Episode 3: The Netherworld or Netherworld is the third Episode of Quake. It consists of seven levels total, including another secret level.
The main gameplay component of this episode is pure fear. The Netherworld is a dark and barren place, heavily decorated with religious and Satanic imagery, which gives the implications of it being a hellish realm.
Though the sky is visible at times, the player spends most of their time in subterranean caverns such as in vaults and tombs. Most of these levels belong to the Runic Level Theme. This is the episode with the greatest amount of Lava, which makes it a very dangerous place.
The introductory text displayed in the corridor leading to this episode in Introduction reads: "Primal fear in a strange dimension..." The goal is to search for the Rune of Hell Magic to use in the fight against Shub-Niggurath.
Levels
| Map Name | Map ID / Number | Monster Count | Secret Count | ||
| Easy | Normal | Hard/Nightmare | |||
| Termination Central | E3M1  13  E3L1  |
28 28 42 |
55 55 56 |
67 67 56 |
5 5 5
|
| The Vaults of Zin | E3M2 14 E3L2 |
28 28 25 |
35 35 33 |
47 46 33 |
3 3 3
|
| The Tomb of Terror | E3M3 15 E3L3 |
25 25 25 |
32 32 32 |
47 47 32 |
2 2 2
|
| Satan's Dark Delight | E3M4 16 E3L4 |
27 24 23 |
38 34 35 |
47 42 35 |
4 4 4
|
| The Wind Tunnels | E3M5 E3L5 |
25 23 |
43 42 |
50 42 |
4 4
|
| Chambers of Torment | E3M6 17 E3L6 |
34 34 28 |
59 59 56 |
73 73 56 |
2 2 2
|
| The Haunted Halls | E3M7 18 |
32 32 |
40 40 |
42 42 |
4 4
|
| The Coliseum | E4L10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Enemies
| Type | Count | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | Normal | Hard/Nightmare | ||
| Rotfish | 2 (4) | 3 (6) | 4 (8) | The vanilla engine counts each Rotfish as 2 enemies. |
| Rottweiler | 3 | 6 | 9 | |
| Grunt | 17 | 32 | 35 | |
| Zombie | 41 | 44 | 48 | |
| Enforcer | 8 | 17 | 23 | |
| Scrag | 30 | 50 | 60 | |
| Ogre | 56 | 86 | 105 | |
| Death Knight | 20 | 29 | 36 | |
| Fiend | 14 | 19 | 32 | |
| Vore | 4 | 10 | 11 | |
| Shambler | 2 | 3 | 6 | |
| Total | 197 (199) | 299 (302) | 369 (373) | |