Bethesda has announced that an enhanced version of Quake II is now available for Game Pass, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4. Developed by Nightdive Studios, this updated version of id Software’s 1997 FPS aims to improve upon the original with a number of new features, including an all-new expansion from MachineGames, online multiplayer, visual upgrades, and more. Players will even find a copy of Quake 64, a port of Quake that Midway Games released for Nintendo 64 back in 1998. QuakeCon 2023 is live until Sunday, August 13.
Enjoy Quake II’s legendary gameplay, preserved and complete with the original soundtrack by Sonic Mayhem, now enhanced with widescreen support, restored content previously left on the cutting room floor, visual and performance upgrades to make every muzzle flash and gib-plosion pop on-screen and even new levels.
PLAY THE ORIGINAL EXPANSIONS PLUS AN ALL-NEW EXPANSION
The enhanced release of Quake II comes with both expansions for the original game, Mission Pack: The Reckoning and Mission Pack: Ground Zero, adding over 30 additional single player levels and over 20 Deathmatch maps.
But wait! Quake II now includes Call of the Machine, an all-new expansion created by Wolfenstein: The New Colossus developer, MachineGames. Consisting of 28 campaign levels plus a brand-new Deathmatch map, fight across time and space to find the Strogg-Maker, destroy it and change fate itself.
QUAKE II 64 IS HERE!
Retro fans and FPS newcomers are in for a treat: Quake II also includes its Nintendo 64 port! Originally published by Midway exclusively for Nintendo 64, this fan-favorite release is now available for all Quake II owners, complete with modern enhancements.
FRAG TOGETHER AND FRAG, TOGETHER
It’s not Quake without multiplayer. Challenge the world online, with friends via split-screen or even across devices with crossplay in Quake II’s enhanced release! Team up and take on the Strogg in online and local four-player cooperative modes or battle it out in Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and even Capture the Flag locally or with up 16 players online (with bot support!)
PLAY HOW YOU PREFER
Enjoy additional benefits playing on the platform of your choice while never letting up on the Strogg! PC owners of Quake II, including existing owners on GOG or Steam, gain access to both Quake II (Original) – the untouched and still-moddable version of the game previously released – and Quake II (Enhanced), the new release with improved visuals, new campaign content, enhanced multiplayer, crossplay, controller support and more.
Additionally, Game Pass Ultimate players can play Quake II anywhere with Xbox’s xCloud (active membership required). Nintendo Switch owners can enable gryo controls to use in conjunction with the control stick for enhanced aiming. PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 owners may enable SixAxis support to augment control stick aiming. Players on compatible PCs and consoles running on supported monitors can also experience Quake II performing at new visual heights, including 120Hz frame rates and 4K resolution.
Discussion (19 replies)
Join Discussion →Will be some time before I get around to this, as I'm still slowly going through Quake 2 RTX (which is sorta kinda like a remaster in its own right). After Nightdive did an enhanced version of Quake 1 I was wondering if they would tackle 2, and indeed they did. Even threw in the N64 version, crazy. A bunch of other stuff too, like new levels from MachineGames. A friend showed me this: https://bethesda.net/en/article/6NIyBxapXOurTKtF4aPiF4/enhancing-quake-ii
Glad it's free for those who already own a digital version of Quake 2, as they did with the enhanced version of 1 for owners of the first game.
The Steam page for the game says 8P local split-screen. Uh, that's gotta be a typo, or maybe they mean 4P + 4P LAN, cuz 8P splitscreen on one screen, uuhh how the f*ck would that work out?
That wouldn't be half bad on a Super Ultrawide!
Have you never played super bomber man?
That's all players on one screen though. I'm talking about split-screen. I've never seen a screen divided up into more than 4 smaller screens for multiplayer.
I haven't seen more than that as well. The last time I played 4 player split screen was Goldeneye on the N64. I fired up Quake 64 last night on PC and it was a nice blast from the past.
If you think about it, at 4K - going 8 ways that's still 1080x960 -- nearly 720p and a lot better than the 640x480 or 800x600 a lot of us were playing on back in the day when the game first released (on high end rigs at that!).
But yeah, it would be tiny on most screens. ?
Picture here of 8P split-screen: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F3MJSTvbEAA36j6?format=jpg&name=4096x4096
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Related article: https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2023-quake-2-2023-tech-review-this-is-how-to-remaster-a-game
Bomberman!
Holy crap that's a game I haven't played in ages.
Where is my steam deck!
I just don't get these types of releases.
My FPS life began with Quake 2. Lots of mods and online play. It's not the same game.
While I agree with you, the new "refreshed" game does bring back a little nostalgia. My first FPS was the original Unreal Tournament which to this day they haven't been able to recapture its glory.
I disagree. UT2004 was at least as good as the original Unreal Tournament. I played the crap out of both games. UT2003 and UT3 missed the mark, but the other two nailed it.
UT2004 was pretty good I agree, but nothing has come close since then unfortunately.
Only modern game I can think of that would match the intensity of Quake/UT, if they did a TDM and/or free-for-all mode, would be Apex Legends. Fast paced, twitch style gaming.
I agree, though I still got a lot of fun outta UT3. People look at me weird when I say I like UT3, but then again people look at me weird when I say I like UT2004 as much as UT1. I keep all 3 games installed on every main PC I've used since those games came out.
I messed around with the UT4 alpha for a time. Too bad the project didn't last long enough to develop into something that was actually fun to play, and which had its own unique feel like the previous games had. It still kinda rubs me the wrong way when an Unreal Engine doesn't have an Unreal game to go along with it. UE4 never got an Unreal game of any kind aside from that UT4 alpha. The same will probably happen with UE5. I didn't even like that UE3 debuted with what eventually became Gears of War (and debuted on console on top of that), rather than an Unreal game.
The first FPS game I can remember playing was Wolfenstein 3-D (not 100% sure since that was sooooooo many years ago). I think it was either Doom 1 or Duke Nukem 3D that sold me on FPS games though.