You're Not Supposed To Be Here - Level Lore - "Duke Du Quatrain" (level 14/secret 1/BRL14.map) news

Download Duke Nukem 3D: Blast Radius (last update: 03/04/2024; v. 5.0.2)

Duke's ride out of Paris gets wiped only for our hero to spiral down the historical city of Blois, France where the blast seemingly struck as hard as it takes to justify that status for good. No château left to visit, and the Loire river has turned purple; when it comes to enemy presence however, it's a safe bet Duke won't get blue balled.

'It's time to paint this town red!'

History: Both secret levels in Blast Radius have in common that their origins are loaded with respective history; therefore, that is the aspect their dedicated Level Lore articles will emphasize on, retracing decades of Build engine experiments, real-life locale reinterpretations throughout the ages as 2.5D commentary on contemporary urban design trends, and the inception then evolution of gameplay concepts. The otherwise now-typically-long walkthroughs should not need be reserved, since both levels happen to be exploration-based; in the case of "Duke Du Quatrain", following the Metroidvania type of logic.

"Duke Du Quatrain" is the culmination of over twenty years of user mapping focused around the same real-life locations around the humble but historical city of Blois, France, heart of the Châteaux of the Loire Valley and town I grew up in.

Chronologically, it was the thirteenth map designed for Blast Radius; its construction started on February 24th, 2022 and finished on March 18th, 2022.

It always was intended to be the episode's primary secret map and, as such, was tackled 'last' - at least in theory, since the need for one epilogue map after level 12 "Zarathustra" eventually justified the last-minute crafting of level 13 "Closure" and then, level 15/secret 2 "Hotel Atlantis" came about even later, only being introduced with v. 1.1.0 of Blast Radius after entirely being built post release.

Ironically for a historical city-themed level, "Duke Du Quatrain" is the ultimate heritage and remake of several personal user maps (released and unreleased) which were built 2001-2022, including (but not limited to) the relatively popular "Anarchy City" trilogy of the early naughts.

Reviews and download links for "Anarchy City: Locked Out!" (2003), for "Anarchy City 2: Neighborhood Nightmare" (2004) and for "Anarchy City 3: Zero Tolerance" (2004) can be found here, here and here, respectively.

Despite their aforementioned niche renown at the time however, the "Anarchy City" series can be argued to really lack in quality altogether, and mostly just have a certain mood that is instilled by the stylized aesthetics but otherwise bring little original substance as video game levels.

"Anarchy City 2: Neighborhood Nightmare" maybe being the most interesting one out of the trilogy, as it relies on "Red"-inspired evolutive gameplay sequencing that isn't too commonly tackled in Duke 3D user maps, with progressive, usually cinematic introduction of all the monsters.

Generally speaking though, in practical terms the layouts are basic and sketchy, with the occasional forgotten wall or downright design error, and an open nature that does not facilitate progression. These user maps were some of the first pseudo-serious levels I ever tried designing for Duke Nukem 3D, back when I was sixteen years old, in the original DOS Build and so, through the tedious limitations that program implied.

Two typical beginner's modding curses are: first, the progressive realization of all the possibilities within the engine, equating to just as much technique one needs to learn, as a relative newcomer, prior to finally getting to express and materialize a product which would be faithful to the reality of their vision and ambition and thus, satisfying.

That means a finished level really never feels good enough as long as the tool isn't mastered, which oftentimes incites the temptation of reiteration (case in point: Merlijn Van Oostrum's original "Red: The Long Road", 2001 compared to its more recent remake, "Red 1: Poisoned Lands", 2014).

Second curse would be letting said hungry vision and eager ambition get out of hand, and spiral out of control until it just dies from the excessively enthusiastic lack of serious supervision, more often than not resulting in 'aborted' projects. To a degree, such was the case of the "Anarchy City" series, really envisioned to be more than just a trilogy at the time but a full-length episode.

Alas, after the third installment, no version of an "Anarchy City 4" that was started ever grew to be viable (it would have been set in and around a train station; later, I reused the basic idea in the map "Derailing" for Metropolitan Mayhem and then finally refined it again in 2013 with the user map "Bummed Out! Anarchy City X").

Increasingly unhappy with the quality of the former installments, I instead started working on several loose remakes but none of those ever saw completion, either; one exception being one of "Anarchy City 1: Locked Out!" that wasn't finished but later fragmented and integrated into one of the other Metropolitan Mayhem boss levels and also the 2006 user map, "Roch Island", a playable tribute to Pascal Rouaud's classic "Roch" series that was co-built with Merlijn and Maarten Van Oostrum and Taivo Maripuu.

The meta just doesn't stop however, since even those old "Anarchy City" levels at the time already were attempts at the stabilization of thematics I had formerly been setting in even earlier maps - products of some of my first ever Build adventures that barely qualified as levels, such as various 'MYHOUSE.maps' which already reinterpreted the same condos and backyards, or primitive renditions of the same mall (Centre Commercial Quinière) around the same time I was just figuring out how to make swinging doors.

One notable appearance of the mall was in a finished, but unreleased level: BLOIS.map which is tempting to describe as a proto-"Anarchy City 2" of sorts, since it is based on and around the same real-life suburban residential block and layout - but really predates the inception of the entire series, meaning that the later "Anarchy City 2" itself already was a remake, unbeknown to most, of that level.

The released "Anarchy City 2" however, due to more (DOS) Build resources spent on indoor locations and detailing, would scrap the mall and instead flesh out the main block.

Now may be important to highlight how limited and painful DOS Build used to be, enforcing much stricter limits on possible map scope all the while lacking each and every one of the quality-of-life improvements and thousands of processes EDuke32 and Mapster32 these days essentially automatize, and regularly introducing random bugs and file corruption to boot.

As a result, juxtaposing several detailed, pseudo-complex, fleshed out city blocks within the confines of one same map file used to be borderline impossible, which technically justifies why "Anarchy City" (and a lot of user content in general from the time period) had to come out in 'series' form instead of as one massive open world-styled city level.

Had that been possible at the time though, the ideal vision for "Anarchy City" always would have been no splits and map transitions between the different regions, and just one gigantic town to navigate. (The first and second installment in the series do in fact start in front of, supposedly, the exact same row of condos, just from the opposite sides.)

One of the goals with "Duke Du Quatrain" for Blast Radius was seeing how possible such an approach (and how interesting the resulting player experience) would be, now, with the enhanced resource limits and manipulation tools and shortcuts of Mapster32 at hand.

As a result, "Duke Du Quatrain" is the ultimate "Anarchy City" remake, recreating, refining and incorporating the main locales of all three maps from the released trilogy into one huge, original level, plus the formerly scrapped mall from the 'proto' BLOIS.map as an exclusive.

It is a testament to craft reiteration, to timely progression and to conceptual, technical and cognitive expansion. It is a representation of the principle of the grind.

But the meta still doesn't stop, again and reaches one more lateral dimension when, in addition to all the specifically-themed reiterations of the real-world places in the various released/unreleased levels, their retakes and their remakes, fragments of the atypical, recognizable architecture of the settings naturally started penetrating the fiber of my other unrelated user maps throughout the next two decades, via the occasional reference to its specific patterns in completely different works.

The triangular condos probably are the most obvious and best example. Originally built in the real Blois, back in the late seventies, as an entry for an architecture competition themed after 'housing of the year 2000', their infiltration into the 2.5D dimension eventually resulted in their exportation around various imaginary worlds and abstract settings, as they would appear and reappear at will around the corner of unexpected levels and designs.

Finally, the city of Blois itself gets sucked into the meta as a more or less officially recurring theme, being either canonically the settings of, or indirectly represented in several of my user map releases and various Build works throughout the ages that never explicitly were part of the "Anarchy City" continuation, including but very much not limited to the humble and cramped "Downtown Ride" (2004), the much better "Overtime" (2004), "Happy Hangover" (2008) and "Anorak City" (2011) which themselves were part of yet another aborted Blois episode-turned-trilogy and represent the local landmarks, and "Bummed Out! Anarchy City X" (2013), a weaponless survival user map based around various Blois-inspired environments and recognizable settings, the title of which references the "Anarchy City" series as a tongue-in-cheek tie-in.

The title "Duke Du Quatrain" is part Dexter 'omelette du fromage' reference (which actually is improper French, the correct term being omelette au fromage), and part double entendre on quatrain: a four-line stanza or poem, and its popular local homophone "quatre-un" for "4.1", or "41" which is the administrative number of Loir-et-Cher, the department of France Blois is the prefecture of.

Historically, the region was home to many powerful counts and dukes; in the present, it is our Duke's turn to claim its heritage, all the while twisting the mistake in the Dexter line into correct French as he intervenes ("du" meaning "from" and not "of"; our hero is le duc du quatre-un, the local Duke).

41 also is referenced in how the map consists 4 plus 1 islands, and as far as in technically being level 14 of Blast Radius as an episode.

Walkthrough:

Duke's chopper flight out of Paris gets shot down earlier than expected and, as our hero masterfully catches the edge of a protruding rooftop, simultaneously realizes two things: that he is in Blois, and that he really should get the crap out of here.

Another helicopter already can be seen from distance, but it's hovering over a faraway chunk of the torn, flooded city that essentially is a faraway island, across an ocean of highly toxic purple lava and very high up, where an empty-handed version of Duke normally couldn't reach.

The only way to reach that destination is if Duke is stocked up on Steroids, Protective Boots, Portable Medkit and then can use a jetpack to fly to the top of the structure, where a final trial awaits.

Around the first island Duke starts on, and in addition to the aforementioned last island, three other chunks of the city can be seen, at varying distances and heights, Duke shall need to traverse in order to recover one extra inventory item from each.

Given the open nature of the level, the first part of this walkthrough really will just reveal the location of each of the items.

Steroids can be recovered from the starting island, around the northeastern corner, behind the church (église Saint-Pierre de Cabochon) and the bar.

They should be used to cross over (without Protective Boots) to the nearest island, close to the southeastern corner of Duke's starting one, all the while making sure he has enough health to sustain the mandatory damage (but a lot of health items are scattered all around the island, and in the immediate vicinity).

Before he leaves the first island, Duke already can retrieve the chaingun, the shotgun, the RPG, the Shrinker and the Microwave Expander gun, but also the Devastator if he keeps a certain eye out on secrets.

Tons of Protective Boots finally can be found scattered throughout the lower, second island, but the purple lava is so corrosive it will wear them out real quick.

In order to cross over to the next island, which is the distant one on the very east of the map, Duke will need the boost from Steroids again, which he shall find around one end of the underground parking lot.

The third island features a mall with a pharmacy, where a copious amount of Portable Medkits can be retrieved.

Their use shall allow Duke to withstand the damaging purple lava for even longer now, since he can keep healing up as he goes until his Medkit runs out.

Somewhere on this island, the Freezethrower can be found, too.

Protective Boots can be found in front of the 'Pressing 3000' store, and Steroids in front of the laboratoire d'analyses médicales.

The simultaneous use of both items and the Portable Medkit is a way to rather safely access the fourth chunk of the city, with the tall watertower, all the way up north and around the northeastern corner of the starting island.

If Duke hasn't found any of the multiple secret jetpacks yet, then he may have to rush back through every formerly visited island, not neglecting to recollect their respective items, all the way back to where he found the first Steroids where, thanks to all the inventory items found thus far used in combination, the purple lava can now be crossed in order to reach a bus that is bathing in it, which Duke can climb, to then leap on top of the island. (Last few moments of Steroids rush can be useful for that jump.)

Flipping the power switch on the building will raise an elevator platform Duke can ride to reach the rooftops, where the jetpack can be picked up. Duke should first use it to fly to the top of the tall watertower, where three Sunburnt Battlelord Sentries have spawned, to refurnish his Portable Medkit.

Some more Protective Boots also can be found behind a truck, down on the street, in the middle of the road; and more Steroids are tucked away in the park.

The central tower of the church should have blown up now, revealing an extra stash of all the inventory items on the central island.

Duke should cross back there now, all the while minding their miniboss guardians, in order to refill on all of them at once before he can go to reach the final island at last.

On the final island, which comprises a rich, open double plaza (la Halle aux Grains, from "Anarchy City 3"), twelve switches need to be found and flipped, which security cameras point to and already can easily be spotted if Duke simply explores around the parks, streets and up the various buildings with watchful eyes.

The activation of all twelve switches will raise the Nuke Button on the roof of the central library (bibliothèque Abbé-Grégoire), allowing Duke to finally get to board the emergency chopper there and fly off to Norilsk, Russia.

Par time route: There is one particular secret place, on the starting island, that conceals every inventory item Duke needs to directly cross over to, and reach the final island, thus skipping all of the others.

That is all.

Particularities: Not much left to be said that wasn't already covered in the History section, above.

"Duke Du Quatrain" is one of those extremely rare cases of a city-themed Duke 3D level with zero doors.

It only has one elevator platform, too and then the progression is purely terrain-based, embracing an original take on the most common inventory items to dictate a Metroidvania style that also rewards lateral exploration with hidden bonuses and secret places (22 of them are marked).

The music track playing from one of the car radios on the starting island is a demo version of the track "Carry On" by French concept band Stupeflip, later rerecorded for their eponymous debut album on Etic Records, 2003.

Soundtrack: "Vivre Ou Survivre" by Daniel Balavoine / "Vendeur De Larmes" / Barclay, Riveira L.M., 1982 (MIDI version)

A popular French classic...

'To live or to survive' - 'nuff said!

Automap:

Map stats (as of v. 2.0.8): 1492/4096 sectors, 15497/16384 walls, 10505/16384 sprites.

Download Duke Nukem 3D: Blast Radius (last update: 03/04/2024; v. 5.0.2)