Actually this is a bit better than "nice"
It might not have all the graphical power than some mappers possess, but it's real good gameplay wise. Really worth giving a go, this.

A few neat classic maps spoiled by some amateur traps of the "press a random button and die instantly" variety.

Some parts are indeed nice (e.g. the boats and the Lego-house-like architecture seen in the screenshot), but unfortunately I do not share Ron's enthusiasm.

Progression felt very random at times: there seemed to be little to no underlying logic about where the player had to go next or what buttons needed to be pressed, and for what reason. I also have to agree with dwere to some extent -- insta-death traps do not bother me as long as there are environmental clues as to what may happen ... which did not always seem to be the case here.

Then again, perhaps I am just out of practice, as this is the first map/episode I have played in a long while.

There was also one trap that could easily be used to dispatch of monsters. This is something I always find lots of fun to do, even when it is easier and simpler just to shoot them.

As someone who usually plays on skill 1 and who feels that the lower skill levels should not be insanely hard, I am in two minds about the "different endings", to quote the editor's description above. I certainly understand where Shambler is coming from in calling it "elitist", and I partly agree, but I also though it was a rather clever way of adding replay value (though it would certainly be annoying if all episodes/map packs did this).

That being said, as I actually have no intention of replaying on skill 2 or 3, I just noclipped through to the final map anyway (and had a peek at the "easy" cave ... which provides a pretty predictable cheap laugh).

For all its shortcomings, my overall impressions of this mini-episode were on balance positive. It was the first J.F.Gustafsson release I have played, but probably not the last.

What Icantthinkofanickname said basically. Without the death-traps this would have been better. Traps are fun if they are clearly visible and understandable. Dying randomly is not. I did not like how random progression often was either, iirc the first map has a a-b-a-b like back and forth between locations without a reasonable incentive.

An enjoyable set of old-school levels that present an enjoyable challenge on Nightmare but would probably be too easy to hold attention at lower difficulty. I'm glad I stumbled on this, even if the ending is a tad anticlimactic.

An episode I played with pleasure. Worth two hours of your time ;)

Couldn't play this, because mouse doesn't work in left-right directions. Tried two engines: darkplaces and quakespasm, the problem exists while using both engines.

If anybody got past that problem, please help! Really wanna play this pack.

Repus, the problem is that this pack comes with its own config.cfg file that overrides your personal settings -- that's where the weird mouse behaviour comes from.

Luckily the solution is simple and easy: go into your Quake directory (in other words your Quake folder), where you'll find a directory called "qblack", and inside that directory you'll see Black.bat, Black.txt, Config.cfg and pak0.pak. Delete the file called "Config.cfg", and then try playing this again.

Icantthinkofanickname, you'd be surprised but that didn't work! I did this the first thing right away, since I hate adjusting someone else's config files. The only solution I found using quakespasm was the following: set lookspring and lookstrafe to "off". Then the mouse works properly!!!

Since darkplaces doesn't offer these settings (at least I did not find them), I had to use quakespasm, which I don't like as much.

Considering the, uhm, qblack mappack I found it quite entertaining. If you like oldschool maps, this is for you. And I actually liked those deathtraps! Yes, they're dumb, but they're fun for people who just like pressing every button they find.

Excellent maps. I love Mr Gustafsson's slick and cosy arquitecture style.

Neat old school map pack. The first map's progression was overly cryptic at times with too much backtracking. The base map was probably the best and also had one of the best traps (the "lift"), but yeah, the traps were a bit annoying and could at least have been signalled somehow. "Vore Valley" was disappointing. But overall, a solid pack that was worth the time, with some cool progression and neat architecture style in some places.