21d33c8a494b6c569696e156f36ce43485c3ed1db4ae38f2f7722e71db83404b

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21d33c8a494b6c569696e156f36ce43485c3ed1db4ae38f2f7722e71db83404b
overall_rating 4.699000370233247 74
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Chasing Promises (jam9_skacky) is huge and beautiful and consistently interesting. It also finishes up with two brutal mass combats: since I never found a way to either of the two rocket-launcher secrets I saw, nor to the quad that overlooks the final arena, I really had my work cut out to finish up; but I did, getting 257 of 266 kills, but only 8 of 20 secrets. I also left without the contract – on-screen messages left me thinking I’d missed a way to reach a better ending. So there’s some replayability there, too. All in all, possibly my favourite map of the pack so far, and a solid 5/5.

I just wish Skacky (and everyone else!) would follow MJB’s excellent example, and provide a secrets guide!

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Thanks Mike for the review. Most disgusting is what I was aiming for this time around. I wanted a little shock value accompanied with the strange title to produce a “What on Earth?” moment. I also wanted to make a more difficult map this time around with the theme and Quoth in mind.

Hopefully you put a stop to the death machine with the help of the guide! :wink:

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Oh, should have mentioned, Bloughsberg: loved your title! And, yes, with the aid of the guide, I was able to reach the good ending.

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I finally finished A Dream of Dead Stars (jam9_secret) – though I had to cheat to get to this level, and I’d love to know what the official way in is.

I mostly enjoyed this a lot – very explorey, lots of multi-level-ness. I have to admit, though, that the final combat was a bit too extreme for my tastes. I had a few goes, then shelved it for a couple of weeks before returning now to finally beat it. I wonder if anyone has ever successfully done it (on Hard) without finding the crucial secret?

Because in the end the final combat felt like work instead of play, i am marking this down to a rather harsh 3/5.

But needless to say, the score for the pack as a whole is a very comfortable five stars!

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Still haven’t finished all maps:

Breezeep: Wonderful environemnt with great choice of skybox and lighting. Lovely rock curves make me go “mmmm” all night long baby. Fun ledge jumping secrets and nice difficulty as well. Wasn’t a fan of the fiend cluttered room but we made it!

DelusionalBear: Nice map offering here, is this your first I think? Either way I really enjoyed the first secret for the GL (I think it was GL, been a while now.) Ammo was pretty tight but since the map was small enough it wasn’t a big deal.

Dumptruck_ds: First of all, fantastic music you made for this. Really created the correct atmosphere you were trying to convey. I loved the choice of skybox here and the closed room Shambler fight with other critters. The final fight room with the water ceiling was just spiffy as well!

Giftmacher: Best of pack for me personally. So much fun discoveries and oozing with unique atmosphere. The challenge of using no music but not missing it is something else! Well done man.

Haunter: First offering and a nice one. Very simple but clear goals in mind. Lovely last fight area…go map some more!

Ionous: Lovely vertical eye candy as usual from you. Nice flow to the fights and fun secrets to discover!

Muk: Wonderful flow and interconnection. I got a bit of a samey feel with all of the book case alcoves. Since one secret was tied to those alcoves/books I felt compelled to check every one. Best use of Vermis for me.

Nait: Cool atmosphere and wicked brush work. The starting base place was nice to build tension but I wonder if some of that could have been omitted to flesh out the core map some more.

Newhouse: Sometimes you just want to take a SNG or RL and just blast hordes upon hordes of baddies. NH answers this call with his offering but if one looks deeper they will find some really well thought out secrets!

OTP: I love wet damp levels and this one delivers in that. A nice mix of retro and knave here with some fun secrets. A little easy to get lost and trying to remember how to access certain areas. Some medium reliance on centerprint messages but the best “Lovecraft” secret of the pack (Or at least of what I played.)

ShoTro: Hands down the most ambitious of the pack…holy cow. It’s hard to describe the map but I would say it is at fault more than in the right for me. Perhaps a bit too ambitious but I am not one to repeat the same place over and over again with only subtle differences. Still, I can’t imagine the time spent to craft this beast!

That’s all I have played, I will play the rest some day…I will!

However I can easily slap a 5 star rating for the sum of its parts.

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I replayed The Brimstone Mine (jam9_giftmacher) after reading in Icantthinkofanickname’s comment on The Forgotten Sepulcher that it was his favourite map of this pack, contrasted favourably with Sepulcher. I did enjoy it, but again found the ending terribly anticlimactic, with only 82 of the 114 kills. It’s annoying to know that somewhere in there are 32 more kills, and correspondingly big reaches of as-yet undiscovered map. Partly that will be because I only got two of the seven secrets; but more importantly I suppose, I didn’t find all the demon-face buttons, which I am guessing might unlock all those barred teleporters. If ever a map needed a secrets guide, it’s this one!

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Mukor’s map was actually one of the easiest ones. The Gug can be easily taken out with the grenade launcher, his projectiles follow a specific pattern and if he’s cornered near his starting point, he can be easily maneuvred in a way that allows for only a loss of 10+ health due to his quake attack.

The final combat with a worm is also very easy - you get a rocket launcher earlier, which has an infinite range and there are very long corridors allowing for an unblockable series of shots without any fear of retaliation. Same for the storm of vorelings and knights - go in, aggro them all, retreat and lay down a barrage of rocket fire from a safe distance.

I always play dirty, I know.

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In Skacky’s map Chasing Promises (jam9_skacky), there is a rocket launcher sitting on a wooden beam over a void, in the middle of the Libris Suspensus area. I’ve tried and tried, and can’t find a way to get to it. Does anyone know the secret?

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G1ftmacher’s “The Brimstone Mine” won the “Best Map Gameplay” category at the Quake Awards 2018.