Yes, the sky and foliage look very primitive and recent well-known castle maps are in a completely different league. You get very few weapons, which may be frustrating for some. Certain secrets are also ludicrously easy to find.

But there is just so much going on here: exploratory progression, hints in the form of riddles, optical illusions and allusions like in digs06 … If you can look past its somewhat rough exterior, this is a very rewarding map.

Yes, this was kind of fun. Worth three stars, I think. It's easy to forgive crude maps if you feel they're at least making an effort.

Playing on hard, I thought I'd cleared out the level (got all secrets, killed everything I saw), but still only scored 52/63 kills. I wonder where the other 11 monsters are?

MikeTaylor, perhaps the rotfish are to blame? Ok, this is classic Neil Manke. Can be a bit tricky finding all those secrets but it's great fun overall.

Outpost on The Quake Grave

This map is very interesting. Though not as good as his Starship map that he made just a few months later, you could definitely see the potential in Neil's mapping in Outpost.

The puzzley/riddley type things and all the variety in gameplay, like the clues, spider buttons and the strange paintings on the walls, are both a blessing and a curse. I feel like they're cool additions but at the same time they don't seem intuitive to a quake map. However, once I saw what he was trying to do here, it started to work for me. Very unique!

The worst thing about it is it's a little ugly and cramped at times but hey, 1997, what do you want? =)

I think this map is greater than the sum of its mediocre parts. The author set out to make an atmospheric map for a cautious and exploratory playstyle (generally my kind of style), and it shows in the end result. I think it's a sign of a good author, when he can stick to a certain goal and can achieve it without sidetracking.

The environment, albeit primitive, is interesting to explore and the messages make exploration all the more enjoyable (although I didn't enjoy this one instadeath trap much). I liked this one shambler room, in particular. It was kind of endearing. :3c

The combat wasn't bad, in my opinion. Maybe because the map rewards players who explore. It'd be a lot more brutal for run n' gunners.

In a nutshell, this map isn't for everyone. If the stuff that I wrote about resonates with you, give the map a go!

Decent map to play through from legendary map maker neil manke. It is much improved from his first map release from quake which is known as darknite. I enjoyed the environment he created in this map with custom texture work. His implementation of text messaging the player with hints of how to progress through the map were well designed. I also enjoyed the puzzle aspects that this map provided which provide a unique experience that is not commonly found in other quake maps from quake"s early modding days. I would recommend playing this map and would give it a three out of five rating.