Unusual, unexpected, has music. Looks like I got my present after all.

Not sure what the inspiration behind the first level was, but I immediately thought of Doom 64, followed by a more appropriate flashback of Quake 64. The former is darker than this, while the latter is infamous for its unusually colorful lighting.

Then there's YukiRaven, but her only level for Quake is rather toned down compared to her Doom works.

In any case, looking forward to playing the rest.

Puzzle-heavy progression definitely reminds me of Doom 64, especially Outpost Omega with its cubist yellowish vertical maze. Except it's even more extreme here, but also more clever. I'm sure some people will hate it for this, but I'd say let them.

Based On The Current Feedback Version 1.1 Is On It's Way.

An update to the link is coming as soon as possible, all your feedback & demos are greatly valued and will be taken account.

-smej crew

Thank you guys for great release. I passed all of maps instead of w1m2 and w1s1, because of crash-on-save issue. Please fix it. I had the same in "Of Three Plantagenets" by Ubiquitous and he found a solution in this post: http://www.celephais.net/board/view_thread.php?id=61759

All four lions are in the same room, right?

Yes

Found three of them easily, but the last one was kicking my ass until about now. The reward is pretty underwhelming for such an interesting setup. I expected it to lead to the secret level, otherwise I probably wouldn't have tried so hard.

Yup, one of the four is exceptionally hard, almost impossible to find.

The entrance to the secret level is in a later map.

The entrance to the secret level is in a later map.

How open Hightmare skill?

Hello, admins! Not related to the present map, but I am commenting here as it's the most recently posted map and most likely to come to someone's attention.

The link to jumpmod2+btd_complete is broken, because the + gets interpreted in an URL as meaning a space. To get to the correct page, you need this link: https://www.quaddicted.com/reviews/jumpmod2%2btd_complete.html

(It's well worth going there, by the way: it's an interesting mod and the levels are nice.)

About half of these levels can't be saved using Quakespasm, on LInux at least. Gah. I really wish someone would fix this... my hardware doesn't run Darkplaces well at all.

vkQuake on Windows worked for me.

Level 1 soaked most of the creativity in the pack. So many neat little things about the progression and secrets. Although my determination to solve the main optional puzzle made me really weary of it in the end. For those who are reading this, but missed my older comments: it's probably not worth it. Death pits could use a second chance system demonstrated in Underdark Overbright, because as it is the LG platforming challenge is a savescumming fest.

Level 4 (showcased on the screenshot), on the other hand, represents the highest point of immersion. I wish it was a little longer and/or more complex, as it ends roughly when I expected to be at the 2/3 of it. It gave me a Dark Souls feeling due to its uhhhh let's call it structural depth - a number of distinct setpieces that nevertheless feel connected as parts of the same decaying ruin, with history and purpose to its structures.

The rest is adequate, but those were the highlights for me, aside from the last level, which is remarkable for its evil theme somewhat resembling Nyarlathotep, but set in a pitch-black void instead of an endless cosmos. It exemplifies the pack's monotonous pacing: pick up an item - get an ambush in your face, press a button - get an ambush in your face, scratch your butt - you get the idea. This may be a good way to provide the player with constant shooting, but it leaves little room for suspense. Highlight encounter: spawn pit. Very unpleasant, good paranoia.

Mines are cool and slightly underused. I'd lift them into something of my own making, except maybe implementing them as a more dynamic mdl actor. Scourge of Armagon has a similar thing that could serve as a basis for the model.

What else? A couple of misplaced textures, and there is no water vis in a few maps, causing rare and generally inoffensive glitches for people playing with water alpha less than 1 (an otherwise good idea with this pack).

OG Quakespasm might have less pleasant consequences for translucent water with no vis, because it tries to render warping in the background or something, but I forgot about it.

Comment intended for Jumpmod2: cannot presently be added to that page due to the HTML-encoding error. I will copy-paste it across when that is fixed.

Sadly, this seems to be missing out on everyone's attention because of an HTML coding error triggered by this page's name having a "+" in it. In a URL, this is getting interpreted as a space, and so clicking the map name in the list takes you to a 404. You can only get get using https://www.quaddicted.com/reviews/jumpmod2%2btd_complete.html

Aaanyway, I really enjoyed it. The double-jump boots — and then triple-jump, when you collect another pair — are a genuinely interesting addition to the Quake armory, and the three levels I saw were all well designed and beautifully textured. A definite five stars, even though I seem to be missing one or maybe two of the maps. (Only one if the start map counts as one of the advertised five.)

It's been a long time since I have had to turn the difficulty down to 1 to get through a set of maps. I mean that in the best way possible as the balance in all these maps is perfect. Challenging in both combat and map design. I don't know how you guys keep coming up with such fresh feeling maps for such an old game. The last map (sorry I'm too lazy to go back and look at the titles) is a masterpiece. This whole map pack is a masterpiece. Keep up the great work.

[Update] SMEJ Patch 1.13 is out!

DOWNLOAD LINK

http://quakeworld.fi/files/smej/smej_1.13.zip

Changelog

1.13 07.01. 2020 -Tuned puzzles and monster balance. -Fixed scripting issues. -Fixed some texture issues.

-Tweaked navigation, coop setup etc.

1.0 30.12. 2019 -Original release.

Incredible w1m1 - Valovoimala/Light Reactor by Smilecythe seems to be a tribute to old smqx11digs (Closedarea) by digs, or inspired by it? In any way, both maps is great.

Still on the first map. This is by far the most challenging map I have played because of the puzzles/traps.. I really have no idea where the 2nd gold key is for the teleporter.. Any hints? First time I've needed one

DH1988 you need to puzzle your way up for both gold keys, after getting the two silver keys. One's up where you need to shoot the 2 red cubes that lowers and lifts the two platforms and the other one is where there's 3 lifts with shootable buttons.

I found this technically impressive, but somehow not as much fun as I'd hoped — there was a slightly grinding quality to some of the maps. Part of this is how very difficult the secrets are: I ended up with maybe a quarter of them, tops. Impressive stuff, nevertheless.

This is a pretty fantastic mod / campaign. I really love the styling of the maps especially, and it feels much less like a grind than the original campaign does.

Definitely difficult, but that's the way it ought to be. Nice work, crew!

I lost my appetite for this mod the minute I realized the first map was all about platform jumping and shooting a bunch of buttons within an absurdly limited amount of time. Base-themed maps in Quake are usually boring as hell, but coupled with the fact that in this map alone there are over two hundred enemies in hard mode plus the constant button pushing/shooting, failing to reach an area in time and then start over and over again... it quickly escalated into sheer frustation for me. I don't know if the rest of the maps follow the same annoying formula, but I got so exasperated with it that I didn't even bother to find out.

I hope these comments won't discourage the authors from pursuing their vision in the future. Someone has to stand for something other than combat in these communities. Not that there's anything wrong with combat, but a narrow focus on one feature, however essential, won't do any favors to the game's longevity.

On a side note, everything should be perfectly doable here. If something feels absurd, there's a chance that you're doing it wrong.

I apologize if I came up a bit harsh up there, I was by no means attempting to discredit the people who made this mod, who are obviously pros at mapping. Like I said, I'm not much of a fan of base-themed maps (with some exceptions like the Rubicon Rumble Pack mapset), but I really don't think it was necessary for the first map to veer so often towards puzzle-solving, something that, in my opinion at least, doesn't work all that well with Quake, unless the map in question was more about puzzling and less about combat in the first place, and the number of enemies you're pitted against in this map alone speaks for itself in that regard. I believe a few rooms with puzzles would have been ok, but there's just too many here for my comfort (again, that's just me), and the majority seem to be mandatory to boot. Maybe I should just skip the first map and try the others.

The rest of the package is probably worth investigating, because, at the very least, I don't remember it having such an acrobatic flavor to the obstacles.

how to get nightmer skill?

Really i cant get nightmare skill!!! One hour and 20 minutes but nothing!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great experience overall; let me repeat that I love a good episode-chaining of maps, and having custom music really puts some of the moments/locations over the top.

I did notice that the maps didn't seem to give much of a nod to them being actually connected places, either in explicitly connecting exits/entrances or just more generally in having a progression of the aesthetic getting gradually weirder in the manner of the original id progression. Not a big deal but it's a touch that would really make an episode hang together as a whole thing.

FWIW I played version 1.13 on skill 2.

start map - Sets the atmosphere just right. Ancient door set in a wilderness hillside, check.

w1m1 - Interesting map, puzzle-y both in its platforming and some of its combat setups. There's a "one right way" to do some things and first you have to figure out what that is, then you have to nail the execution. Getting through one or both of those phases often required trial-and-error and savescumming. In the end this was satisfying to get through, but this is an odd choice for a leadoff map in an episode. Gameplay is a little too much off the beaten path (will turn some players away) and it's a bit too long and too punishing for an intro map. Considered standalone though it's good stuff IMO -- nice variant on base-map aesthetics, tricky surprises -- it won't be to everyone's taste but that's ok.

w1m2 - A much chunkier low-detail elder-world look; nice, but it took some getting used to after the previous map. Fine introduction of the exploding mine things -- a fitting use of zombies! The place felt a little same-y for a while, although it came together near the end once I had opened up most of the routes and run back and forth. Thumbs up for some swimming, good deployment of the Copper multiple-keys feature, and several good moments of seeing a spot I need to get to & working out how. Very inter-self-connected in a good way.

w1m3 - Homages to some id maps done very well here... entering into a familiar place and then a mix of either meeting your expectations about it, or confounding then. Love that. I believe that the keys-and-locks setup had fewer keys than you would need to unlock everything, which admittedly is another id callback (e4m4 silver key and secret exit) but I think was a little frustrating; these days I'd prefer having some sort of signpost that maybe I might want to save a key instead of using it when I find a lock. A good runic-maze-puzzlebox map though. Some fun secrets too, and a solid instance of the finally-getting-the-grenade-launcher-for-all-those-zombies trope.

w1s1 - I like that tidy little diorama on entering. :-) And, props for doing a low-grav secret map. The giant castle is a good theme for that; having a familiar structure makes it more fun to break the rules of normal traversal. Although I wish I had gotten more of a look at / feel for the overall structure during normal play; often it felt like being channeled down unrelated halls and it wasn't clear where I was in the castle. Some beautiful setpieces though, really getting good use out of the contrast between the lava and the blue bricks/tiles.

w1m4 - Just lovely; my favorite map of the episode. Reminiscent of czg's Honey IMO, although unsurprisingly also taking from uKKo's earlier stuff. Dialing the combat back a bit and dialing up the exploration with an effortless mix of terrain and ruins. It's pretty much everything I like about finding and unlocking paths and revisiting areas from different vantage points and etc. Great vertical range too. The opening slice of a view out of your entrance cave is a great mood-setter BTW; the fog and the framing are just right.

w1m5 - Another "puzzlebox" kind of map where you drop into a hub facing a few different paths and locked doors. This one medieval rather than runic. I wasn't surprised to see Naitelveni and VuRkka in the author list here (along with NewHouse) as this kind of layout seems to be in their wheelhouse. I remember at least one satisfying powerup run -- also there's a bit of a dirty trick that makes you likely to miss a powerup, but that was just funny. Not a map that throws any unusual ideas at you, but solid.

w1m6 - Very strong opening in a cool outdoor area facing a keep, and some fun areas immediately beyond the door, but once you get really stuck into the map it turns into abstract spaces filled with slime and nailtraps and teleport ambushes. Kind of an abrupt turn from really my thing to really not my thing. I pushed through though; I have to say, I appreciate the pointers to the gold keys, and once I had mostly rinsed the map of monsters it was pleasant enough to finish it out.

w1m7 - Seeing "500" for the monster count on loading a map is offputting for me, but since this was the last map in the episode I knew I'd be ok with just chipping away at it in sessions ... there's nothing after it that it was delaying me from seeing. As it turns out, w1m7 is good for a big map for a few reasons: a) it's well-structured with an understandable layout -- lots of the layout is visible to you, it has some symmetries, etc.; b) you can "finish" some areas so you don't need to return there; and c) for a reason I won't spoil here the total count is somewhat misleading about how long it will take you to complete the map. In the end it's a memorable conclusion to the episode with epic visuals, cool structures to figure out and climb around in, lots of monsters to blow up, and (bonus points) it doesn't inflict a half-baked bossfight on you. Capping things off can be tough... kudos!

Great effort and great results you guys. Nothing against speedmaps and jams but I double-appreciate these "full release" deals, especially in episode form.

Spoiler: for getting nightmare you must stay on the fireplace on zero map. Fire wind will move u up, on some height u will be teleported to nightmare island. How collect all lions on first map?

Lions, general directions:

https://i.imgur.com/pZYvPww.png

https://i.imgur.com/aJjiJac.png

https://i.imgur.com/AHOjiIy.png

https://i.imgur.com/nIHuWTj.png

Lions, TOTAL SPOILERS:

https://i.imgur.com/dBsjCEI.png

https://i.imgur.com/cUIhYtZ.png

https://i.imgur.com/GQmt8GN.png

https://i.imgur.com/PruCVq6.png

Vasya shkolnik: thanks, I never would have found it.

I initially gave up on this pack at around two thirds of w1m1. The map was nice until I had to face the puzzles, which as I recall were not that hard to figure out but required a dexterity and a speed I did not possess. I believe one of the maps in JCR's JJJ pack had the exact same "issue" (as far as I'm concerned), and that's the only map of the JJJ pack I gave up on. I might stay away from Smilecythe's maps in the future since they are clearly not my thing. Too bad, because once you take away the puzzles, the rest of the maps are really enjoyable and cleverly constructed (both this one and the JJJ one).

Reading Johnny Law's detailed comments, and especially on w1m7, whet my appetite (yes, insane monster counts and unreasonably-sized maps are my thing). I was craving for some Tronyn-style madness, so I gave it another go and I was not disappointed. After finishing it in hard mode (Copper's version of Nightmare is a bit much for me, the 50 HP limit really gives it a new meaning), I went back to w1m6, w1m5, and so on. I found that many of these maps were beautiful, had a great atmosphere, and were also challenging while fun and original. A bit heavy on Shamblers at times, but you are always given the means to defeat them. So thanks a lot, I'm glad you made me go back because I was going to rate this a 2 and move on.

There seems to be a definite Finnish style --- or is it this particular gang's / pack's style? --- that I hadn't noticed when playing their previous, individual releases. Not the puzzles, but a general feeling for the maps, the monster placement, and the overall flow of progression throughout.

I might go back for exploration, since the secret count of some of these maps is relatively high compared to their size / monster count, and also because some of these are a pleasure to walk around in.

Thank you all for this episode. I'm looking forward to your next offerings.

Awesome pack. Took me a while to get past the puzzles on the first but they really weren't as hard as I thought. Final map is some perfect batshit weirdness. Essential release.

The most stupidest thing ive ever done was play this on nightmare, its impossible

Once again Copper Mod proves that when it comes to modding Quake, a light touch can yeild the most satisfying results, and that the core game still has plenty of surprises to offer. But of course, a great mod is nothing without some great maps, and that's exactly what you'll get in this episode. The rest of this review contains potential spoilers.

Start - North From Here by Smilecythe & VuRkka If I'm honest the start map didn't fill me with a lot of hope, as it seems somewhat gimmicky and unpolished, but it serves it's purpose in selecting a skill level. I went with 2.

W1M1 - Light Reactor by Smilecythe Nicely detailed, but visually a little too "busy" on occasions. Combat is fine, albeit occasionally tedious and repetitive. This map really shines when you get to the various puzzle sections, which demand strong spacial awareness, timing and platforming skills. In the latter regard, Quake's jumping mechanics can feel a little cumbersome at times, but Smilecythe skilfully rewards player progress in such a way as to overcome any sense of frustration.

W1M2 - Frostlord's Domain by Newhouse Visually striking as blue maps tend to be, and the theme is pulled off very well. The layout doubles down on invoking memories of Azure Agony with it's grand chambers connected by tight tunnels, although it also falls slightly foul of being over-connected at times, as thanks to the uniform texture theme and often dynamic layout it's easy to become a little lost. There are some nicely timed surprises and combats, all artfully supported by well placed secrets.

W1M3 - Riddle of Steel by VuRkka Starts off as a nicely polished tribute to E3M2 Vaults of Zin and this is a recurring theme later on, even when the layout and tone starts to stray to something more original. There's some really interesting use of simple platform puzzles to control the pace. For me the standout moment was getting to the end and realising I had to go back and play it again from the beginning in order to access the secret level. This "trap" was very well set up, using the players' excitement about secret hunting as well as prior expectations based on E3M2 against them. If it were less well done, it would have been more frustrating than satisfying, so kudos to VuRkka for understanding his player.

W1S1 - Medieval Nightmare by zigi Visually this is the most "old-school" of the maps on offer, with fairly simple boxy brushwork, but a nice use of medieval textures with strong colour accents. It's low gravity which is a nice nod to E1M8, but the level design makes the low gravity much less frustrating than in Ziggurat Vertigo, making frequent use of narrow but tall areas to make the most of your new freedom whilst still chanelling the player. I found the finale went a bit off-piste in this regard, as it's a lot easier to survive these combats with your feet planted firmly on the ground, but otherwise this is a solid map and secret maps are always very much welcome and very rewarding to the player.

W1M4 - Northern Tornio by uKKo This is by far the aesthetic highlight of the episode, as you can see in the screenshot on Quaddicted. Light and shadow, subtle fog and subdued colour tones invoke a very sombre world, possibly an ancient neglected backwater of Quake's multi-dimensional real-estate portfolio. Combat takes a back seat to exploration and atmosphere in this map which is a welcome change of pace in the episode, and really encourages the player to try and climb the walls in search of secrets or just pleasing vistas. As is always the case in maps with such detailed environments navigation is occasionally slightly awkward but never outright unfair, and after completing the map normally I went back with god mode and a rocket launcher to just have some more fun exploring. The end of the map is nicely understated, and adds to the earie loneliness of this forgotten place.

W1M5 - Wretched of the Earth by Naitelveni, VuRkka & NewHouse A well executed medieval theme. In terms of gameplay this map is the most vanilla Quake experience in the pack which is obviously no bad thing and nicely transitions the player back in to the action after the quiet halls of Northern Tornio. There was one tricky horde combat that caught me by surprise, which meant I had to go back to the beginning and look after my ammo a little better, but challenges like that are to be expected on the sixth level! Even with restarting, I found myself having to lob grenades at a shambler at one point. The final battle to open the end-gate is a bit let down by one of the three shamblers failing to make his presence felt -- perhaps he got scared. Overall this was a fun map, and very well made, but doesn't have any particular stand-out moments.

W1M6 - Halls of Darkness by Ing-ing, uKKo, VuRkka & NewHouse Impressive brushwork terrain that finds the right balance between detail and navigation but overall I think this was the weakest map in the episode. The layout and monster placement all seemed a little hastilly thrown together, and there's quite a jarring change of theme and pace mid-way through, which leaves you wondering why they bothered with the early, outdoor section of the map. Also, in this early section a poorly placed Ring of Shadows secret preceeds a triggered monster ambush where the monsters spawn angry, rendering the secret pointless and unrewarding. I found the end didn't fare much better -- it may be down to my own lack of skill, but the only way I was able to defeat the final encounter was to drop out of the "trap" area, at which point I was able to fairly safely pick off the vores from the other side of the bars, which felt like an exploit rather than a design choice. It's still a good map, but not up to the incredible standards of the whole episode.

W1M7 - Oblivion by Mazu This is as close as you'll find to a "sandbox" interpretation of traditional Quake. A sprawling, very open map with 500 enemies (skill2) and very little manifest signage or leading. You may experience mild FOMO, but every encounter is still well balanced and interesting, nomatter how you approach it. Mazu seems to have an uncanny understanding of how players will react to any given situation, always managing to set up interesting and often unexpected ambushes that will catch out even the most cautious of wall-huggers and backpedallers. Given the sheer scale of the map I was very impressed that the amount of ammo and health was spot on for the first half of the map seemingly without the use of any respawning boxes. There was only one moment where I was gasping for some nails or shells, but this was largely my own ammo management at fault. All of this builds up to a hugely impressive crescendo with multiple waves of very challenging combat in a well designed arena. I'd also like to heap particular praise on some very clever use of trigger_monsterjump in all of the open spaces, nodoubt taking full advantage of Copper Mod's improvements. All in all, this was definitely a fitting end to a fantastic episode.

Conclusion This is the most fun I've had in a new Quake episode for years. Thanks to the different styles of all of the authors involved it offers a lot of variety and I'm sure to return to some or all of the levels again at some point, because there are still various secrets and alternate paths to explore. The music by Immorpher was topnotch throughout and always nailed the pace and atmosphere of each level. I also enjoyed the readme, which includes some nice additional information about the maps, although in some cases I'm not sure I understand the connection. Good job and many thanks to everybody involved.

Excellent episode. uKKo's Ylä-Torneo is just amazing. I must have played it 10 times by now. Atmospheric, otherworldly, great verticality and interconnectivity. Basically everything I love about Quake in one single map.

Overall a wonderful episode.

As for many others, w1m4 was the highlight and most enjoyable for me, while w1m7 felt like Sandy Petersen's style amplified to 11 both in visuals and in gameplay. The jam overall is top notch quality and tries to do something new here and there, like the platforming/shooting 'puzzles' on w1m1, which may be off-putting to some, it certainly was for me on the first two attempts to play this episode.

In many places throughout the whole pack you will get into an ambush or trigger a trap... and just as you think you've dealt with it, something else happens. I'd recommend to play Easy or Normal and make sure you get the updated version.

The cubes after the "boss room" in w1m1 moved toward the exit, but disappeared and didn't build a bridge to the teleporter. Using quakespasm.

Addressing some of the comments here, please consider that being puzzle heavy in the first level is not necessarily bad. It is just that quake is not usually a puzzle heavy/platforming game and pushing the puzzle factor too high tends to drive some players away. I almost gave up myself on the first level out of sheer frustration, and I had to cheat my way to the end of this level just to give the other maps a chance. And good that I did, because the 2nd map was a more Quake like experience and an awesome map altogether. The lions puzzle, well, again, like I said, when you play Quake for some time your skills get refined towards hectic fights and fast paced action with some puzzle solving, but this one puzzle was just too much and for me it broke the momentum so much that it was indeed detrimental to the experience imho.

Anyway, the episode is indeed a work of art and kudos to the authors. I do hope they incorporate our feedback about keeping the quake experience in mind when doing heavy puzzles in the future.

Lions just didn't provide enough of a reward to justify spending time on them. I mean, I guess you could say that you solve it for the puzzle's sake, but usually something on this scale is reserved for a secret level entrance or something.

great episode, i really liked the superb level design. the puzzles at the beginning were a bit hard but awesome. i just read about the lions here and missed them completely. top 5 mod for me.

"Realm of the Lost", is a pack of most impressive, professional grade maps, that in particular suffer from relentless lack of sympathy or understanding for casual gamers.

Difficulty level setup, should be considered +1 at least, meaning that the "normal", equals conventional "hard", while the "hard", equals conventional "nightmare". Do not forget that 'Copper' - which the map pack does employ - is also a difficulty level mod, cranking things up; maybe the "Realm of the Lost", would actually appear more friendly without it? Even though, due to wackiness of the original 'Quake' design in some cases, elegance or even doability of certain levels, would suffer without the 'Copper' gameplay polish.

Anyhow, I played through all the maps save for the last one - it simply looked like too much; by then, I already felt it all becomes too much of a struggle for me. I like some challenge, but I do not like a homework. Otherwise than that, excellence.

Interesting campaign. The first level in the base is probably the most impressive scifi map I have ever played, architecturally speaking. Was not a fan of the puzzles though :)

Favourite level was w1m4 - beautiful level, very haunting.

Unfortunately, the final level (w1m7) doesnt load on the remastered/kex engine variant of the game :| Array index exception - I thought it might be the monster count but dropping difficulty and attempting to reload it still fails. Oh well.

Not to sound like echoes of everyone else but: map 1 is both lovely in terms of design and complexity... and also an exercise in frustration by mixing puzzles with still hard combat. The puzzles start out fine (on skill 0), but seem to become increasingly punitive, even when they're not actually complex (the first silver key puzzle is easy to understand, but the punishments for making mistakes are significant, for example). [I'm glad that the Lions puzzle is apparently not worth solving, since I found 1 Lion, and can't work out how to platform well enough to get even the second obvious one - I get the idea of the puzzle, but some of us aren't good at jumping in Quake!]

More on the rest of the pack when I get bored of failing to progress on map 1...

So, I got bored of map 1's impossible challenges, and skipped ahead to map 2....

Map 2 was recently "revamped" as part of 2021's smejjam, so was a bit more familar to me than it might have been before 1 Oct 2021... it's still a good map (and, in fact, it's probably better in this version, with mines and without pointless lightning spawns).

Map 3... has a cackling trickster laugh thing, and I just decided to god-mode past the most annoying bit (spike-shooters when I was on 5 health)... and I'm not entirely sure how I actually finished the level. It didn't feel like I was going to go to the next map at the point I hit the exit - I still had stuff left to do!

Map 4 meanwhile, has a lovely sandy-caverns feel... but sans-grenade launcher (did I mention that there's one on map 3, but the exit is so unexpected that I never got to go back and solve the puzzle to get it...), the zombies are a constant hassle... and I really do not understand how I'm supposed to progress at the point I have gotten to, post-picking-up-silver-key. Also, instant-death-pits everywhere are unfun, honestly.

Maps 5,6,7 are... okay. Map 6, in particular, has this weird change of pace leading into a not at all fun "final encounter" before you get to the exit.

Map 7... well, it has instant death void to fall into, and I really didn't ever have much idea as to what I was supposed to be doing. Eventually I got fed up of falling into the void hopping around trying to work out where I was supposed to go next.

It didn't go well. 1/5.

Was stuck at the first map in the room with the 3 pillars where you have to shoot in moving "beams" to unlock what looked like a blue keycard.

After 50 or so failed attempt due to my platforming skills, quick aim and movement with their best, I rage quited and deleted the mod. Forever. If this was a taste of things to come, I will not miss it.

hard puzzles and hard platforming, this is a real challenge. Too hard casual gamers like me but worth a try. Really good looking and thought of maps. You will quick save and load a lot!

Honestly I could not get thru 1 map puzzle. So I turned on god and flew to the exit. And godamn it was a right decision! Because maps are SOOO different. If you don't like this one then try next one and be happy. 1 particular map out of Smej1 is one of my all time personal favs - it's uKKo's map with derelict city. It's SOOO atmospheric and even scary at times. Immersive to the top. 11 out of 10! Hey!!!

Loved the puzzles and the platforming. The first map is absolutely the hardest map.. But I don't think it was unfair, you just have to learn the tricks. I can't do circle jumps or bunny hops or other fancy tricks and managed to finish the whole episode without cheats on medium difficulty.

Small nitbits: There's a big difference on map length, some are done in 15 minutes and some take almost an hour, would be better to make them all the same length, so the player knows what to expect. But maybe thats a personal preference. The last map is a little confusing sometimes, I don't mind but I can see other players would. And the secrets are way too tough in most of the maps, I found almost none. Also a personal preference. There's a small non gamebreaking bug in the third map in my version of QSS. The blue key doesn't fall down, however that key isn't needed to complete the map.

Other than that I'm surprised about the polish of everything. I loved the button hunts and the puzzles. Amazing combat too, even with only the vanilla Quake monsters.

Absolute a 5 out of 5 for me, play this if you're in for a fair challenge.

My full playthrough of the [can be found here].(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf2aNfefK0Y&list=PLFXCsiXdrEg7aHvoSaIhMMA_IHWs12p4K)

I don't play 1.13 version because qss doesn't support w1m7

General - Good atmospheres. Secrets are too difficult. Very big potential for possible remixes.

1 - I don't play it.

2 - 4/5. The map was remixed in SMEJ Jam, but I prefer this version with mines and without lava. It would be great if the use of the chess knight (at the end of the map in smejjam) was developed ; the horse can very easily be avoided, so the final room could be more epic.

3 - The lack of weapons is very heavy. I like how the players have to follow the platforms, but it's underexploited and their sound design irritates me.

S1 - Low gravity slows the pace and increases the repetitiveness of the route. Two Shamblers appear at the end when the player may need help.

4 - 3.5/5. Would be great if extended.

5 - Knight Smasher could be a good point, but I discovered it once I defeated the horde with grenades. The weak points are the route, the lack of ammo, the Shamblers.

6 - 3.5/5. Would be great if extended. 3/4 of the keys are obtained without the course extending. A hallway with saws slows progress without interest. There are 3 quads in the big room. They are decorative to me because when I try to get 1 of them I fail miserably and anyway all the monsters are long dead.

7 - 4.5/5. Already great. Would be ultimate with more accomplished ambient textures and better access to some secrets.

Me: "I don't play 1.13 version because qss doesn't support w1m7"

It's strange, I only had this crash once on my first launch :/ Subsequent games had no problems. 1.13 is alright.

Finally played this one. A very impressive episode, with extra hard secrets for me; I found about a quarter of them. The tough secrets found their way even to the start map, where I was unable to find the nightmare difficulty without reading the spoilers here at Quaddicted. The maps were tough but I'd say fair on skill 2. I don't have much to add to the previous reviews, but below are my notes that I wrote on the maps. My overall rating for the episode is around 4.5/5.

w1m1: A great looking and tough-as-nails introductory map for the episode. In addition to deadly traps, there are tough combat scenarios with waves of monsters thrown at you, while at the same time, the Copper enforcers' new turret abilities have been utilized to maximum effect. I'd say the scenarios are still rather merciful, as you can often bail out from the fights to safer spots where you can cheese your enemies. Honourable mentions go out to the floating cubes used throughout map as platforms, and also to the creative shooting puzzles. 4.5/5

w1m2: A really nice map. I generally love the look of blue maps. I liked the spiked mine gimmick and also the chess setpiece at the end. I can't believe I actually got squashed... At times I was at risk of getting lost, but the signage worked well enough. 4.5/5

w1m3: Nice remix of E3M2. I didn't get the secret GL so it was pretty cool trying to evade zombies without it. I did end up finding the secret level after a quickload and hunting for secrets. 4.25/5

w1s1: I really liked the vertical combat scenarios the map provided partially thanks to the low gravity. I like how Vores were used in a way they really get to shine in Copper. The map also looked great. Somehow this map ended up really clicking with me and was probably my favourite of the bunch. 5/5

w1m4: This map felt more exploration-focused, as there were relatively few enemies around. Loved the bleak atmosphere, and the highpoint of the map was the approach to the gold key, really ominous. At parts the map was rather dark for my screen, so I did have to crank up the gamma at some point, after having dropped too many times into the void. I did play in a rather bright room, though. Still, the visual presentation was so striking that the map gets a 4.5/5 for me.

w1m5: Quite a solid map. This was the first map where I could actually find a good chunk of the secrets during the run, and after reading some previous reviews, I guess it's because the map tended to run more like a vanilla map. I ended up killing the death knight horde with my grenades, like a previous reviewer, because I was afraid of running into the squisher, so telegraphing the idea to the player could've been executed a bit more better in my case. 4.25/5

w1m6: Another good map, nothing groudbreakingly memorable in it, besides the force field effect around the end vores. Speaking of which, the end fight didn't work that well for me; I just tanked the scrags and kept hiding behind a big pillar against the vores. Still, I quite enjoyed myself with the map regardless. I guess it tells something about the quality of a release, when the weakest map is still a 4/5 in my book.

w1m7: What a monster of a map, what a final fight, worthy climax for the episode. I liked the black void the map started in. I did get lost for a little bit at one point, when I was supposed to get on an elevator. Maybe a monster could've been placed on the elevator to guide me to it, or something? Or maybe I wasn't just paying attention. 4.75/5

For my 100th review on quaddicted I thought I should finally play Smej - and it's fantastic. You can tell the mappers really understand and love the game. Beautiful and a lot of fun, especially the traps. Not for beginners!