Quake Enhanced is here!

[673f11a564fabJDoran]

The 1996 classic game Quake, which was extremely popular with gamers and reviewers, was very influential, and is still played by *lots* of people both in single and multiplayer, has been updated. It now has things like better models, 4K resolution, cross-platform multiplayer, local/online/cross-platform co-op, a new campaign, dynamic lighting, and so on. And it's free to anyone who already owns Quake (as long as they own Quake via Steam, I mean).

Source:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2310/QUAKE/

[673f11a56516cZylonBane]

Quake always seemed to me like one of those games where the single-player campaign was just a tech demo for the engine.

Anyway, I just watched the trailer, and... yeah, there seem to be new AI models, but the textures on them are just as low-res as the originals, so it barely makes a difference. They even have texture filtering turned off in the trailer, so everything is looking very pixelated. Even the particle effects are square.

For those hoping for a Black Mesa-style remake of Quake, this is definitely not it. Seems more like an engine update than anything.

[673f11a567b8dChandlermaki]

Quake always seemed to me like one of those games where the single-player campaign was just a tech demo for the engine.

You could honestly say that about most Carmack era id games.

[673f11a567cadZylonBane]

No, I could not. Wolfenstein 3D and Doom single-player were great.

[673f11a568054RoSoDude]

Quake is lightyears ahead of Wolfenstein 3D, which is much better described as a tech demo (it wasn't until Doom that id really started mastering 2.5D level design principles). Quake's weapon arsenal is fairly lackluster, but the enemy roster is diverse and aggressive with well-explored potential for tricky encounter setups; the levels are dense and vertically layered with excellent pacing of challenges; and the atmosphere created by the dark horror theming and Trent Reznor soundtrack is second to none.

Thank the Elder Gods this is a straight port/remaster instead of some forsaken Black Mesa-style remake. People are put off of playing Quake these days because of the annoyance of having to set up source ports and find the soundtrack online, not because it's some dated junk. It's better that new players experience the classic FPS more or less as it was than as some hotshots at Machine Games think it should have been, which is all a remake could ever be.

[673f11a5683a5ZylonBane]

Thank the Elder Gods this is a straight port/remaster instead of some forsaken Black Mesa-style remake.

Fine, a remaster then instead of a remake. Like the Halo Anniversary remaster, where they kept the same playable geometry but overhauled the texturing and environmental detailing. As a first-gen full 3D FPS, Quake looked primitive even when it was new. It didn't even have colored lighting. So it would benefit from a remastering more so than pretty much any other 3D FPS.

As is, this basically looks like a nostalgia piece for people who already love the game, not something to bring in new fans.

[673f11a5686c7icemann]

No, I could not. Wolfenstein 3D and Doom single-player were great.

That's due to John Romero though. Id Software were like the Beatles in that together they were outstanding, but apart not so much.

That said yes he was still at id at that point, but his version of Quake (which was much more RPG centric) got ditched and quickly converted into a pure FPS at the last minute against his wishes. Hence the disconnect with fantasy and tech. I still love Quake 1 regardless. Man that game had a great machinema scene.

Completely agree on Wolf 3D and Doom having vastly superior singleplayer campaigns.

[673f11a568a17Nameless Voice]

Quake always seemed to me like one of those games where the single-player campaign was just a tech demo for the engine.

I'm not a huge fan of Quake's weak weapons and spongy monsters, but the level design is great.
So much verticality and interesting use of 3D space, with plenty of variety and many well-placed secrets.


Was recently watching a video where level designer Sandy Petersen talked about how a lot of the things they did in Quake was at the insistence of Carmack wanting to show off the 3D engine, but I think it worked out well for them, because maps that make heavy use of 3D space are interesting maps.

[673f11a568bcdvoodoo47]

sometimes I just feel like clearing a level with a rocket launcher, blasting everything into chunky giblets. ain't nothing wrong with that.

[673f11a569454JDoran]

Quake always seemed to me like one of those games where the single-player campaign was just a tech demo for the engine.

I have always thought that. To me the game was OK, but shallow and neither addictive nor very enjoyable. It baffled me how it was so widely regarded (by gamers and critics) as some sort of genre defining masterpiece, and how it got almost all of the magazine exposure when (to me) both Duke Nukem 3D and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (two of it's contemporaries) were much better, but received much less attention from magazines and gamers alike. I didn't see it as a bad game, but several of my friends were all but obsessed with it.

And it was so often praised for it's graphics, too, even though it was just a couple of dozen shades of brown. The multiplayer was OK, but again, to me there were much better options available.

Then Quake 2 came out, and was even more generic, and somehow that managed to really grab gamers and critics.

On the plus side re: Quake 1, there was a lot to like about it technically, even for an end user like me. The always available command console was a brilliant idea (PC only, though, of course), as was the ease of adding mods. And you could define so many of the game's variables and settings via a text file, which was very convenient.

Since I was the local PC fixer for my group of friends, I was generally the one who set up games, mods, PC to PC conections, etc. And since the Quake modding scene was so huge, for quite a few years following Quake's release I was installing Quake mods for my mates, and it was so easy. And after a few years, my mates lost interest in the game, so I'm not sure what the current best Quake mods are like.

On a tangent, someone pointed out a while back how strange it seemed, that Doom was ported to many consoles, but Quake, which was equally popular (more or less) was only ported to two consoles (Nintendo 64, and Sega Saturn). Apparently Lobotomy Software (who made the Sega Saturn versions of Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, and Exhumed/Powerslave) made a prototype/proof of concept of Quake running on the Playstation, but couldn't find anyone to publish it because no one thought it would sell on the PSX. Personally, I think it would have sold very well on the Playstation, but what do I know?

Anyway, I just watched the trailer, and... yeah, there seem to be new AI models, but the textures on them are just as low-res as the originals, so it barely makes a difference. They even have texture filtering turned off in the trailer, so everything is looking very pixelated. Even the particle effects are square.

For those hoping for a Black Mesa-style remake of Quake, this is definitely not it. Seems more like an engine update than anything.

Given how keen and talented the best Quake modders were and probably still are, I would be very surprised if there isn't a really good, community-made, and of course free, high definition add-on pack that updates the graphics, sound, in-game models, and so on. In fact, I don't doubt that there are quite a few, most are probably unfinished (such is the reality of complex mods, sadly), but some will be finished, and catering to different tastes, some absolutely vanilla (so they are just Quake's audio and visuals are a higher/sharper resolution and audio quality), others altering the style and ambience to varying degrees (some probably change the look and atmosphere completely).

Basically, unless this new version of Quake does something new (that I've somehow missed reading about) then I doubt many PC gamers will be bothered with the new version. Most PC users who want Quake with the new games enhancements will already have the original version of the game on their hard drive, fully modded, with a really good source port of the engine, and all manner of audio/graphical/gameplay enhancements cerefully selected from the massed of great Quake mods.

I suppose a fair few  console owners will be happy to be able to play it on their machines, though.

You could honestly say that about most Carmack era id games.

Agreed. Their only games I like are Doom 1 and 2, Quake 3 (though I much prefer it's competitor Unreal Tournament), and Return to Castle Wolfenstein (if that was by them). I think the reason I never took to Wolfenstein 3D was that I played Doom before I ever played Wolf3D, so my expectations were too high for Wolf3D by then. What I don't understand is why Quake never appealed to me. Tedious colour pallet aside, I didn't see anything bad in it, just nothing great, but I should have been able to enjoy it as an OK (to me) game, but it just never felt fun to me.

And Doom 3 just wasn't a Doom game. They should have ported Doom 64 to the PC, added multiplayer, and called that 'Doom 3'. And still published the game we all know as 'Doom 3' (the slow, boring one , with the addon pack 'Resurrection of Evil') as many people liked it, but give it a non-Doom name, such as 'Incursion', or 'Intrusion', or use more than one word, and call it "Infernal Onslaught" or similar.

[673f11a56a761Briareos H]

It's ok to be wrong. Quake is so much better than Doom it's not even funny. Although I won't make the mistake to try to justify myself

Anyway, copying some of my thoughts from TTLG: The updated models are lovely and the two Machine Games episodes are good. Regarding the KEX port, it's close enough to a source port that it will run a large number of maps and can be recommended to first-timers, but not enough to be compatible out of the box with major mods (AD, Copper, Quoth) and it seems likely that the community mods and source ports will have to change their code to keep compatibility.

The more I think about it, the less comfortable I feel with Nightdive trying to port every game and their mother to KEX. If this port is any indication of what's to come for System Shock 2, then it will break a whole bunch of mods and will force whoever's behind NewDark to do major changes or fragment the modding community. I don't see so much good coming out of this in the long run -- especially with further concerns like licencing. With Quake, it would have been easier to wrap or extend an existing source port with a modern UI.

[673f11a56ae18icemann]

and Return to Castle Wolfenstein (if that was by them)

That was by Raven Software if I remember right.

[edit]
Scratch that. According to wikipedia it was done by id and published by Activision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_Castle_Wolfenstein

[673f11a56b119Bloxy]

JDoranYour joking, Right? Like, Actually?
A few minutes after I saw this I started freaking out and screaming while I reinstalled Quake.

[673f11a56b4ffJDoran]

JDoranYour joking, Right? Like, Actually?
A few minutes after I saw this I started freaking out and screaming while I reinstalled Quake.

Erm, what? Judging from the white arrow prefixing your reply, you are responding to my first post, aren't you? Where I simply point out that a new, supposedly better, modern port of Quake is being released. I don't give any opinion or assessment, so are you simply suprised and doubting about there being a new edition of the game?

And as I read elsewhere, Quake is twenty-five years old now, so maybe this version is being released as an anniversary ediiton.

[673f11a56b641voodoo47]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33T7NPxnEKI
lets hope someone will confirm a texture filtering on/off switch, because for now I'm seeing pixels everywhere.

[673f11a56ba5fJoin2]

JDoranYour joking, Right? Like, Actually?
A few minutes after I saw this I started freaking out and screaming while I reinstalled Quake.

I will only not roll my eyes if you are 10 years of age or less. Or an ad bot.

[673f11a56bbb3Kolya]

I read that as enthusiasm by an old fan. But who knows.

[673f11a56bcd0JDoran]

On topic, out of boredom I looked up a couple of reviews of the new release, and it seems like many Quake fans really like it. It seems to be a pretty good example of how a remaster should be done, even down to it not having any serious bugs on release. Yep, apparently that is somehow possible 

[673f11a56bdbbZylonBane]

It's not a remaster.

[673f11a56be99voodoo47]

so, why this and not dpQuake?

[673f11a56c2a6sarge945]

No, I could not. Wolfenstein 3D and Doom single-player were great.

I'd disagree. Going back and replaying the original Doom usually leaves me disappointed. The first episode is pretty great, but everything else really isn't. I'd consider episode 3 outright bad.

The thing that saved Doom was the community content. There are so many thousands of great map packs for it. Doom 2 helped too, simply by adding more toys for developers to play with.

I guess the core gameplay is solid, but the original maps leave a lot to be desired.

[673f11a56c3dbicemann]

I disagree. Love episodes 2-3. The 4th episode - Thy Flesh Consumed (added in Ultimate Doom) I'm more mixed on.

Episode 2 is a mostly more of the same style of level structure to episode 1, but with more of a twisted hell style woven into the mix. Episode 3 goes further with it. And much more outside environments, which sure viewed with modern eyes may look half half.

[673f11a56c4c6ZylonBane]

Yeah, Doom didn't need saving. Unlike Quake, it was great out of the box.

[673f11a56c8e5JDoran]

It's not a remaster.

Well, true. But I have seen it called that by some people, which doesn't make it right of course, but in general when speaking about a new release of an old game, the terms 're-release', 'modern port', 'enhanced edition', 'remaster', and so on do all tend to be used terms by those who aren't too bothered about the correct term for the update in question. And though it definitely is not a remaster, I have to say that I've not seen many people complain about the small graphical updates and say that they wanted a full remaster. Then again, Quake fans always seemed to regard the game as being graphically beautiful, whether they were talking about the original software version, the 3Dfx version, any of the engine ports, etc. To me it just looked boring, unimaginative, and with a terrible choice of colour palette.

so, why this and not dpQuake?

Is that a Quake engine port? I would imagine that the best fan-made engine ports probably have lots of options and features that NDS didn't think necessary to put in this new version, and no doubt many people have tried to run the new episode pack(s, if there is more than one) from the new version. I don't know if they'd work or not. But from what I read, people seem happy with the new version's game engine and options, though of course I've only been on a few fairly generic (as regards first person shooter) game forums, not any hard core Quake forums, so perhaps the forums for people who *really* love Quake are full of endless complaints and criticisms of this new version.