History VideoGame / ArcaneDimensions

** Also per Quake tradition, the player can unlock a hidden Nightmare skill pillar by completing certain sequences in each Hub: "In the Beginning"'s Nightmare pillar is unlocked by [[spoiler: dropping into the lava pool in front of the slipgate to "Grendel's Blade" into a hidden room beneath. Walking through the button-opened doorway back into the hub raises the pillar.]] "Arcane Chapters"' Nightmare pillar is unlocked by [[spoiler: shooting a button hidden beneath an awning in front of a closed door, adjacent to the slipgate to "The Horde of Zendar".]]
** Unlocking the Nightmare skill pillars also reveals [[spoiler: a switch hidden on two of the pillars in the main room of both levels ]] which, when activated, unlocks the ''Evil'' difficulty option. Doing so causes the Evil pillar to erupt beneath and destroy the Easy pillar when approached, accompanied by a text popup declaring "No need for Easy skill anymore!! You now have Evil skill instead!?!".

** Unlocking the Nightmare skill pillars also reveals [[spoilers: a switch hidden on two of the pillars in the main room of both levels ]] which, when activated, unlocks the ''Evil'' difficulty option. Doing so causes the Evil pillar to erupt beneath and destroy the Easy pillar when approached, accompanied by a text popup declaring "No need for Easy skill anymore!! You now have Evil skill instead!?!".

** The narration text in “The Place of Many Deaths” includes many quotes from the ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' movies, usually ones appropriate to the current situation.

** VideoGameCrueltyPotential: You're free to attack the peaceful Fishing Ogre anyway, [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment at which point he will reveal himself to be quite the tough customer]], with more health than a standard Ogre and an immunity to pain states. Killing him yields the player a whopping 6 rockets, along with the message "[[YouBastard You are no fisherman's friend!]]".

* ChekhovsGun: "Firetop Mountain" includes an area with numerous small, empty rooms, each containing secret compartments that have nothing in them but a small pile of bones. Later on in the level, an alcove in one of the caves contains a stone gravestone, with onscreen text appearing that reads "here lies the tomb of a legendary knight!". Both of these spots seem to be pointless, until [[spoiler: you unlock the "Knight's Tale" sidequest, which these areas are key to completing the level in full.]]

* MinecartMadness: “The Realm of Enceladus” is partially set within a mine and includes a mine cart, although you only ride on it for a brief moment to break away a barrier.

* VillainsOutShopping: Several levels include encounters with "Fishing Ogres", who are simply out on a fishing trip, with their rod in the water and a freshly-caught Rotfish beside them. They ignore the player completely no matter how closely they draw near.

* AnAxeToGrind: New to this mod, in addition to the explosive weapons, the player can acquire the Shadow Axe which gibs corpses lying on the ground. This can be leveraged to gib fallen zombies, which is useful in maps where explosives are either scarce, not present or [[HoistByHisOwnPetard unwise to use in certain situations]].

* HarderThanHard: Taken UpToEleven. Not only does the original Harder Than Hard mode, Nightmare, return, but an ''even harder'' mode called Evil is added, which halves the player's maximum health and starts the player with the Shadow Axe only.

* BagOfSpilling: Since each level is standalone rather than part of a larger, sequential episode, you begin every single one with only the shotgun and axe, losing all of the weapons & ammo you’d collected previously.

* ChekhovsGun: "Firetop Mountain" includes an area with numerous small, empty rooms, each containing secret compartments that have nothing in them but a small pile of bones. Later on in the level, an alcove in one of the caves contains a stone gravestone, with onscreen text appearing that reads "here lies the tomb of a legendary knight!". Both of these spots seem to be pointless, until [[spoiler: you unlock the "Knight's Tale" sidequest, which these areas are key to completing.]]

* HarderThanHard: Taken UpToEleven. Not only does the original Harder Than Hard mode, Nightmare, return, but an ''even harder'' mode called Evil is added, which halves the player's maximum health.

* HubLevel: ''Arcane Dimensions'' has two of these; "In the Beginning", which boots up whenever a new game is begun, and "Arcane Chapters", accessible via a portal on the second floor, directly left of the lift the player spawns on. As per ''Quake I'' tradition, these maps allow the player to select their skill level, achieved via pillars as opposed to slipgates, in addition to teleporters that load each of the mod's available levels.

** Unlocking the Nightmare skill pillars also reveals [[spoilers: a switch hidden on two of the pillars in the main room]] of both maps which, when activated, unlocks the ''Evil'' difficulty option. Doing so causes the Evil pillar to erupt beneath and destroy the Easy pillar when approached, accompanied by a text popup declaring "No need for Easy skill anymore!! You now have Evil skill instead!?!".

* NoPlotNoProblem: Zig-zagged. The mod as a whole is a collection of independent levels, with no interconnecting story, but a few individual maps ''do'' have stories, such as "Firetop Mountain" and "The Necromancer's Keep".

** Six maps are remakes of classic maps from the original game (plus one from ''Doom''), with added ''Arcane Dimensions'' elements: "Slipgate Conundrum" is a remake of "[=E1M1=]: The Slipgate Complex"; "The Ogre Bastille" is a remake of "[=E2M2=]: The Ogre Citadel"; "The Mire" is a single-player adaptation of "[=DM5=]: The Cistern"; "The Underearth" is a remake of the level of the same name, [=E2M7=]; "The Place of Many Deaths" is a single-player adaptation of "[=DM1=]: The Place of Two Deaths"; and "Hangar 16" is a remake of ''Doom'''s "[=E1M1=]: Hangar".

* PatchworkStory: Many of the levels were originally created years earlier as standalone maps, only later being edited and repurposed into portions of ''AD''.

** The Plasma Gun’s appearance is modelled directly on the weapon of the same name from ''Doom'', although it does not use the iconic sound effects.

** The Gaunts, like the Fiends and Shamblers before them, are directly inspired by a monster from an Creator/HPLovecraft story, in this case the Night-gaunts from “Literature/TheDreamQuestOfUnknownKadath”.

''Arcane Dimensions'' is a GameMod for ''[[VideoGame/QuakeI Quake]]'', developed by a team spearheaded by Simon "Sock" O'Callaghan and originally released in 2015, with several updates released in following years.

* AnAxeToGrind: New to this mod, in addition to the explosive weapons, the axe can now be used to gib zombies, which is useful in maps where explosive weapons aren't found or [[HoistByHisOwnPetard their use in certain situations is not recommended]].

* BagOfSpilling: Since each level is standalone rather than part of a larger episode, you begin every single one with only the shotgun and ace, losing all of the weapons & ammo you’d collected previously.

** Death Knights have both Fury Knights, who are speedy, leaping warriors carrying dual samurai swords and able to shoot very fast projectiles, and Blue Mace Knights, who wield [[EpicFlail Epic Flails]] and can fling Vore-like homing explosives at you.

* EmbeddedPrecursor: The original ''Quake'' episodes can be accessed from a secret area within the HubLevel, "In the Beginning", which includes a copy of the original hub, "Introduction". It's more than a fun easter egg: the various changes made to the graphics and gameplay still apply, and a button can be pressed to generate "Chaos Mode", which completely randomizes the enemies within said levels.
* EquipmentUpgrade: The Axe, Double-Barreled Shotgun, and Thunderbolt can now be upgraded to the Shadow Axe, the Widowmaker Shotgun, and the Plasma Gun, respectively. The Super Nailgun is also now treated as an upgrade to the standard Nailgun.

* HubLevel: "In the Beginning" boots up whenever a new game is begun. As per ''Quake I'' tradition, this is also the area where the player chooses their difficulty level, in addition to the map they want to play.
* LemonyNarrator: The onscreen text is generally a lot more colorful than in the base game, frequently making wry commentary on the environment or complimenting the player on their skills.

* MarathonLevel: “Foggy Bogbottom”, “The Forgotten Sepulcher”, and “Tears of the False God” are all incredibly large, with over 500 enemies and several dozen secrets. Your first play through of any of them is unlikely to take less than an hour, and that’s ''without'' completing the very difficult, lengthy tasks required for OneHundredPercentCompletion.

** "The Necromancer's Keep" opens with a scene where the player must climb out of their own grave, which is an homage to the opening scene of "Among the Dead" from the classic mod ''[[https://www.quaddicted.com/reviews/zer.html Zerstörer]]'', where the player must do the same thing.

** The Plasma Gun’s appearance is modeled directly on the weapon of the same name from ''Doom'', although it does not use the iconic sound effects.

* SpiritAdvisor: "Firetop Mountain" features the recurring appearance of a friendly Death Knight's ghost, who gently directs you through the level. [[spoiler:If you follow his directions correctly, you'll find the secret that unlocks the "Knight's Tale" sidequest, allowing you to free his companions' spirits and save all of their souls, along with earning you the Rune that he died protecting.]]

* MarathonLevel: “Foggy Bogbottom”, “The Forgotten Sepulcher”, and “Tears of the False God” are all incredibly large, with over 500 enemies and several dozen secrets. Your first play through of either map is unlikely to take less than an hour, and that’s ''without'' completing the very difficult, lengthy tasks required for OneHundredPercentCompletion.

* LemonyNarrator:
* MadeOfPlasticine: ''Quake'''s trademark LudicrousGibs system has been expanded upon in such a way that practically everything has this attribute- you can now blow apart corpses and dying enemies like in ''VideoGame/QuakeII'', making all the more easy to blast baddies into gory chunks with only a single well-placed shotgun shell, and any breakable object - regardless of whether it’s made of glass, wood, stone, or metal - will always crumble to bits after only a few strikes.

* MadeOfPlasticine: ''Quake'''s trademark LudicrousGibs system has been updated and expanded upon, making it all the easier to blast monsters into gory chunks with only a well-placed shotgun shell.