User blog comment:Le Rottweiler/My favourite level in Quake I!/@comment-1496755-20150131115713

As a whole, my favorite level is E1M5: Gloom Keep.

But I also like Episode 4 as a whole - I wouldn't say the atmosphere is cold (Episode 2 feels much colder to me, probably due to the darkness and all the water), it's more like a great evil hiding behind a seemingly pretty and stylish facade. A veiled threat. A deceiver.

I've always perceived E4 as the remains of some world that used to be rich and opulent, perhaps even wise and noble, but then it fell to corruption and depravity, mostly due to its inhabitants being sanctimonious and over-confident (they underestimated the power of the Old Ones), eventually becoming a great bastion of evil.

(yeah, I have a pretty vivid imagination :P )