The original Quake launched in 1996 and became one of the most-influential first-person shooters ever made. The landmark release still has its fans 25 years later, but now everyone will get to play an updated version of the FPS classic. At QuakeCon 2021, Bethesda has confirmed the rumors, surprise-launching a Quake remaster that is now available for users to download across numerous platforms.
The Quake remaster is currently available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, with plans to bring it to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X at a later date through a free next-gen next upgrade. Xbox Game Pass subscribers and those that already own the original game on PC through Steam or Bethesda can play for free, but otherwise it costs $9.99. And even though Quake is a 25 year old game, that $9.99 doesn't seem like a bad asking price at all when one considers everything that this remaster comes with.
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The Quake remaster upgrades the visuals to 4K resolution and makes a variety of other graphical and audio improvements. It comes with the base game along with its expansions, The Scourge of Armagon, Dissolution of Eternity, and Dimension of the Past. And as an added bonus, Wolfenstein developer MachineGames has built a brand new Quake expansion for release with the remaster called Dimension of the Machine.
The Quake story campaigns can be played in 4-player co-op locally and online, and the versus multiplayer supports 4 players locally and 8 online, with dedicated servers. The recent success of Splitgate suggests that there is quite a big appetite for traditional arena shooters that Quake helped innovate, so it will be interesting to see how many gamers flock to the game's revitalized online multiplayer mode.
With the original Quake being remastered for modern platforms, it will be interesting to see if the other games in the series get a similar treatment. Quake 2 ray-tracing updates are readily available, but only on PC, so it would be interesting to see that game make the jump. And then there's Quake 3 and Quake 4 to consider as well, all of which could help pave the way for the rumored Quake reboot.
Rumor has it that a Quake reboot with a female protagonist is in development at id Software and MachineGames, though if that project exists, it has yet to actually be announced. While Quake fans wait for more information on the future of the franchise, they can dive into the remaster of the original game, which is available now.
Quake is out now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions also in development.