Us fans of classic first-person shooters were delighted when the Quake 2 remaster launched recently. A little bit of nostalgia with a dollop of newness to give the iconic game a fresh coat of paint. Now, we’re in for another treat with a mod that makes id Software’s 1997 release more violent and harrowing.
As spotted by DSO Gaming, modder SGtMarkIV recently released a “quick gameplay test” of something they’re calling “Brutal Quake 2.” As the name suggests, this is a mod that ups the violence in Q2, but also tweaks the game in general by adding new ideas.
The footage shows the current work-in-progress. We see that it has the look of Quake 2, only with…well…more brutality. Interestingly enough, we also get to see a map not in the original release or remaster. This one puts the player and other marines in a battlefield, fighting Stroggs as chaos ensues and explosions litter a kind of no man’s land. Imagine if Johns Romero and Carmack did a Medal of Honor game back in 1997.
Also, it’s not made in the Quake engine
One thing to note about this footage is that it doesn’t quite look like a modified version of Q2. Sure, the opening map bears a resemblance to the Outer Base level, but it looks different somehow.
This is because SGtMarkIV is having to make it in GZDoom, the modern toolkit/engine that’s used to mod the original Doom games. They say that GZDoom can read the models from Quake 2‘s files, which means this mod can run in the Doom engine, but with Quake assets.
We don’t know the release date for Brutal Quake 2 yet, but given that it’s coming from the mind that brought us Brutal Doom, expect carnage a-plenty.
