31st of December 2025

The AMC Squad Episode 5 by the AMC Community

The fifth and penultimate episode of the AMC Squad picks up where episode 4 left off, which is to say I have almost no idea. Something happened to Earth that left it in a state where weird things pop up here and there. Only James can save the day; too bad he went and got himself killed for nothing. This leaves the rest of the squad, now led by yours truly, to do the next most logical thing: a Satanical resurrection to bring James back as a semi-living husk of a man.

The game's production values keep soaring. The fifth episode is littered with new CGI animations, new artwork to further replace still-remaining old Duke3D stock assets, and with each episode the game's presentation in general seems more game-like and less mod-like - although some rough edges still remain. The episode also introduces a new character, Wheaton, formerly an AMC fanboy, now a member of the team.

The episode begins with an epic cutscene that borrows from the likes of Deus Ex, Neon Genesis Evangelion (one of the few animes I actually like) and probably a whole bunch of stuff I didn't recognize. James has built quite an expansive universe over the course of the game's development with plenty of lore to match it, and it is during scenes like this that it truly shines through. But I'll say the cutscene could've been shorter: I cannot recall coming across a cutscene this long in a shooter in a long time. A lot of the dialog could've been cut without losing anything of significance. This, as it turns out, will be a recurring issue throughout the episode.

Anyway, into the maps we go. Our trip begins with Venus Hijinks by Jolteon. You're treated to some beautiful but deadly Venutian landscapes filled with pools of purple liquid emitting hazardous fumes. Combined with atmospheric lighting outside and some exotic alien constructs, Jolteon manages to give the planet a distinct visual look. Combat is fun for the most part and includes a few tough boss battles, but I was running rather low on supplies and motivation to fight numerous respawns after beating what felt like a final boss, so I simply ran past some of the enemies, including a miniboss. Also, the middle section is not just a bit too dark but involves too much chasing keys, power plugs and whatnot, plus there's some unnecessary backtracking that had me confused for about ten minutes.

Esoteric Hunting is an open-ended type of map where you've got a bunch of college campus buildings that you're free to explore as you see fit. You'll need a set of keys, and they're naturally scattered all over the place. Luckily you get some tips as to where you need to go, so just pay attention to the stuff you come across. The map is surprisingly straightforward to navigate, and none of the keys are hidden in a manner I'd call unfair. Beware that there's a ghost lurking outdoors, adding a nice element of tension whenever you venture outside; and that's not the only new creature you'll come across... The mission also plays like a mystery story as you uncover what happened to a bunch of missing students. All this is wrapped in an eerily quiet atmosphere, on a night with a full moon against a clear sky.

Who Goes There? is not the first and surely won't be the last "Build" map inspired by The Thing. The map is pretty focused on exploration, but you'll get some intense fighting toward the very end. You explore a crew barracks with a zillion rooms inside; realistic perhaps, but not much fun from a gameplay perspective. This is followed by a long-ish and rather uneventful cave section with one annoying-ish detour to pick up a gas mask. At least you're left with an explosive (literally!) finale, as if the whole point of the map was to function as a build-up for it. The skybox has got some amazing stuff in it; first auroras, then something I'll leave for you to discover on your own. Very good use of colored lighting too for the map's outdoors, especially the transition from all-blue to all-red at the end for dramatic effect.

Wheaton's adventure in Foxtrot Uniform is just what the doctor ordered, a welcome dose of high-octane action with some nice combat setpieces, ever-present war ambience and a fitting soundtrack. There's ample room to move around and the map makes good use of some voxel objects. Lighting is a bit bland and texturing could be more polished, but otherwise this is an all-around enjoyable ride. In the intro you get to fly a shuttle. Lighting could stand out a lot more, but the battle over a miniature city works quite well, the shuttle's controls aren't bad at all and the segment is luckily pretty forgiving. Also props for some of the awe-inspiring stuff in the skybox. (Wheaton's Cairo Dig Site is also included in the episode.)

Toilets R Us is another multi-part epic from Snowfall (the same guy who made Zeta Base and Triton for episodes 2 and 3, respectively). This place is George Costanza's dreamland, being all about manufacturing and selling of toilets, believe it or not. The facility reminded me of Redneck Rampage with its dim, highly atmospheric lighting and rough industrial bits. Like in the past, Snowfall likes to go crazy with lots of decorative sprites, heavy industrial machines and creatively used spotlights. The maps have good combat too (including one bit where you have to rely exclusively on tripbombs) with some relaxed exploration in between. As a multi-part map the mission does start to drag out, especially in the otherwise creatively crafted "weird" section (you jump into a gigantic toilet and find yourself in Twin Peaks), so don't try to finish it all in one go (and I know that's easier said than done, as it's just not easy to "let go" when you're in the middle of something).

I'll Check Out the Back is a small map from the indie horror section of the Steam Store. First you explore a darkened, seemingly abandoned Soviet-era military installation, then find yourself in a maze-like environment inspired by The Backrooms concept. You've got a few fun gunfights along the way while trying to avoid some creepy monsters that move toward you when you look away. It's short but fun and memorable with an element of horror.

With respect to design at its most naked, Chasing Phantoms is absolutely gorgeous. The place is medieval of the Episode 4 sort with floating islands in the distance. The outdoors are baked in atmospheric red light while a Final Fantasy type of music plays in the background, resulting in a truly fantastic fantasy-like atmosphere. As you'd expect from Loke, design is superbly clean, everything is perfectly polished and the map makes great use of spotlight effects (Loke and Snowfall are very good at using these for realistic-looking lighting). The map also navigates like a Loke map with a simple layout and large hallways. Too bad the gameplay kinda sucks: I don't know if I missed something essential, but I found myself with low health pretty early on and couldn't find aid until much later. Engaging in melee combat at low health tends to be a death sentence, so I had to run past everything until the final boss.

A return to the Egyptian theme of the third episode, Jolteon's Great Obelisk is a Serious Sam type of map with some discernible Powerslave/Exhumed influences as well. Here you'll get plenty of open spaces and not a lot of cover, so strafing is the key in combat. The map takes place at night, but visibility is not an issue; while I often complain of darkness issues due to the level of sunlight in my room, this map is well playable even in the middle of the day. The night-time palette is lovely; combined with the sky and the fires of the temple I got some heavy Unreal vibes from it as well. The map's symmetrical nature also makes it very simple (and consequentially somewhat repetitive) to navigate with tiny puzzles to solve per each section. Overall a fun-to-play map that doesn't overstay its welcome.

Rusty explores an airport filled with zombies in Crashing and Burning. This is another map that's very good at establishing a weirdly cozy atmosphere despite bad things happening around you, and it achieves this with a combination of stuff like rain outside, dim ambient lighting and relaxing music. The opening area has a cart you can drive to solve a simple puzzle. After this there's a tough miniboss battle where you can ill afford to miss your shots; this should've been a bit more forgiving. Occasionally I had flashbacks to the airport map in F.E.A.R. 3, a highpoint in an otherwise underwhelming game.
 Then it's Rusty's time to get flashbacks as he finds himself in the past fighting Nazis with James's grandpa (I think?). I've said it before and I'll say it again that shooting Nazis is always fun; and you get a real cool setpiece where you climb a castle wall like Batman in that campy '60s show. Visual spectacles won't stop there, as next you'll find yourself aboard a Nazi blimp, built by the only man who could, Micky C. The scale is expectedly huge, so you'll be in for some serious walking, but at least it's all more or less in one direction, and the visual spectacle makes it all worth it. This is then followed by another flashback sequence in the Yucatan where you need to set up a bomb and fight a pretty fair boss battle. Highpoints of this segment include good use of colored lighting and setting Third Reich flags on fire.

Jolteon's third offering in the episode is Frozen Kingdom. You alternate between Snowfall and Zaxtor as they explore an underground medieval kingdom connected by a vast network of caves. The characters explore their own paths, but there's naturally some overlapping as well. Both characters have awesome weapons, so combat is pretty fun throughout with some nastier enemies here and there. The end boss is a bit too durable but not that hard. Everything is so very blue within these icy caves, and while the initial impression is positive, the real problem is that the map generously overstays its welcome. The design gets very repetitive and horizontal with its neverending winding caves and dark corridors (dark as in "cannot see shit without goggles") filled with respawns every step of the way. The map's length could have been cut considerably without losing anything important.

Saints and Sinners is another mission from Loke. Luckily it's a city map this time around, a style Loke hasn't really explored since Retaliation. There's a lot of epic stuff going on in the skybox to convey the idea that this city is truly under siege. As usual, expect first-class texturing and extensive use of spotlights. The office complex in particular should catch your eye with how neat and tidy everything looks while still being highly detailed (I must've taken a zillion screenshots), in a way the opposite of Snowfall's style. There are some industrial underground sections too that highlight how good Loke is at handling massive scale as well. (These underground sections also reminded me of some of Loke's Half-Life mods.) Gameplay is a good mix of mostly fun combat and the occasional use of VR segments. But there are some annoyances, such as ghosts in tight spaces (you can't shoot if you get hit by them) and a final boss that can kill you in a split second while your guns hit like peashooters. There's also one instance of obviously bad design; you're expected to spot a rope you can climb when it's surrounded by hanging wires that look similar to the rope.

If there's one thing people will remember of the episode years from now, it's Snowfall's epic Titan Gas. This massive three-part adventure takes place on Titan, now seemingly teeming with life. The first part is a civilian hub that feels alive and vibrant, soaked in immersive atmosphere. It's also bleak and dystopian with constant rain hitting the windows and damp orange-brown lighting coming from outside. The soundtrack is a perfect accompaniment to the feel of the mission (and of course plays a part in creating that feel in first place). Combat is varied with every sort of combat setpiece imaginable, but there's a bit too much of changing ammo type in the middle of combat going on, which I don't much care for. The layout of the civilian hub is not too difficult to navigate, but there's a lot of visual clutter everywhere, so don't forget to use the automap if you get lost.
 In the second part you get to leave the cluttered civilian areas behind and fly around in a wingsuit that never runs out of juice. The place is teeming with exotic biota with a lot of thought put into it; there's even a museum introducing some of the species you come across. You've got stalactites/mites, a huge dam, atmospheric colored lighting, the whole deal. With Snowfall's style is feels like there's a history behind everything you see, that it's not just something some dude came up with in a map editor. There's a fair amount of backtracking and definitely some potential to get lost, but ultimately it's fairly straigthforward, and the game guides you back toward old areas by opening up new paths so it won't feel that repetitive. Only when you return to the civilian areas does the combat get a bit tedious: You've got a whole bunch of lethal enemies, not a lot of space to move around and visual clutter everywhere distracting you. And all this legwork and flying around was just to make your way upstairs after a set of stairs got blown up...
 In the final map of the Titan Gas mission you explore the moon's undergrounds to discover a gigantic, ancient alien spaceship that's been buried for who knows how long. This part is excellent at setting the mood with frosty colored lighting (you can almost feel the cold) and various spotlights. You're followed by enemies that cannot be killed, so you have to improvise your approach to any given situation. The buried spaceship is truly a sight to behold. Not only is it massive enough to cause a correspondingly massive framedrop, you also get to explore its insides fully. The insides are filled with fascinating lore material, memorable sights and awesome effects. Gameplay is often a bit annoying though with those things that cannot be killed running around (particularly their vertical hit radius doesn't match their size) and small critters that are just hard to hit in confined spaces.

In The Glacier Sang teams up with the hot goth chick from Evanescence. You've got lots of underground tunnels with a lot of walking in them; in fact, the whole cave section loops back to itself. Combat is plenty of fun here with a nice mix of spells and traditional firearms. There's lots of space and little cover; but this is balanced by the absence of hitscanners, so all is good. Design relies a bit too much on dark caves and tunnels, but it has its upsides, like the sight of some brilliant fires in the darkness and the occasional Unreal vibe you get outdoors. Still, combat is the map's strongest suit (although there's some length padding toward the end with filler enemies).

Elysion Fields is a very rare specimen; a map where you progress upward in a seamless fashion, jumping from one sky island to another until you reach the top of the chain. In fact, considering the old limitations of the engine, it's a small miracle we've got a map like this in something derived from the Build engine. No wonder it's from Micky C, the master of TROR. As such, it'll also include a fair amount of tedious walking, but at least this time it's mostly forward with only a small bit of backtracking. Aside from lighting that's a bit flat and some empty-ish buildings, the map is of the awe-inspiring sort, a sensation accentuated by a fitting soundtrack. Along with some of Snowfall's stuff, this is the most technically impressive map in the episode. Gameplay is rather straightforward; you need to break some statues to unlock the next jumppad to reach the next island and so on. Combat is also pretty easy; the map relies on enemies with relatively slow-moving projectiles, so avoiding getting hit becomes trivial when you've got some much space between you and the enemy.

Before the final segment begins, yours truly is sent to the Tannhäuser Gate to retrieve something that could clinch the war in the squad's favor. This is a map I had wanted to make for a long time. I'll probably write up some trivia about it for My Maps section later.

Then we're off to the finale. Now, on my playthrough a bug occurred and I missed a cutscene or something, but after running into some trouble with rather aggressive bureaucrats you end up on the lost continent of Mu. This is like the land that time forgot, teeming with dinosaurs and vegetation. It seems someone also built a whole bunch of hi-tech bases here. The natural environment with its palm trees, waterfalls and such looks pretty against a dramatic Quake-like sky while the human facilities make extensive use of TROR effects. I got stuck here on a few occasions, first when I missed (or mistook for a decoration) a pole the player is meant to climb, then when I was expected to plunge into deadly lava. There's an awesome scene of human soldiers fighting, then being devoured by a Tyrannosaurus; really cool to see stuff like that in this engine.
 Then it's time for Jane and Bombshell to infiltrate another base. The orange sky makes for a nice backdrop against all the hi-tech towers and tall trees, and there's some nice colored lighting indoors as well (even if design otherwise is at times a bit blocky). Then after all the hardship you get to go on a much-needed powertrip wearing a Juggernaut suit, massacring enemies with no care in the world. This is followed by another cave section, as if we haven't had enough of these already... In gameplay terms the winding large tunnels got a bit exhausting toward the end, and at one point I had to consult a Youtube walkthrough - apparently you need to use the flamethrower against certain organic... things (as if the mininukes in your arsenal with enough firepower to level a city weren't enough). In a nice surprise the cave's "natural" inhabitants will leave you alone so long as you don't bother them, and I liked the visuals of glowing and fuming ooze tanks set against pit-black backgrounds.
 In one of my favorite bits in the episode you've got a prison escape sequence whereby each character has to solve some simple problem to release the next person, then that person releases the next one, etc. All this happens in an underground cavern made of... flesh? The large cavern with its tall towers and bridges is another sight to behold, and I liked the neat little continous shade effect on the cavern walls. Then there's one more boss fight until the grand finale. Here you'll fight Patcos, again. I was afraid this was gonna turn into agony like the last time you met this guy, but this time the battle was surprisingly forgiving, which also made its "gimmick" somewhat enjoyable rather than simply frustrating.
 In the last map you revisit the New LA colony on the Moon, only this time filled with enemies. The episodes have a very uneven record with respect to boss battles, and the final boss of episode five is the worst so far. The first stage is a simple repeat of the Tannhäuser Gate battle. After that Trenton splits into three and a timer kicks in. You're expected to carefully chip away at his health while a single blow from him can kill you. After about ten attempts of not getting his health down even by a lousy quarter I turned godmode on and went at it; even then I had only about 30 seconds left on the clock when the guy finally died.

There's one more thing. Between the "big" mainline maps you get to play as James as he journeys his way through Hell. In these segments James is judged, fights demons alone - for centuries, finds allies he might call friends, then does some more fighting before ultimately undergoing something akin to a redemption. He ages a lifetime without actually aging. These segments are varied and well crafted, featuring every corner of Hell (although strongly leaning toward the stereotypical). At times there's a bit too much of exposition, and I found some of the jump puzzles kinda annoying, but James the author does a good job of conveying his avatar's lonely and heavy journey (both literal and figurative) to the player.

And that's a wrap as far as the maps are concerned. As for the rest, here's a short summary. When picking stuff up I'm still not sure what it is that I'm picking up. Voice acting keeps getting better, but volume levels still need fine-tuning. Gameplay felt more straightforward than in the previous parts, relying less on the player being aware of some obscure mechanic or having the right firing mode/ammo selected. Boss battles too were more forgiving and fair than in the past - with the glaring exception of the final boss. The game's soundtrack is once again a highpoint, being a selection of random free music from the internet and a whole bunch by the team's resident composer, HiveBoss, whose work here includes a few true gems. There are more CGI videos now to convey scenes that'd be difficult to pull off with the game's engine: All this is thanks to Sebabdukeboss22, the resident artist/renderer, who's producing professional-level artwork and videos like there's no tomorrow. Cutscenes are more ambitious now with plenty of cutscene-specific animation frames and such; but way too often the characters just seem to love hearing themselves talk for longer than necessary. The episode also has too much fondness for caves and caverns.

(To my understanding a few "usermaps" got unlocked upon finishing the episode, so I'll add short reviews of them here soon.)

Conclusion: The fifth episode is unsurprisingly another massive collection of grade A maps by some of the community's best mappers. There's a lot of variety in them, not just in terms of wild visuals but gameplay as well, and I liked the idea of having James-in-afterlife missions being served as kind of side dishes between the main course. The game keeps getting more polished, and there's noticeably less "jank" with every new installment. Some old issues, such as voice acting volume levels, still need more work, and the cutscenes could have less needless exposition. It was also disappointing having to cheat to beat the game's final boss. In any case, the increasingly ambitious universe James has carefully crafted over the years is about to reach its culmination: Brace yourselves for episode 6.

Score: 9
Download: Mirror
Version: 1.4, 1.5
Author: The AMC Community