Quake II gets a remaster for PC and consoles—and it’s exactly what it needs to be

In a shock announcement at QuakeCon, writer Bethesda Softworks introduced the quick availability of a mild remaster of the basic first-person shooter Quake II, comparable to the one for the primary Quake that was launched not that way back.

It’s out there now on Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.

As Bethesda is now a subsidiary of Microsoft, the remastered model of Quake II is a part of Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription service on Xbox and PC. Further, those that already owned the earlier model of Quake II on Steam, GOG, or Microsoft’s retailer will get the brand new model as a free replace.

The sport sells for $9.99 on every platform if you happen to’re not a Game Pass subscriber or have not purchased it earlier than. This marks the primary time it has been out there in any respect on any of the console platforms.

You get a lot of content material for 10 bucks; the package deal contains the sport’s authentic marketing campaign, each beforehand launched expansions, Quake 64, and a new marketing campaign referred to as Call of the Machine with 28 ranges developed by Machine Games (the group behind the current Wolfenstein video games).

There’s additionally split-screen native multiplayer (up to 4 gamers), in addition to LAN and on-line multiplayer.

There are a number of extra tweaks and enhancements, however it’s not a whole overhaul or a ground-up remake by any stretch. Most of the belongings are the identical, however the sport now helps 4K, cloud saves, and cross-platform play, amongst different fashionable requirements.

An RTX model of Quake II was launched on Steam a couple of years in the past, however I attempted it, and it doesn’t appear to work with this new enhanced version, which is a little bit of a bummer.

First impressions

I took it for a spin this afternoon, taking part in the primary few marketing campaign missions and a couple of on-line deathmatches on PC.

It adhered tightly to 60 fps at max settings and 4K on my PC gaming rig (AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, 32GB of RAM). Since my desktop displays are solely 60 Hz, I briefly performed it on the identical system linked to my LG C1 TV and discovered that it did not have any drawback sustaining 120 fps at that decision both. It appears nice in 4K, regardless that the belongings are clearly from one other period.

Bethesda included some further bells and whistles, like an non-obligatory CRT filter. While I normally like utilizing a CRT filter with retro video games on an OLED, I turned this one off shortly as it was far too aggressive; it appeared to be nearly like an over-the-top parody of a CRT filter relatively than one thing trying to precisely signify that late Nineties look.

The sport clearly performs effectively on the keyboard and mouse, however I attempted it with an Xbox Series controller and discovered the gamepad management scheme well-thought-out with good execution.

As for gameplay, I’ll admit that I did not play Quake 2 a lot again within the day, so I will not be in a position to give the superfan’s perspective; I did not purchase it till a 12 months or two after it got here out, and by that point I had turn out to be extra of an Unreal man. But I performed sufficient each then and now to know nothing in any respect has modified on the gameplay entrance, and that is a good factor as a result of it’s a very tight first-person shooter.

I had a little bother discovering lag-free on-line multiplayer matches; some have been unplayable, regardless that the ping within the server record was tremendous. Others labored completely, although. It was hit-or-miss, however then once more, it was the identical state of affairs again within the previous days.

There are some extras like achievements, idea artwork, and so on, however there isn’t any massive development system metagame to tie all of your multiplayer matches collectively such as you see in fashionable on-line shooters. That’s most likely for the most effective, for my part—I performed shooters for years with out that form of factor and loved them simply tremendous, so I’ve been principally baffled by the hostile responses lately to video games like Halo Infinite over comparatively slim options on that entrance—however youthful gamers may really feel one thing is lacking.

All advised, it looks as if a strong remaster that does simply sufficient to make the sport accessible on fashionable machines, however it does not attempt to make it into a fashionable AAA sport. If Bethesda had charged extra, which may have appeared just like the naked minimal, however for $9.99 (or free for Game Pass subscribers or individuals who beforehand purchased the sport), it’s laborious to complain. I want the ray-tracing options from the RTX launch had made it to this model, although.

Listing picture by Samuel Axon