What just happened? Bethesda has released the second major update for the remaster of classic first-person shooter Quake. It adds an entirely new mode and campaign scenario, along with some minor bug fixes and improvements.
Update 2 for the Quake remaster is now available for all platforms. The first major addition is an all-new PvE horde mode from MachineGames that can be played solo, with up to four others, or with a combination of real gamers and bots in co-op. The mode supports all difficulty levels and plays out across four new maps.
Quake horde mode has nine mandatory waves in which killing enemies yields points, and killing them in rapid succession activates a point multiplier. Every third wave features a boss that will drop a key to unlock more weapons and items when defeated. Normal enemies can also drop power-ups. After finishing the ninth wave, players can either exit or keep fighting endless waves. Progress resets if all players die.
The free add-on is the 2012 scenario “Honey,” the original release of which is highly rated on Quaddicted. Players can access it from the “Add-Ons” section in the game’s main menu, right above the “Quake 64” scenario. Bethesda describes Honey as containing waterlogged crypts and underground temples with “expert use of fog effects and silhouettes.”
Honey marks the third Quake add-on from MachineGames, the other two already being packaged with the remaster under its list of main single-player scenarios. In an interview with Bethesda, Honey creator Christian Grawert points out a couple Quake modders whose work players might want to check out: “mfx,” and “Bal,” the latter of whom Grawert praised for their scenario titled “Dwell.”
This update also brings Quake to the Epic Games Store for the first time, and lets PC users play together across storefronts.
Bethesda released this remaster in August to celebrate Quake’s 25th anniversary. It brought Quake to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, the Xbox Series consoles, and Nintendo Switch. In addition, it offered the remaster for free to people who already owned Quake on Steam and Bethesda.net, effectively giving them another way to run Quake aside from DOSBOX, GLQuake, or a source port.