not work with qss.

I replayed Logistics of Chaos (alk_chaos), a base map with a couple of special encounters. Enjoyed it, but can't think of all that much to say about it. I think getting the grenade launcher earlier would have made it more fun, but since I only got 3 of the 12 secrets I probably missed on in the early part of the game.

I love Overengineering Mania -- it's a perfect storm of exploration, strategic combats, bloodbath set-piece, and multiple progression mechanics. My only regret is that I can't remember how to get up to the top of the big square tower that the walkway winds around. Triple-jumps aren't enough to bridge the gap, and I guess there's a hidden button somewhere that lowers the elevator. But that's just icing. Great level.

I mostly love Tellus Terminus (alk_tellus), too: fascinating exploration of a bewilderingly but logically laid out space station, with a lovely sense of progression and plenty of brutal combat. The only area where it falls down a little is that sequence of rooms that you can only move through in one direction, starting with laser traps and ending up with a big and very difficult combat involving gladiators. That bit, I just gritted my teeth to get though. Otherwise, marvellous -- and a treat for the eyes, too.

Lots more good stuff in Core Meltdown (alk_core), a nicely self-contained map that tells a slight story of causing the eponymous meltdown and escaping before it's too late. Lots of brutal fighting, but very little that feels unfair. If I'm picking nits, it's nowhere near as visually impressive as some of the other maps.

Beneath a Silicon Eclipse ... That title has to be reference to the Dream Theater song Under a Glass Moon, right?

Anyway, Dream Theater reference of not, Beneath a Silicon Eclipse (alk_eclipse) is another lovely level, this time with an Insomnia base feel to it, and a satisfying progression that makes excellent use of verticality. It's an old friend by now -- I played it at least twice in the original Alkaline release, so that is playthrough three or higher. Slightly frustrating, then, that despite finding three of the four secrets, 21 kills eluded me. I have nine circuit boards, with eight having been sufficient to open the big secret near the end -- I wonder if the missing secret is a way to use the ninth?

After all these outstanding maps, the merely good Slipgate Sickness (alk_sickness) seems relatively pedestrian -- which is not at all a fair assessment. It's shorter than the maps I've played before it, but each encounter is fun. My biggest gripe is that it feels very disconnected: it's really two quite separate maps joined by a teleporter, and with no way to return from the later one to the earlier one.

This pack just keeps on giving ... Breakdown (alk_bdown) is another sabotage-the-reactor missing, with lots of non-linear gameplay and an enjoyably solid stream of combat encounters. It culminates in the only set-piece, a chaotic rumble around the reactor itself, which must be destroyed in four stages while surviving waves of incoming enemies. Very satisfying.

The hits keep on coming with Foundation for Corruption (alk_corrupt), a very grimy, broken down base floating in mid-air in a city overwhelmed by pollution. There are lots of inventive combats, plenty of opportunities to use tactical approaches, and most of all a unique atmosphere. Shorter than some of the maps in this pack, but still full of good things.

Not only do I very much like Geothermal Outpost (alk_geo), I like it in a very different from most of the other maps in this set, which of course makes the set as a whole even better. It's much easier than most, but that doesn't make it boring: just relaxing. It's an undemanding blast up and around a sort of oil-rig arrangement to reach the chopper at the extraction point right at the top, and it's just plain fun. Also: I got 11 of the 13 secrets (as well as all kills) so that that's always satisfying.

Still waiting for an opportunity to wind back my fanboying over Alkaline, but Dire Pipes (alk_pipes) isn't going to be the map that lets me do it. It's another instant classic, with lots of interesting areas to explore, plenty of revisiting earlier areas under different circumstances (sometimes but not always at a higher level) and a steady stream of tough-but-fair combats. All that, and a really nice sort of semi-abandoned Rubicon vibe. Top stuff.

Derelict Freighter (alk_derelict) keeps up the standard with a lovely exploration map that makes good use of verticality and revisiting, and balances combats nicely against weapons and supplies. Again, really outstanding.

At last! In North Central Positronics (ask_central) we have a map in this pack that I consider less than outstanding ... but still really good! I'm pretty sure it's been rebalanced since the original release, and it's much better for it -- less of a grind, more fun. Which is the point.

Finally, we come to Dancing in the Golden Sun (alk_dancing). (Having spotted that Beneath a Silicon Eclipse has to be a reference to the prog-rock classic Under a Glass Moon, now I wonder whether Dancing in the Golden Sun is a reference to Genesis's prog-rock classic Dancing with the Moonlit Night.)

And once more, it's really excellent -- a thoroughly 3D exploration of a beautiful floating base with a variety of combats and a really nice super-secret. A fairly generous supply of quads, just when you need them most, makes even the most intense combats feel fair. Really, I hardly have a complaint to make.

All of which makes Alkaline the single most consistent pack I know. For me, Arcane Dimensions hits higher highs in its very best maps; but it also has a few that are not that special, whereas nothing in Alkaline is less than excellent. Absolutely indispensible.

It's not a dream theatre reference, sorry MikeTaylor. I was looking for a map title that had the acronym B.A.S.E. (I like puns, sue me), and Beneath A Silicon Eclipse was the first thing that popped into my head which did that while also sounding like a vaguely reasonable map name.

awesome work... ty for this mod.

I think i found a bug where chainsaw doesn't spawn when you're going to fight with axe-wielding grunts in tellus terminus using quakespasm spiked, latest one. whereas this bug doesn't show up in normal quakespasm 0.93.4

Loved every map, especially Bal's. This is high level tech/industrial settings for Quake

Quite sexy

I AM TRYING TO FIND THE SOUNDFILES FOR THE DREADNAUGHT IVE SPENT HOURS FIGURING OUT HOW TO EXTRACT .PAKS I FINALLY DID IT AND IT'S NOT IN THE DREAD FOLDER I'M looking for the BURN and INCINERATE sounds plsplsplspls

@Rudi,

Those particular Dreadnaught sounds that you are referring to are "sight" sounds (when he notices the player). They are WAV files labeled as dreadsight & dreadsight2.

Glad to hear that you enjoy the mod!