The Immortal Lock is a gnarly new Quake map that's meatier than some entire FPS campaigns—literally and figuratively

GamesFPSQuakeThe Immortal Lock is a gnarly new Quake map that’s meatier than some entire FPS campaigns—literally and figurativelyWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Quake Immortal Lock map

Exploring eldritch hell-dungeons is par for the course in Quake, but this is the first time the dungeon itself has said"I want to feel you inside me." Just how farwillQuake’s hero go on a first date? Welcome toThe Immortal Lock, likely the largest, fleshiest Quake map ever made, and essentially a whole action-horror game in a single contiguous space. Over a year and a half in the making, it’s a harrowing 3-5 hour experience, potentially much longer depending on how much secret meat you want to strip from its bones and how frequently you die.

The other kind of vore

Quake - The Immortal Lock - YouTubeWatch On

Quake - The Immortal Lock - YouTube

There’s also a huge number of secret areas to discover. While many are just powerups in dark little nooks, some feel like small, self-contained levels unto themselves. My first playthrough I only saw a third of them. That enormous sense of scale also applies to the shootouts. Modern Quake maps tend to have higher enemy density than the original but The Immortal Lock takes it to absurd heights, with around 5,200 on Normal difficulty. For comparison’s sake, the original game contains 1,340 across its four episodes.Total.

This map has more monsters than that in a single blowout setpiece battle, and it’s one of the most spectacular (and exhausting) fights I’ve ever experienced in Quake.

Despite the awe-inspiringly excessive scale there’s an impressive level of detail and artistry in The Immortal Lock. The Quake engine lends itself to harsh angles and chunky dungeon corridors, and yet much of this adventure is through curving, uneven masses of flesh and bone melded into an impressive array of configurations. Open platforming mazes floating in voids, claustrophobic tomb crawls, the occasional hall made entirely of gnashing, toothsome mouths. It’s one of the most unwelcoming environments I’ve seen in the engine, despite the dungeon’s insistence that being consumed should be a fun time for all involved.

Fresh meat

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

“I found probably the nicest and most supportive community I’ve ever encountered in the process,” Langlois said. “That’s what really made me stick to it—all the devs in Quake mapping are super talented and friendly.” Langlois first played Quake when she was a kid, which actually turned out to be a formative experience for her horror writing—something she’s been doing far longer than mapping Quake.

Image1of3(Image credit: Amelie C. Langlois)(Image credit: Amelie C. Langlois)(Image credit: Amelie C. Langlois)

Image1of3

(Image credit: Amelie C. Langlois)(Image credit: Amelie C. Langlois)(Image credit: Amelie C. Langlois)

(Image credit: Amelie C. Langlois)

The Immortal Lock in-editor shots

(Image credit: Amelie C. Langlois)

The Immortal Lock in-editor shots

(Image credit: Amelie C. Langlois)

The Immortal Lock in-editor shots

“I think I must have gotten it as a gift when I was 6 or 7, and played it on the family computer. Stuff like that, Silent Hill, and the goosebumps books, pushed me into really getting a taste for surreal horror, so I eventually started writing it for fun at around the same age and onward.”

With The Immortal Lock, she deliberately set out to make a splash. “Part of my intent was actually to do the largest Quake map ever made,” she said. “At least in terms of actual gameplay area—Ter Shibbolethtechnically is still larger in size because it uses giant brush-based expanses as artificial skyboxes.”

This wasn’t her first mapmaking experience period, though—before Quake, she worked in Blizzard’s StarCraft, WarCraft 3 and StarCraft 2. Langlois recommended that anyone interested in starting Quake mapping should useTrenchbroom, a powerful and relatively new level editor that she described as “ridiculously user-friendly.”

“You can make just about whatever you want.”

Meat futures

Image1of7

Quake Immortal Lock map

She also has no plans to slow down. The map was released scarcely 48 hours ago at the time of writing, and she has since rolled out three updates. She’s also drawing up plans to host a community ‘Meat Jam’; a showcase of squishy, gory environments usingQuoth, the gameplay mod that The Immortal Lock draws its new monsters and powerups from. Beyond that, there’s an even more mechanically ambitious sequel planned—The Inversion Chamber—featuring some light RPG elements. Given that The Immortal Lock took over a year and a half to make, it might take a bit.

Arcane Dimensions: The massive community collaboration that inspired her (and many others) to start mapping. It’s a series of unconnected and sometimes lengthy one-shot adventures using a fresh library of new monsters, weapons and features, with architecture far beyond anything seen in classic Quake.

Alkaline: Similar to Arcane Dimensions, with its own set of new enemies and mechanics, and a slightly more unified high-tech aesthetic. She also mentioned plans to use Alkaline’s assets and open-source codebase as the foundation for Immortal Lock’s sequel.

Image1of8

Quake Immortal Lock map

Dwell: Only half-finished but already one of the most spectacular Quake mods to date. Cinematic cosmic horror, with Egyptian and Sunken Ruin-themed episodes currently done (each clocking in at easily twice the length of vanilla Quake’s equivalents), and two more coming later.

SMEJ 1: Realm of the LostandSMEJ 2: Torrent of Impurities: Two episodes from the Finnish side of the Quake fandom. The first is short and sweet, but the latter’s larger levels wrap up with a massive, hostile and secret-laden map fromMazu, one of The Immortal Lock’s strongest inspirations.

Func Map Jam 9: A great showcase of what else can be done with Quoth, the ‘base’ mod that The Immortal Lock is built with. Expect meat, eldritch libraries and some tough fights against new monsters.

Finally, I’d also like to add a recommendation forStarslave, another of Amelie’s tough and exploration-heavy delves into cosmic weirdness. Not quite the all-you-can-eat delicatessen that Immortal Lock offers, but a beefy adventure nonetheless. Bon appetit.

More about fpsThe most important tool in Remedy’s new co-op FPS is the shower: ‘Saving water is essential’If you missed it over the holidays, this noir Half-Life 2 mod turns you into a hardboiled detective in Prohibition-era ChicagoLatestTeam Fortress 2’s just had the single biggest trade in its history, with ‘the absolute best hat you can get in the game’ going for around $40KSee more latest►

More about fps

The most important tool in Remedy’s new co-op FPS is the shower: ‘Saving water is essential’If you missed it over the holidays, this noir Half-Life 2 mod turns you into a hardboiled detective in Prohibition-era Chicago

FBC: Firebreak

The most important tool in Remedy’s new co-op FPS is the shower: ‘Saving water is essential’

A noir Chicago with Combine metro cops from Half-Life 2

If you missed it over the holidays, this noir Half-Life 2 mod turns you into a hardboiled detective in Prohibition-era Chicago

LatestTeam Fortress 2’s just had the single biggest trade in its history, with ‘the absolute best hat you can get in the game’ going for around $40KSee more latest►

Latest

Team Fortress 2’s just had the single biggest trade in its history, with ‘the absolute best hat you can get in the game’ going for around $40K

A valuable TF2 hat shimmers in the moonlight.

Team Fortress 2’s just had the single biggest trade in its history, with ‘the absolute best hat you can get in the game’ going for around $40K

See more latest►

Most Popular

‘It’s simply impossible to make a difficulty level that’s just right for all players’: How Final Fantasy 14’s lead battle designer has been playing a precarious balancing game for Dawntrail’s dungeons and raids

Please join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)

Competitive shooters are at a crucial crossroads in 2025: ‘sweaty’ teamplay vs. casual fun

Call of Duty’s $28 Squid Game skins are the perfect crossover for our capitalist dystopia, and Activision knows exactly what it’s doing

These are the 14 biggest upcoming RPGs of 2025—get ready for another amazing year for the genre

Five new Steam games you probably missed (January 6, 2025)

I’ve seen enough: No more forcing singleplayer studios to make mediocre live service games

6 games that could be bigger hits than you’re expecting in 2025

What are your 2025 gaming resolutions?

The FBI put a $5 million bounty on the ‘Cryptoqueen’ last year but still hasn’t found her, so take your pick: Russia, South Africa, or murdered on a yacht in 2018

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

The other kind of vore#

Fresh meat#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

Meat futures#

The other kind of vore

Fresh meat

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Meat futures