You can now play Quake and Half-Life maps in Dusk

Thanks to the launch of mod support via the SDK, you can run your old Quake and Half-Life maps in retro shooter Dusk. And it looks really good.

The Dusk SDK allows for the usual texture replacement and custom sound mods, which predictably results in a lot of stuff like, for instance, "Tim Allen Textures" or a Winnie the Pooh replacement for Leatherneck. But it's the ability to run external maps that I get a real kick out of. It takes a little effort—you'll have to extract the maps from Quake, copy the Quake palette.imp file to the proper location, and do some other stuff that you can read about here—but the net result is, quite literally, Quake in Dusk, albeit a Quake populated with new, thematically-mismatched enemies.

The SDK also enables the use of Half-Life maps, if that's more your thing, and more importantly user-made maps for either game should also work, with some limitations: The FAQ notes that compatibility with user-made maps isn't guaranteed, and large Quake maps "can technically be loaded but currently experience significant issues."

Dusk mods are currently available on Mod.io, but publisher New Blood Interactive said that Steam Workshop support for Dusk and a Mod DB presence are "coming soon." The full lowdown on Dusk mod support and the SDK are available on Steam.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.