Quake Rated For Next-Gen Consoles, Nintendo Switch, and PC

Quake is an iconic arena-based first-person shooter whose 2021 revival seems on course according to what we’ve heard in recent times. Quakecon 2021 was announced late last week and is scheduled to happen from 19-21 August.

When it first went live, XboxEra spotted that the announcement initially stated, “Quake is back, in this special stream John Linneman from Digital Foundry talks to Jerk Gustafsson of Machine Games about the title’s iconic legacy and what it meant to both of them. The pair will also discuss the additional content Machine Games have contributed to this revitalized edition.” Shortly afterward, this description was removed from the website, giving out a hefty spoiler for all those eager enough to check the announcement quickly. 

Now, however, it appears that we are getting more in on the scene, as Quake has been rated by the ESRB. The title is a simple “Quake” with no mention of anything else, so this does look like a remastered release of the game. Furthermore, the game has been rated M for Mature. 

The description of the rating reads, “This is a first-person shooter in which players assume the role of a soldier that travels through time to stop an evil force from destroying humanity. Players traverse through maze-like medieval environments and use shotguns, nail guns, and grenade launchers to kill various enemies (e.g., zombies, demonic forces, scorpions, humans) in frenetic run-and-gun combat. Battles are accompanied by gunfire sounds, screams of pain, and large explosions. Large blood-splatter effects occur frequently, and several attacks cause enemies to explode into bloody chunks. Some areas depict mutilated body parts on the ground or falling from ceilings.”

What has our interest fairly piqued is that the platform section of the rating mentions several platforms, including Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and the Xbox Series consoles. Harnessing the horsepower that the PlayStation 5 has under the hood, this upcoming Quake game could go extremely well. 

Quake was released back in 1996 and it has, arguably, paved the way for modern FPS games. In 2019, NVIDIA even released an RTX-supported version of the franchise’s 1997 sequel, Quake II, in collaboration with Bethesda. It seems like the hype surrounding the franchise won’t die out anytime soon. As of recently, two new updates for Quake on Steam suggest that a new installment to the franchise is in the works, too.

The SteamDB tracker, which provides users with information as to what goes on in the backend of the marketplace, has recently revealed two new updates for the original Quake on Steam. According to the package’s history, a new beta branch has recently been added to the game along with a 64-bit executable file called “Quake_x64_steam.exe”.

The obvious conclusion here is that the game’s getting a new updated version. Perhaps, Bethesda and MachineGames are hoping to add ray-tracing to the original game after the success of Quake II RTX. However, this could also be mean that we’re getting a hint towards a completely new Quake installment. Furthermore, this isn’t the first time we’ve received a hint towards a new installment to the franchise either.

After the QuakeCon 2021 schedule was officially posted on the event’s website, there were some additional details about the opening show celebrating 25 years of the franchise, as well as a snippet regarding a “revitalised Quake game”. “Quake is back, in this special stream John Linneman from Digital Foundry talks to Jerk Gustafsson of MachineGames about the title’s iconic legacy and what it meant to both of them. The pair will also discuss the additional content MachineGames have contributed to this revitalized edition,” it read before it was shortly edited to be removed entirely afterwards.

Although there’s no confirmation from Bethesda and MachineGames as of now, the facts indicate either a completely new installment to the franchise or a remastered version of the original game. Either way, this is some intriguing news! QuakeCon 2021 will be hosted virtually — called QuakeCon at Home — instead of in-person in Dallas as it used to be, between 19th August and 21st August.

UPDATE: Quake Remastered has now been listed in the Microsoft Store for $9.99 or you can also get it through the XBOX Game Pass. The remaster includes native 4k support, widescreen resolution, enhanced models, reworked lighting, Post-processing effects like Depth of Field, Anti-Aliasing, mod support, and an all-new expansion pack by MachineGames as well as the classic expansion packs. It also includes the original soundtrack by Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails as well as Local and Online Multiplayer support. It is also available on the Nintendo Eshop and the PSN Store.

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