Quake Remastered Review

Picture the scene. It’s 1999, I’ve just finished a hellish history lesson on Henry VIII and my teacher asks the class to put all our things away. Hang on, somethings wrong here, it isn’t time to go home? He leads us into the cramped, dimly-lit computer room, where thirty state of the art Windows 98 PCs are all fired up and ready for a class of unsuspecting children to be welcomed to the world of Quake. This was my first experience with the franchise, as one of a full class of clueless individuals running around as cute little penguin avatars whilst our teacher decimated us all whilst sporting a very intimidating Batman skin.

21 years later and an enhanced re-release of Quake was quietly launched and as soon as I booted up the game on my PlayStation 5, the nostalgia hit me hard.

Straight away it needs to be said that Quake isn’t a remake akin to 2019’s Resident Evil 2; this 2021 release of Quake is an enhanced port of the 1996 sci-fi shooter bumped up to a 4K resolution and a few extra bells and whistles added to sweeten the deal.

It’s hard to speak too much about the graphical quality of Quake, but for a game this old it really doesn’t look too bad. In fact I would go so far as to say that the science fiction/gothic mash-up of the levels still looks as eerie as I remember them in the 90s. The most noticeable change when comparing this version to the original is the enemy and weapon models. More than simple HD textures, enhancements such as details on a gun or a monster's teeth really stand out as big improvements and show more depth and detail than ever before. The audio has also been given an upgrade; guns have a satisfying reverb sound effect when pulling the trigger, rather than sounding like they’ve been fired underwater as heard in the original release.

Quake is all killer, no filler as there is no story to be found here—no plot twists or endearing characters to grow attached to. This may be enough to keep players away from the simplicity of Quake; I’ll be honest, if this wasn’t a game I remember so fondly from being a lazy student who relished the idea of not having to do schoolwork, I may not have picked Quake up at all.

Even so, what you do get is a fast-paced, non-stop adrenaline rush as you shoot, slice, and decimate an array of uniquely-designed opponents throughout the 80+ levels on offer. Featuring not only the original release’s levels as well as its two official expansion packs (Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity), also included are two more additional campaigns (Dimension of the Past and Dimension of the Machine), with DotM being created exclusively for this re-release. Even more updates are expected to be released—such as official and fan-made mods, with Quake 64 already available to download—to further expand on an already impressive amount of content.

For a game that’s 25 years old, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking that this may not play all that well in the age of Call of Duty and Battlefield. Even on a controller however, the game feels slick and responsive with a simplistic control scheme that makes it easy to pick up and play. There are no cover mechanics, aiming down sights or anything of that ilk, just straight up run-and-gun gameplay with no break in the action, made popular by the likes of the original Wolfenstein and Doom. This is not a game you can just breeze through (unless you stick to the easy mode), with limited first-aid kits and armour scattered about each level and enemies that will quickly put you to sleep; thankfully you can find more than enough firepower to hold your own. Of the eight available weapons though, you’ll want to find and not let go of the all-powerful rocket launcher; a weapon I found essential for some of the tougher enemy encounters.

Local/online co-operative play and a Deathmatch mode are also available and I ran into no issues when playing online. I was quickly placed into matches and experienced zero lag whilst being repeatedly blown to pieces by better players than myself. Arenas are small—with hidden areas containing the more powerful weapons—keeping you constantly alert and it’s never too long before you find yourself in the midst of another firefight.

Perhaps what is most surprising is the use of the PlayStation 5’s DualSense. Anytime a shooter features adaptive triggers I enjoy it that much more, and for those of you that like motion-controlled aiming you’re in luck! This was turned on by default and I hastily disabled it; I can barely aim with the analogue stick let alone the whole controller.

Although it isn’t the full remake fans had hoped for, it’s hard not to recommend Quake for it’s low cost; whether you’re a 90’s gamer who grew up with it, or experiencing its retro greatness for the first time, Quake isn’t an essential purchase, but it is an enjoyable one.