The Monochrome

The monochrome is a great map. Visually it lives up to its name. Shades of grey abound as far as the eye can see. On occasion it punctuates these tones with red splashes of blood, but the for the most part it is all grey, all the time. Its a real strength of the map then, that it uses its changes in shade to largely keep its spaces very clear and readable for the duration. The entire thing seems takes place some kind of inscrutable megastructure made of a series of hexagonal structures, from the smallest floor tile to the hulking stalactite like spire around which most of the map orients itself. Its an unusual arrangement (Quake mapping at non orthagonal or non 45 degree angles is extremely irritating), but also one helps it really stand out visually.

Its all so effortless too. This is one of those maps that's extremely tightly designed to somehow keep the player moving forward at all times into new areas, rarely get lost or have to search for the way forward, but doesn't particularly feel like its railroading the player or making its moves too obvious. This sacrifices a little in player agency, it values freeform exploration a little less than other maps, but makes up for it in pacing, with a strong sense of forward momentum at all time. Its a very in an out affair. You drop in through a slipgate, move down to the bloody basement, then up and around the spire through a series of ancillary rooms, finally into a climactic arena while the escape slipgate powers up. The bulk of the map being based around unlocking the pathways to the upper sections of the spire also gives a strong sense of progression as you climb over the areas you already traversed. The only time the map really slows a little is as you go through a novel encounter with a series of invisible teleports towards the final encounter.

I also quite enjoyed the music too. Its all the quiet ambient whooshes you'd expect from a map like this, then every now and then the clear chime of a bell comes through the mix. It is just a looping audio track and not synced to any part of the level, but every now and then it lines up and acts as a little punctuation mark: the downing on an enemy, the hitting of a switch.

The final this arena is where the map is weakest, mostly because it ended up being a mismatch of my skill on the normal difficulty. I died a lot on that final segment, which harmed the pacing that otherwise defined the strength of the map. Otherwise though, a strong entry.