Quake From Memory is a project started late last year (December 2024) and helmed by the user iLike80sRock, where the idea was to recreate all of Quake’s original maps from memory. Referencing the original maps or their sources wasn’t allowed. There was a “Shareware” version released in February, when all of the episode one maps were completed, while work on the rest of the maps was still on-going.
I took part in the project, building three maps and collaborating on a fourth. The full version released in August 2025, after 8 months of work from the mapping community.
e3m1
I started with e3m1, since it was the one I felt I knew the most. The introduction seemed easy. The player starts on a slipgate pad, kills an enforcer, picks up a super shotgun, and then takes a ride down an elevator – but wait, on what difficulties? I realized I was most familiar with Quake on Hard skill. I actually hadn’t played the game in Easy or Normal in a long time.
For some context, Quake allows the map maker to change what entities exist on a map between difficulties, switching them on and off. This allows for a lot of flexibility in how the map is played. For instance, you can give the player a grenade launcher early in Easy mode, while withholding it in another difficulty setting. A key can be moved into another room, or combat encounters can be changed entirely. Through the use of func_wall entities, even the geometry of the map itself can be changed around.
Long story short, because of my own experiences with the map, I think my version ended up with way too many enemies on Easy and Normal skill.
After that, there was a “puzzle” with two doors and two buttons, followed by room with a ramp, and then an acid pit type area with a tower in the middle. At least, that’s how I’d summarize it. What then, about hallways? I don’t know!
Because of my hallway-blindness, the way the original map interlinked and wrapped in on itself was completely missed, and I had to come up with some of my own solutions. There was also the issue of how the player acquires the Gold Keycard. You see, at the time, I remembered there was one somewhere, but I had no idea where in the map it was originally picked up. One of the reasons for my struggles was, well, the lack of some hallways, leading to a room basically getting rotated 180 degrees.
It finally wrapped up with a slipgate at the end. We’re done. I was ready to say I played my part in the project. Oh, and this one needed a name. I titled it “Cessation Innermost,” using a thesaurus on the original title, “Termination Central.”
e2m3
The next one I worked on was e2m3, originally titled “The Crypt of Decay.” Someone in the Quake Mapping Discord claimed it, but then dropped off, causing it to sit unclaimed once more. I decided to pick it up, despite honestly, not remembering much of the layout at all.
What did I remember? There’s a secret exit to e2m7 in there somewhere, as well as a Dopefish secret. I also remembered water, and getting assaulted by ogres. Let’s just say this one was built purely based on vibes.
The most accurate part of it was probably the introduction. I also remembered a spiked door trap that would hurt the player if they just ran forward without paying attention.
This was called “The Crusty Coffin,” for a very crusty map.
e3m5
After completing e2m3, I saw that there were still gaps preventing the Quake From Memory project from crossing the finish line. One gap was e3m5. This was The Wind Tunnels.
Once again, the introduction was easy enough. The player is presented with a pipe, they jump, they get sucked upwards into a room with three more routes, but two are locked. I also distinctly remembered a hallway with headache-inducing strobe lights with fiends. After this though, the original layout was a bit of a mystery to me without checking the original map.
The ending to this version of e3m5 definitely turned out to be different to the original, since what I could recall was just the player getting shot upwards into a room with a fight to the end portal.
The final result was something much like e2m3, where it was based largely on vibes. This map was also built over the course of a single weekend, making it a bit like a “speed map.” This one took on the name, “The Turbulent Tubes.”
e2m6
The final map I worked on was a collaboration with Dooplon, who started work on the e2m6, but felt stuck. I haven’t done too many collaborations with maps, so there were some challenges to overcome.
When I received the map, it was mostly block-outs with the various rooms or sections on separate layers. These weren’t connected to each other yet, which led to a bit of confusion for me, since I tend to think of these spaces as always having relationships to others. I mostly worked on the end “Romero Lift,” the second section (which is straight ahead on the switching bridge, when the player first enters the “hub”), and the “castle” area.
Dooplon’s version of e2m6 also began with the expanded “cave” section, which John Romero cut from the map before Quake released in 1996. The cave section appears in Nightdive’s re-release of Quake from 2021.
Dooplon also created a version of the “castle” area, expanding it further and being more in line with how they remembered it. There was a room I couldn’t recall that connected to the castle, which had stairs and a timed door. In my version of the map, this ended up inside of the castle. These changes and differences eventually led to both the inclusion of e2m6 and the expanded e2m10.
Release
The final result of the project has maps ranging from close to the original to widely off. If anything, it made me feel better that it wasn’t just me who ended up working on the patchiest of memory, or in some cases, had to fill in gaps between areas with something completely original.
iLike80sRock and Chuma tested the maps from everyone. From what I’ve been told, these should each work in older ports such as WinQuake and the original DOS Quake. Each single player map has Deathmatch entities included as well.
As of writing, there is an ongoing competition from the Quake speedrunning community, where they are running through all of the Quake From Memory maps. Some of the results so far are posted to the Quake Speedrunning channel on Youtube.