Video Games
‘Quake’ Remaster Restores Portion of Map Cut From Final Release
With the Quake remaster now out in the wild, and gamers rediscovering (and discovering for the first time) the phenomenon that was Quake, some fans have found a little something that Nightdive added back into the game that was originally cut. As noted by PCGamer, E2M6, the Dismal Oubliette, has now been fully restored.
Quick history lesson: when developing Quake, id Software set a self-imposed limit of 1.4MB for each map file, meaning no map could go over the file size of a single floppy disk. As a result, John Romero had to remove what was originally the entrance to E2M6, which he subsequently later posted online.
Well, eagle-eyed fans like starshipwaters noticed that the remaster now has that cut section put back into the game. You now start the level at the bottom of a cave and have to fight your way up to where the mission started in the final version of the game.
“I remember spending many hours trying to get it just right, to create the feeling of an awful, cavernous pit for the player to get out of and into the real horror of the Oubliette,” recalls Romero back in 2001. “It added a nice bit of gameplay time and I’m sorry that it had to go, but we set the .BSP file size at 1.4Mb and had to be strict about it.”
The remastered Quake is out now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC, with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series versions coming soon. And for you physical media fans, keep an eye on Limited Run Games this Friday for their stacked physical editions.
Video Games
Inspired by 80s Slashers, Short Horror Experience ‘Dead Stop – No Vacancy’ Launches August 13 [Trailer]
Fresh from their work on last year’s Beneath, developer Camel 101 has announced that their next title, a short, standalone first-person horror experience in Dead Stop – No Vacancy, will launch on Steam on August 13. Accompanying the announcement is the release date trailer, which thanks to the narration, is appropriately hammy.
Players in No Vacancy step into the shoes of Nancy, a hard-edged investigative reporter whose journey to the town of Crestfall takes an unexpected turn. Stranded without directions or a GPS signal, she arrives at the remote Paradise Motel just as daylight begins to disappear. What initially appears to be an inconvenient stop soon becomes an investigation into the motel’s dark history, and whatever may be hiding beneath it.
No Vacancy is the first entry in Dead Stop, a new anthology of short, standalone horror games inspired by classic horror stories and unsettling places. In this case, the game takes inspiration from 80s slasher films.
Rather than relying on cutscenes to tell its story, No Vacancy‘s has the player discover the story through the various objects you examine in the game. As such, you’ll also be dealing with various environmental puzzles built around the motel’s dark history. Completing the vibe is the game’s throwback graphics, which don’t quite have the typical PS1-era aesthetic, but it’s enough to give you that old-school feel.
Ahead of the game’s launch, you can also check out the demo via the Steam page.