Quake Brutalist Jam 3 is downright brilliant

Don’t you just love that community spirit? The one where a bunch of Quake modders got together and built a fully realised overhaul of the original game, all themed around brutalism. That’s not just the architecture, by the way.

The architecture is lovingly crafted with a higher fidelity compared to id’s seminal title, but still keeping Quake’s crunchy style. I’d usually say something like, “It looks how you remember it!”, but Quake has been in the peripheral vision of FPS enthusiasts for so long that it’s very obvious how much work went into Quake Brutalist Jam 3.

Visuals aside, the whole arsenal of weapons has been overhauled. No longer medieval renderings of a rocket launcher or an axe. No, we’ve got a 9mm, a wrench, and the rocket launcher fires like six rounds at once in a flurry of splashback. Even the playable character has been swapped out for a woman, still giving the “Hungh, yurgh” noises whenever jumping has to happen.

Even the enemies have been completely overhauled. New additions aren’t just added for the sake of it, but actually introduce neat concepts that spice up the run-and-gun action. These fleshy pillars will spew up caltrops that you’ll have to take note of. Even the lower-class enemies are cool, with the knights throwing a barrage of knives or the grunts popping like zits when the shotgun gets that bit too close.

Classics still remain, but feel far more aggressive than in the original. Seeing a Shambler leap across a chasm to hound me with lightning isn’t something I’d ever be fearful of. You think you’ve seen it all, but then it kills me dead.

QBJ3 brings brutalism by aesthetic and brutalality by nature

Then, of course, those are the sides and sauces. They are but a humble part of Quake Brutalist Jam 3’s concoction. As I said, Brutalist doesn’t just mean architecture. Packed in QBJ3 are some of the meanest, sweatiest, and downright ingenious Quake mod levels I’ve played in some time. The variety in ideas and takes on what brutalism is an artistic question on its own, one I don’t think I’m capable of answering without, like, consulting a rabbi or something. It feels too deep for a mod where a level I spent half an hour on was called “Penis Day at the Gym.”

Actually, let me tell you about Penis Day at the Gym, a level so mean-spirited that it circles back around to being funny. Giving you a lava suit that you (read: I) will fail to find the route to take advantage of it until it’s too late, and you’re forced to do the march of shame.

A moment where a cameo appeared, and the designer knew precisely what would happen (I shot it). It then flares up a taunting message. A cruel, laugh-out-loud use of the Quake engine.

Penis Day at the Gym closes on a nigh impossible fight, one that I’m set to return to once I’ve written this. They also placed banana peels in the level that work as you’d think, whoopee noise and all, and yes, it’s caused me to die. Penis Day at the Gym.

There’s no reason you can’t play Quake Brutalist Jam 3

The best bit about all of this is that you don’t even need to own Quake to play this. While it is a mod, Quake’s engine was made open-source in 1999, so the team has bundled all the necessary files into a standalone package. And yes, it works on Linux and Steam Deck; you only need to add it to Steam and run it through the compatibility layer Proton.