Quake gets a visual overhaul on Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch for its 25th birthday

QuakeCon, the annual fan convention for the legendary first-person shooter, was canceled last year during the pandemic, but it’s back today with a nailgun-like bang. Machine Games and id Software have teamed up to create a visually enhanced version of the original Quake game, after June 22nd marked the 25th anniversary of the game’s release.

It’s the classic Quake, run-and-gun combat through medieval mazes with nailguns, grenade launchers, and shotguns, but it’s all in 4K with widescreen support, online multiplayer, and even new expansion packs.

The original version of Quake is now available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch, complete with up to 4K support, widescreen resolutions, enhanced models, dynamic lighting, anti-aliasing, depth of field, and lots more visual enhancements.

Both the original Quake expansion packs are also available, as well as two expansions developed by Machine Games. A four-player online mode for the campaign is available, or local split-screen co-op. There’s even eight-player multiplayer matches with crossplay support, or four-player split-screen local ones. Quake will also include support for fan-made mods and missions, including Quake 64.

Quake is available on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation for $9.99 (or free as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate), and on Nintendo Switch.

This is a pretty major overhaul of Quake, and it follows Quake II being improved to run on modern PCs recently. Quake II was modified to run with ray tracing in 2019, and Nvidia released the project as Quake II RTX to demonstrate its RTX line of GPUs.

You can also still play the original 55MB Quake on a Windows PC today, but the Steam version doesn’t include high resolution widescreen support and the controls are awkward by today’s standards.

Quake was first released 25 years ago as a successor to Doom, and it quickly became one of the most popular competitive games in ‘90s. Bethesda and id celebrate Quake every year at QuakeCon, which spawned from a fan IRC server into a dedicated event with LAN tournaments and more.