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"Underdark Overbright is an eight level episode through a mix of medieval themes and overgrown environments that serves as one of the top examples of the modern Quake modding community. Underdark Overbright is made up of two parts: the single player episode, and the Copper mod itself, which features a laundry list of smart and well thought out balance changes. The new episode brings you through some unique moments, such as an underwater gauntlet, a fight to survive on sinking lava platforms, and single-player revisitations of deathmatch classics. Gameplay changes in Copper range from different item behaviors, enemy behaviors, and even changes to core weapon behaviors. The changes serve to make Quake's gameplay much more cohesive, and is a great way to replay the original campaign again. As a bonus, the original Quake episodes are available from the Underdark Overbright hub map, and it includes a whole new end level, so definitely check it out!"
— Addons mod description in the 2021 remastered edition of Quake
Underdark Overbright is an eight-level Quake episode mod originally released on June 21, 2019, by Matthew "Lunaran" Breit and Sean "Scampie" Campbell.
It primarily features medieval architecture and overgrown environments, as the player treks through new territories and remixed deathmatch levels.
On February 9, 2022, the mod was added as a downloadable addon
for the 2021 Quake Remaster, with an interview of its creators following suit. Bundled in with the addon was Copper, a "Vanilla+" gameplay mod that UDOB runs on, which makes a litany of small balance and quality-of-life changes to Quake's gameplay.
The addon is comprised of the levels "Trapped in the Past", "Gunpowder Tea", "A Drowning", "Pit of the Living Dead", "A Saint Nobody Has Heard Of", "Last Waltz", "How Deep Is Your Lava", and "Mothers Be Good To Your Spawns", plus the Secret Levels "House of Pain" and "Drowning in Time".
Both Underdark Overbright and Copper and their 2021 Remastered edition versions show examples of the following tropes:
- Anti-Frustration Features: Two notable ones are present in the new final level, "Mothers Be Good To Your Spawns".
- Ammo pickups and powerups in the level respawn infinitely. Both ease the difficulty in dealing with endless hordes of enemies fought in Shub-Niggurath's arena and ensure that the puzzles needed to defeat Shub-Niggurath don't become Unintentionally Unwinnable.
- Once the player first successfully teleports inside Shub-Niggurath, the Spiked Sphere will remain inside the hell-mother for the remainder of the fight, ensuring the player doesn't have to wait around when gathering the powerups needed to complete the puzzles within her.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: In "Pit of the Living Dead", many Gold Keys are scattered across the map, revealing hidden item caches for savvy explorers. The Silver Keys are the keys that allow the players to exit the level.
- Dark Reprise: The version of the main theme that plays during the Chthon fight is a remix created by Michael Markie, the same heavier and more aggressive remix used in Quake Champions: Doom Edition.
- Descending Ceiling: The fake final part of "A Saint Nobody Has Heard Of" has four pillars with crushers on top of them. Your timing better be precise when activating the four switches that allow you to exit the level, or you'll be crushed and forced to reload a save.
- Developer's Foresight: The devs have implemented speedrunning-friendly measures in the maps. From the tons of shortcuts present in the maps to the secret Grenade Launcher in the Hub level to the several Mega Health Packs in the water section of "A Drowning".
- Disc-One Nuke:
- There's a secret Grenade Launcher that can be obtained in the Hub Level.
- The Thunderbolt can be obtained in the "recursive secret" of "Gunpowder Tea", the first proper level.
- Domino Revelation:
- Taking place in a portion of the base game's "E1M1", the Hub Level naturally has a secret near the exit that leads to the rest of the level. Said secret has several switches scattered across the area in places. When all switches are activated, the first elevator to the outer area descends and you can pick the Quad Damage. Then around 30 zombies spawn; if you manage to kill them all before the Quad expires, you get the "Zombie Killer" achievement. Returning to the cesspit area after getting this achievement allows you to reveal a secret where the Super Shotgun was in the original level that grants you a Grenade Launcher and a message: "Happy Speedrunning!".
- "Gunpowder Tea" has a recursive secret: in an area that looks suspiciously like the Nightmare secret alcove, shooting the secret door will reveal two falling vents that lead to a slipgate.
- Easter Egg:
- "Trapped in the Past" has a huge one in the form of the entirety of the original "E1M1" hidden behind some stuff. Managing to get the Quad Damage also triggers a bunch of zombies that must be killed before it expires; succeeding in doing so unlocks an extra secret (near the slime pit which in the original level contained the Super Shotgun), with a Grenade Launcher and the message "Happy speedrunning".
- "House of Pain": After getting to the outer part, parkouring among the rocks will give you a Mega Secret. Entering into the window gets you another secret (an "Illusory window backpack"), and jumping to the empty big rock in front gives you the message "Nice jump!".
- Easy Level Trick:
- The beginning of "Pit of the Living Dead" has two Vores surrounded by thousands of Zombies. You can use the Vores' explosive pods to kill the Zombies and save yourself some explosive ammo usage.
- Around the same area you'll find an alcove with the Gold key. If you shoot an explosive into this area, some brick stairs will emerge from the walls allowing you to bypass the pain of having to battle through thousands of monsters and do some painful trick jumping just to get it.
- Harder Than Hard: The Nightmare difficulty switch is located in the same place as the first secret was in the original level, a small chamber near the entrance. Pressing this switch hurts the player, though only to set your health to 50 as per Copper's Nightmare difficulty standard; pressing any of the other difficulty switches afterwards heals the player back up to 100 health.
- Hub Level: "Trapped in the Past", a decayed, Reclaimed by Nature version of "E1M1: The Slipgate Complex".
- Kaizo Trap: Once you reach the end of "Pit of the Living Dead", you'll see a big arch door with a shadow on it, something that normally signals the end of the level. It's a fake exit full of monsters you need to take down.
- Kill Enemies to Open: In "Trapped in the Past", once you pick up the Quad Damage, you must kill all the zombies with your Shotgun before it expires. Should you succeed, you'll be given access to an extra secret where you'll get a Grenade Launcher with the message "Happy speedrunning".
- Multi-Mook Melee: One is featured in "Mothers Be Good To Your Spawns" comprising the first half of Shub-Niggurath's boss fight, where The Black Goat of the Woods spews forth an endless tide of her children to assail the player in her lava pit arena.
- Puzzle Boss:
- "How Deep Is Your Lava" has Chthon confronting you once again as the episode's Final Boss. The puzzle to defeat it is similar to E1M7: "The House of Chthon" in that you have to electrocute him thrice, but with a twist: there are three teleporters scattered across the map, you need to enter each area and shoot the two side button triggers with the Rocket Launcher, and then shoot an extra rocket in the middle switch. Each time Chthon is electrocuted, you need to repeat the process with the other two teleporters.
- "Mothers Be Good To Your Spawns" replaces the original episodes' final level with a drastically overhauled Shub-Niggurath boss fight divided into two stages.
- In stage 1, the player uses the four magic runes to awaken their respective altars in rooms surrounding Shub-Niggurath's arena. Each awakened altar summons a weapon with accompanying ammo and an item; a Lightning Gun and the Spiked Sphere (Elder Magic), Double-Barrel Shotgun and Quad Damage (Earth Magic), Rocket Launcher and Pentagram of Protection (Hell Magic), and a Super Nailgun and Ring of Shadows (Black Magic). The player engages in the Multi-Mook Melee highlighted above until the Spiked Sphere phases through Shub-Niggurath where, like in the original Quake, the player has a brief window to teleport within her.
- Taking a leaf out of the Quake 1.5 mod, the second stage takes place mostly within Shub-Niggurath's innards, where the player must destroy the hell-mother's three hearts to defeat her. The passages to each heart are protected by unique obstacles, each requiring a different powerup to bypass; a wall of flesh that can only be destroyed by Quad Damage-enhanced attacks; a ring of nail-spitting teeth in a lava pool that can only be bypassed using the Pentagram of Protection; and a giant indestructible eye that closes a door on the player should they approach without wearing a Ring of Shadows. A portal is also present that spits the player out of Shub-Niggurath's mouth back into the arena, allowing them to gather powerups with impunity. Bypassing the puzzles and destroying the hearts plays the same game-end cutscene as the player emerges victorious.
- Remixed Level:
- The Hub Level, "Trapped in the Past", is a ruined remix of Quake's "E1M1: The Slipgate Complex".
- "House of Pain", the first Secret Level, is a re-imagination of q3dm2: "House of Pain" from Quake III: Arena.
- "Drowning in Time", the second Secret Level, is a remixed version of "A Drowning".
- "A Saint Nobody Has Heard Of" begins like it's going to be a remix of e1m3: "The Necropolis". It's actually a stealth remix of q3dm6: "The Camping Grounds". It also includes several of the areas introduced by "Blood Covenant", its Quake Champions counterpart.
- The remixes are even lampshaded at the ending, where it mentions "Old Installations, old campgrounds, old houses of pain, reinvented and re-envisioned".
- "Trapped in the Past" also incorporates portals to the original four episodes of Quake, allowing the player to experience those original episodes with the gameplay changes brought on by Copper. It also includes a remixed final level once the player completes those original episodes.
- Finally, "Mothers Be Good To Your Spawns" is a remix and overhaul of "Shub-Niggurath's Pit", with some changes introduced by the Quake 1.5 version of the level for good measure.
- Rule of Three: Three Silver Keys are required to open the exit in "Pit of the Living Dead".
- Secret Level:
- "House of Pain", accessed from entering into the back part of the exit slipgate in "A Drowning". It's based on the Quake III: Arena map Q3DM2: "House of Pain".
- "Drowning in Time", accessed by entering the secret exit from the Wizard's Room in "House of Pain". It's a remixed version of "A Drowning" with a twist.
