Rediscover Quake With The New Quake 1.5 Mod

Published: January 19, 2019 9:46 PM /

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Quake 1.5 singleplayer beta is now available for download at moddb bringing a new way to experience jd's masterpiece shooter. If you’re at all interested in an enhanced Quake experience, you need to check it out.

Quake 1.5 is a collection of various aesthetic and gameplay tweaks and additions for the original Quake. It’s been in assembly for a few years by bloodshot12 at moddb, and based on seven's Quake mod called “Small Mod Compilation.” New features include redesigned weapon and enemy models, new weapons and enemies, new blood and gore effects, new maps, revamped bosses, completely new bosses, and much more.

Little tweaks include a melee kick, the ability to throw grenades by hand, climbable ladders, a flashlight, and overlays for suits like the biosuit. While the maps are still largely similar to the originals, there are some fresh additions to them as well. The first map, "The Slipgate Complex," has a few new narrative elements: you hear ships fly overhead and bombs exploding (these sounds from Quake II), and see fellow soldiers being killed by the enemies (originally, there is no trace of other human soldiers of any kind throughout Quake). I've seen breakable glass in a few of the maps, too. There is a menu to select any of the game’s maps from, which you access by pressing the backspace key. Present is MachineGames’ fifth Quake episode from a few years ago, so if you never checked that out, now’s the time.

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The new shotgun model is a substantial change from the old one.

Quake 1.5 began as a weapons mod, and it shows. The new weapon models are the most striking feature at first glance. Quake’s center-screen, relatively small and weak-sounding shotgun now becomes a large, powerful weapon held at the right of the screen, completely changing its feel. In spirit with the customization aspect of the mod, you can switch guns to the center of the screen if you’d like.

To play the mod you’ll need the DarkPlaces engine addon for Quake, but the zipfile for 1.5 comes with the recommended DP version to use, so you’re good there. Otherwise, you’ll need Quake, which you can get on GOG or Steam if you don’t have a disc version from back in the day. However, if you haven't ever played Quake, I'd recommend experiencing it in the original vanilla version first.

The readme has simple instructions for getting the files extracted to your Quake folder and setting up a shortcut to run the mod. There’s also been a patch released that fixes issues including one I encountered when the mod's "slow motion" is in effect upon loading a save. This should only occur during certain moments when you've "gibbed" - blown up - an enemy or have been killed.

Once it’s running, you’ll get sucked into a fun and impressive mod that I can’t wait to dive back into. We may never get the direct Quake sequel fans have dreamed of for years, but mods like 1.5 are the next best thing.

https://youtu.be/QWJFudlrgvo

Interested in checking out this mod? Love the original Quake and wish it got more attention? Any other Quake mods you'd recommend? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

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I am a lifelong, enthusiastic gamer, freelance writer and editor, blogger, and Thief FM aficionado. I think that exploration-heavy, open-ended first-person… More about Trevor