sst13 brings us an awesome re-envisioning of the Quake classic, The House of Chthon (e1m7) - the Boss fight level from the Shareware release. This is an expanded, aged version with signs of the past that respects the location history.

Higher res textures from the Quake Retexturing Project keep the visuals of Quake alive on current hardware. You can now transverse the lava pit, which is visually spectacular. A number of custom models adorn the arena. The hands and forearms of Chthon are a particularly nice touch.

Gameplay is a lot of fun. The central open space creates a sense of achievement when you land a long distance hit. Tighter, new side areas keep closer, in-your-face action at the front. With multiple access methods to most locations your will be always on your toes and keeping an eye out. The item placement will keep you moving through the map as well. Bots seem to have no issue with navigation.

The only minor nit-pick is the lighting of the arena if you are using cl_renderer "opengl1" (which is the default). Switch over to opengl2 and the map is a lot more dynamic. This really is only a very minor issue and should not put you off this release at all.

Download, play and then play again and again.