BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER BEFORE 4 Review: id Tech 2-Powered Quake Throwback Launches at 99% Positive on 400+ Reviews

Joeveno — a Rio de Janeiro content creator and musician who previously earned both player and critical praise for BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER 3‘s specific blend of local Brazilian culture and irreverent humor — has launched a standalone expansion built on id Tech 2, the engine underneath early Quake, and drawn directly from 2000s Brazilian mod culture, bootleg game culture, and Brazilian music as its stated inspirations. The 70,000+ pre-launch wishlists have converted into a 99% positive Steam launch from over 400 reviews.

The Setup

The previous game ended with hell’s gates opening over a Rio de Janeiro favela and the protagonist rescuing Mit Aia, Mackie Jackie, and the band Mamadas before throwing a party in heaven. BEFORE 4 picks the story back up: Mamadas has now been kidnapped by villain Ronaldo Mcdalest, and the player has to recover both the band and their signature vehicle — the Globoceta Portal-Opener Car — while clearing out demonic leftovers from the previous invasion across three cities: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Salvador.

Thirty-Two Maps, Thirteen Weapons, One Very Specific Sense of Humor

The full map count is 32: 18 campaign levels, 7 horde-mode maps, 6 deathmatch maps, plus a dedicated skateboarding stage folded into the campaign. Traversal runs from Rio’s streets through parts of São Paulo and Salvador, and out into both hell and heaven, with hidden secret areas scattered throughout for players who go looking.

The 13-weapon roster runs from a flip-flop sandal to a chimarrão-fueled flamethrower to a feijoada-slingshot needler. Returning favorites from the previous game — a berimbau, a coin-operated payphone that fires coconuts, a paper-airplane gun loaded with banknotes — sit alongside new additions built around specifically Brazilian objects turned into weapons: a feijoada-bowl slingshot and a chimarrão flamethrower among them.

Enemy design carries the same comedic specificity: armed demons and zombies, Brazilian-style truck clowns, and possessed Brazilian singers return from the prior game, joined by new threats including a motorcycle duo, an angry rat that lives inside a TV, and a possessed football team mascot.

Firecracker Double Jumps and Steamworks Co-op

Movement got a meaningful upgrade over the previous entry: a double jump and dash, both explicitly justified in-fiction as “firecrackers stuck in your backside” — comedic framing aside, this is the mechanical addition that opens up rocket-jump and double-jump-gated secret areas in the specific style ’90s-era Quake players will recognize immediately.

Multiplayer runs through Steamworks across every map, supporting both co-op and deathmatch with friend invites that don’t require manual port forwarding — removing a specific historical friction point that old-school FPS multiplayer of this era’s inspiration used to carry.

Joeveno’s Stated Mission

Beyond the specific game, Joeveno has been explicit about a dual goal: using his games to introduce Brazilian culture to a global audience, while also promoting retro development tools like id Tech 2 as still-viable creative platforms. Publisher NoQuarter, based in North America, describes its own mission in complementary terms — backing genre-crossing, convention-breaking indie work that lets a creator’s specific personality come through undiluted, which tracks with what this release actually delivers.

The Reception

The 99% positive rating from over 400 Steam reviews at launch, combined with positive coverage from retro-FPS specialist YouTuber Civvie11 and international community discussion specifically praising the combination of Quake-style combat with Brazilian cultural humor, suggests the game found precisely the audience its wishlist numbers predicted — old-school FPS fans specifically drawn to a cultural specificity this genre rarely carries.

Who This Is For

Strong fit for: old-school Quake-style FPS fans who want genuinely fast, high-intensity combat rather than a modern shooter’s pacing; players who enjoy irreverent, culturally specific humor woven directly into weapon and enemy design; fans of BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER 3 who want the direct continuation; co-op and deathmatch players looking for a low-friction Steamworks multiplayer option; id Tech 2 enthusiasts curious what a contemporary team can still build on it.

Cautious fit for: players who need the game’s title and premise contextualized before purchasing — it’s satirical, comedic, and culturally self-referential rather than a serious crime narrative; anyone who wants a large-scope AAA production over a deliberately retro, budget-priced package.

Less ideal for: players who dislike fast, twitch-based old-school shooters; anyone seeking narrative depth over pure arcade combat; players who need content warnings taken seriously before engaging with broad, irreverent humor.

The Takeaway

BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER BEFORE 4 is Joeveno doing exactly what built his following with the previous entry — Quake-speed id Tech 2 combat wrapped entirely in specific, self-aware Brazilian cultural humor — at a larger scope: 32 maps, 13 weapons, three cities, hell and heaven both, and a 99% positive launch reception backing up the 70,000 pre-launch wishlists.

Mamadas is kidnapped. The Globoceta car needs recovering. Rio, São Paulo, and Salvador all need clearing of hell’s leftovers. And the flip-flop in your hand is about to do more damage than it has any right to.

€4.99, 10% off through the first two weeks. Available now on Steam.

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