This is likely the definitive 'medieval' map of the time, set in a large 'ye olde towne', it feels very much like Hexen2 which hadn't even been released yet. For the time, the visuals were pretty good, it attempted to look like something and was consistent. The gameplay is pretty typical for the time, very much 'Quake the way id did it', and there are bits of non-linearity here too. The attempt at following a Lovecraft story is really cool as well.

But for all those positives... Why are the monsters green? They just look weird, and I don't think they add anything, even though I suppose it's meant to tie into the Lovecraft story? 

They are "mutated by the sea air."

Probably my favourite oldschool map, for the size, setpiece-based design, and nonlinearity. It also advanced the form and showed what the Quake engine could do in terms of outdoor areas (id's closest contender for wide open spaces was Ziggurat Vertigo, which indeed blew my socks off, but wasn't as large/open as Shadow).

/votes for Sock to remake Shadow 

in my opinion this was the Marcher Fortress of early 1997. In December of 1997 that title would go to either Mexx10 or ikspq5, but for most of the year this level loomed large over all the others.

Great sense of place, creepy quakiness, and also the perfect change of scenery for the finale. 

Will replay the level tomorrow. I vaguely remember it, the docks and I think underwater zombies...

I played another mod at the same time back then, but can't remember what it was called. It was another medieval thing that spanned over 5 levels or so and had puzzle game play in wizards towers and dark forest roaming with hub play... yes I just spent ten minutes looking for it.

That was hit and miss but I remember this being extremely solid. 

which featured several levels by Rescoe, was indeed hit/miss, although Shadow is his masterpiece. 

Was stuck thinking of the acronym TDK. 

I played and recorded two demos;

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1vb7jhop4j6909y/ijedshadowdemos.zip

I died for not respecting exploboxes. I should have fucking known since I have a load of them in my current map :P

It definitely holds up today. You can see how many of the gameplay concerns are down to the fashion of the times and how many are genuine improvements when comparing this to modern releases.

In general thins have improved, but many classic set ups have been forgotten or ignored. 

I'd forgotten how good this was. The only bad things are bland textures (especially end) and green monsters. The non-linearity, inside/outside combination, and gameplay are great. Good monster placement in particular. 

All righty, so I played this again... first time in a long time. Maybe since it was originally released?

Nice layout, just enough nonlinearity for a bit of exploring but never getting lost. I think I was vaguely expecting a streets-with-actual-houses environment similar to the opening of czg's honey (is there another classic Quake map that I was thinking of?) but the more abstract and varied setting here turned out fine. Cozy-spooky in a good old-school Quake way. BTW the selected music track works very well with this map.

Random thoughts from my playthrough:

- Lots of good Ogre placements.

- There was a nailtrap early on that I was able to use to gun down Fiends. Fun stuff! More maps should allow that. :-)

- Speaking of Quads (as some folks were recently): first Quad here was well-placed. Visible before and during a fight, and generally set up to allow rampaging around a new area. Second Quad (docks) not so good; you won't see it until most immediate enemies are dead.

- The GL location was fun. You pass by a few monsters on a lower floor as you ride the elevator up to the GL, then you can send some grenades back down to them.

- Exit was a bit weird? You can just run out without engaging much in the final arena fight.

- I enjoyed the few "gotcha" traps, they were just an excuse to fight more dudes! Nothing frustrating.

Good map, and good idea for a thread. 

Exit was a bit weird? You can just run out without engaging much in the final arena fight.

What kind of quake player are you????

Seriously though, I like that it's not forced for some reason. 

I'm the kind that saves, kills everything, then reloads and sees if it actually lets me exit early. :-) 

...mexx10 

Fun stuff. Never realized before, that the end of Tronyn's 'The Lost Land' was the Shadow ending on steroids.

Build quality still holds up, lighting is appropriately moody and atmospheric. It may lack the polish of modern maps, but it's easy to why it's still highly regarded. 

I'm sure I've seen another homage to that tiered pyramid setup in one of Mark Shan's Q2 maps as well. 

 

I had actually considered making that the first pick. I've been doing basically this same thing in the topic of #tf for the last couple months, I would just link a random good map from long ago. I wasn't sure it was really getting much attention though and Spirit suggested doing threads.

Originally I had chosen sadlark8 for the #tf topic... but then decided that likely wasn't the best foot to start off on for doing this as a series of threads. It was a good map, and likely I will pick it again sometime because I do also want some of the 'forgotten, but good' maps... but I thought something stronger was better to lead off with. 

I still have to play this and pontificate on it. 

 

Was surprised at how good this was! Basically what everyone else said. I liked the monster skins, other than the knights...
I love that quasi naive aesthetic.
Like, the Neil Manke Starship textures and skins... everyone gave me shit about using them in a SM a long time ago, but I think they are fantastic.
I would suggest that as a potential next one, by the way. 

Hell in a can... 

Choose something that has not been mentioned yet 

I think, when I finally get some time in about 2 weeks, I will get really stoned and try playing this in software mode with no mouse either, to get the really oldschool experience. at the end I will weep tears of nostalgia. lol. 

I recommend engoo with its pixel scaling as real actual proper "is that a pixel or a shambler" nostalgia. 

so I guess that's cheating.