Quake's third Brutalist Jam now has a whopping 75 maps, and its organiser is working on a hub to stitch them all together: 'this is going to be an insane challenge'
For the last four years, the hottest mapping event in the retro FPS scene has been the Quake Brutalist Jam. Here, mapmakers enthralled by id Software's 1996 shooter have gathered to honour architecture's moodiest style, constructing levels designed to evoke its austere, concrete minimalism.
The first Brutalist Jam occurred in 2022, spawning 35 maps that were bundled together and released as a single mod. A second Brutalist Jam took place the following year, producing 30 more delightfully grey, angular constructions to blast your way through.
Both Jams seemed like impressive achievements at the time. But this year's Brutalist Jam blows both previous events out of the water. After kicking off in October, the Quake Brutalist Jam 3 has received a whopping 75 entries created by the Quake community. For context, the original version of Quake contains 37 maps.
Why has this Jam proved so much more popular than the previous ones? Well, it might be partly down to word of mouth spreading, and the Jam didn't run last year, which likely encouraged people who feared they missed out to take part this year. But on top of that, Quake Brutalist Jam 3 doesn't just use vanilla Quake as its foundation. Instead, it revolves around a set of bespoke features unique to the Jam.
This includes a whole new armour system inspired by Quake Champions, where armour is fully stackable at all times, as well as a redesigned arsenal that includes a pipe-wrench, twin nailguns, and a shotgun with Flak Cannon-style bouncing projectiles. You'll also use these to fight a "new" enemy roster that's exclusive to the Jam. This roster includes some snazzy reskins of vanilla Quake monsters, but there are also completely new enemies for mappers to experiment with.
Arcane DimensionsThe Jam's organiser, who goes by Makkon, provided the final count earlier this week. The 75 maps include 43 "main" maps, 18 new faces maps, and 14 miscellaneous maps. However, it might be a while before we get to play the results, as it's now upon Makkon to join all these maps together in a playable hub.
This is a tradition that harks back to the original Quake, featuring in many other multi-map mod projects like Arcane Dimensions. But creating such a hub for 75 maps is a huge lift. Some members of the community have suggested splitting the Jam into multiple releases. But Makkon is committed to releasing it as a single package, noting, "This is going to be an insane challenge."
If you want to get a sense of what Brutalist Jam 3 might include, you can download the introductory map created by Makkon, designed to showcase the features of the Jam. While made for instructional purposes, it's still a decently sized map, letting you try out the new weapons in a bespoke shooting gallery before battling the new enemies across a more traditional FPS level.
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