Thread for: Suggestions for fanmade maps/campaigns

[FixbotWill]

Use this thread for that ^^

talk about cool fanmade maps/campaigns you've played, or you made. tell us what's good about them.

[CascadeIllusion]

Note: These mods aren't compatible with the Remaster, so you'll have to play them in either vanilla Q2 or a sourceport like Yamagi.

Citadel by Andrea Rosa: 8-map mod (9 if you include the secret map) that uses missionpack content and some Zaero content. Extremely high-quality level design that fits perfectly with the original game, and very challenging combat. One of the first single player mappacks I've played; to this day I still think it's the best custom single player campaign for Quake 2, and I'd argue it even beats out Call of the Machine. Make sure you grab the latest version; a few older versions have fewer maps and lack some of the bugfixes/QOL changes of the later versions.

Slight Mechanical Destruction by musashi: A campaign using the Lazarus mod, which allows for some interesting new features such as Half-Life style health recharging stations, and some new/modified enemies. Has a different feel from the standard Quake 2 campaign, but still fits very well and looks absolutely fantastic, while also coming with challenging gameplay.

Quake 2 25th Anniversary Mappack by various authors (led by Quakeulf): Before the 26th anniversary gave us the remaster, the 25th anniversary of Quake 2 led to the creation of this campaign. It's similar to COTM in that it uses a central hub through which you access maps. Like Citadel, it uses mission pack content, and also includes a few new enemies such as the BFGladiator and the Disruptor Guard. It also has some additional changes, including restorations of the Berserker's cut attacks before the remaster did the same a year later. Level design is great, faithful to the original game, with some nice callbacks to the original missions.

Zaero by Team Evolve: Technically "fanmade" in the sense that it's unofficial and id software did not make it, but this was actually sold as a commercial product back when it first came out, and is essentially a third mission pack after The Reckoning and Ground Zero. Like those, it has new weapons, items, and enemies, and a multi-unit campaign making use of all of them. The new stuff is hit-or-miss, with some pretty cool additions and some things that are nearly useless, the overhauled textures I'm personally not a fan of, and the final boss is, without spoiling it, far more frustrating than it is challenging, but overall it is competently designed and fun to play. It is available for free nowadays on ModDB, though it lacks the new textures, which honestly is for the better in my opinion.

Oblivion by Lethargy Software: Another pseudo-mission pack like Zaero, and while it didn't get commercially sold like that one did, an early version of it was notably distributed in some copies of PC Gamer UK around the time of its release. Compared to Zaero, this one's somewhat rougher around the edges, most notably having an unfinished ending. The level design also tends to lack the natural connectivity and flow of the official campaigns or Zaero. That being said, there are some things Oblivion does better than its more polished counterpart Zaero: Oblivion's weapons I think are better and more fun to use (though the Plasma Rifle is overpowered), and its new textures look far better than Zaero's do, to the point where much of Oblivion's legacy lives on in its custom textures being used in custom maps to this day (Slight Mechanical Destruction mentioned earlier uses them, for example). It also includes quite a few interesting mechanics such as allied marines and scripted sequences that you won't find in other mods.

Escape by Loki Software: Includes a new Plasma Rifle weapon (different from Oblivion's) with two firing modes, and two new soldiers based on each of those firing modes. Level design can be pretty rough around the edges, but the gameplay is enjoyable.

[erc]

As for (mostly) 'map-only, classic-like' earlier releases I recommend checking out the ones I have listed below. Note that as long as the package is not distributed with a custom .dll, these can still be played through the remaster:

'Castles of Stroggos 3: The Final Objective' by Brian Griffith
'Citizen Abel 3: The Civic Redemption' by Brendon Chung
'Citizen Abel 4: Malfunction Junction' by Brendon Chung
'Coconut Monkey 2: Dry Gulch' by Neil Manke
'Coconut Monkey 3: Saving Private Monkey' by Neil Manke
'Dark Undergrowth' by Christian Cummings
'Deaf, Dumb and Blind' by Geraint Wynne-Davies
'Forces of Evil (I-IV)' by Chris Spain
'Light' by Jed Kirchner
'Operation Scorched Earth (I-III)' by Steve Clarke
'Saturation Point' by Jim Hughes
'The Blockade' by Michael Shand
'The Powersphere Quest' by Cedar Kraus
'The Widening Gyre' by Carson Utz
'What the End Is For' by Carson Utz

And a tastefully done total conversion to top them off:
'Dawn of Darkness - Episode One' by Ward Six Entertainment