So I finished Dwell Episode 2.
It has all of the usual Quake problems that I've talked about plenty of times here on Codex - mostly too easy and simplistic combat and lack of it in general, it's as if the authors really don't want to put any pressure on the player, so not only the combat is easy in general, but you also have those long break periods where you just run around the map and explore without fighting anything.
The new weapons - quad barrel shotgun and railgun staff are pretty overpowered, I think. Quad barrel shotgun works like a supercharged version of the sawed off, but is even slower in it's use, but don't think of it as a real downside, it's just an overall better weapon in comparison, except may be for the times when you have quad damage power up. I guess it was thought of as a way to prevent shotguns from lagging behind once the player has acquired the entire arsenal or may be just a way to reduce tedium of having to kill monsters with the sawed off. And even with that quad barrel shotgun, ammo remains a non-issue, there are more than enough shells lying around for you to pick up. The railgun staff is just crazy, it uses 6 energy ammo per shot, but that shot does massive damage (the most out of all weapons you have, kills shambler in 2 or 3 hits, can't remember the exact number), pierces everythig on it's way and it can be used underwater, if you ask me, this staff makes thunderbolt just plain obsolete, the only downside it has is a long rewind between shots, but it's very easy to work around that.
Also, there's a pair of new power ups - berserker, which reduces damage you take by 50% and gives a massive damage boost to your melee attacks (you get to dual wield your axes with some new animations to boot) and super speed, which makes your weapons fire much faster for a while. Speaking of easy combat and power ups, when I play Doom and see a power up I want to get it, because the combat is usually hard enough and I want to have some edge over the monsters, but in Quake, you see a power up, there are no monsters around, you pick it up and then some monsters spawn just so you actually have something to shoot at, and it's the same for the majority of Quake maps that I've played, I guess that goes to show some fundamental difference between mapping and gameplay in Doom and Quake.
But just to spite me or something, there are some actual good and creative combat encounters in the very last portions of the second episode, and bonus maps, which are unlocked after you finish the episodes. There's a gauntlet, where you have to run away from a moving wall of spikes, while jumping on the platforms to avoid falling into lava, all while enemies try to knock you down. Then there's that classic invisibility ring stuff, where you avoid monsters for a while and then instagib them via traps. And in general, later maps get more crowded with bigger and stronger monsters in smaller rooms, so you actually have to put some effort while fighting them, stuff like that was pretty fun. But then, probably to spite me even more, just as I was starting to really enjoy the pre-final map (which is gigantic in size, like forgotten sepulcher) I've ran into a big jumping puzzle, it's hard, obnoxious and not fun at all to complete, I've just noclipped through that shit, and yes it's completion is mandatory for further progress. Way to spoil an otherwise great map.
The graphics and the soundtrack are on point, not much to be said here, I like episode 2 soundtrack more than episode 1, the later mostly felt like some background noise, episode 2 features some actually pretty decent and distinct tracks. The boss battles were pretty good too, the authors had a proper idea on how to design them, bosses don't do much themselves, but they add some gimmicks to the fights with regular enemies that make them harder, like various telegraphed hazards. It's a very good (may be even the best) way to design bosses in the FPS games, especially when you consider the many games that tried something different, usually making bosses super tough and big enemies, and failed. Episode 1 boss was completely revamped to be more in line with the design I've just described, along with some levels to feature stuff that was added with episode 2 release. As for the new enemies, aside from serious sam kamikadzes they are whatever, just don't feel like they add much to the game, they don't ruin the gameplay or anything, just don't have significant enough presence, the kamikadzes, however, work much better in smaller environments and can force you to act differently during the battles.
Despite my complaints I liked it overal, feels like the people behind it cared about their work. The most standout maps for me were - that we must voyage and the abyss of the troglodytes, which would've been even better if it wasn't for that piece of shit jumping puzzle, I'm looking forward to episode 3 release.
Crossposting screenshots from the screenshot topic: