Quake 1 gets its first major co-op content update in 25 years

Months after the FPS classic Quake got a major 25th anniversary re-release, its modern handlers have returned with an update that exceeds all expectations. Thursday’s new 770MB patch on all platforms (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, PC) adds an entirely new co-op combat mode, and it officially opens the game’s mod floodgates for players outside the PC ecosystem.

The uncreatively named “Horde” mode works much like a mode of the same name in Gears of War. Instead of progressing through a level from start to finish, players are expected to hunker down inside a somewhat circular arena and then contend with hundreds of enemies spawning from all sides. Kill a full “wave” of foes, and your team will get a moment to breathe, replenish health and ammo (or argue over who gets to use it), and do it all over again.

For the sake of Quake‘s first-ever official co-op mode (beyond the campaign, which always supported co-op as an option), Bethesda support studio MachineGames has whipped up four brand-new battling arenas, which are pictured above. Each includes at least one “silver key” door, which is full of more powerful weapons and is gated until players earn a key by defeating a tougher “boss wave” of foes. Get through nine enemy waves, and your team gets a “gold key.” You can either exit the level at that point or stay and keep fighting increasingly tough foes until your team dies. (If you’re hunting for in-game achievements or trophies, Bethesda hasn’t updated Quake with any new ones for Horde, if that changes whether your team uses the gold key or not.)

The results aren’t as complex as newer stabs at the Horde concept, and MachineGames didn’t add complicated systems like the ability to build turrets, barriers, or other implements of survival. But as an excuse to distill the OG Quake experience and fast forward you and some friends into high-speed combat, it works fantastically—and it’s hard to knock as a freebie.

The other major addition in this week’s patch is the first full-blown “add-on” built into the Quake menu system. Bethesda teased this feature at launch with “Quake 64,” which tweaked the maps, changed the game’s music, and added an N64-like blur filter to better resemble the original game’s N64 port. This week’s addition is much more full-fledged: it’s the beloved 2012 Quake mod “Honey,” made by a modder who was eventually hired by MachineGames. As part of this week’s release, Bethesda also released an interview with said modder, Christian “czg” Grawert, who confirms that the studio has hosted weekly Quake 1 modding challenges among its devs—and that these eventually led to the contents of the new level pack included in the Quake 1 re-release in August.

Honey became Quaddicted’s highest-rated mod over the years for good reason, and it’s a good kickoff to Quake‘s new “add-on” menu. id Software and Bethesda have already been filling Doom 1 and Doom 2 re-releases with a variety of community-made mods, all free as part of both games, with a somewhat regular cadence of free updates there. Based on how Quake‘s menu structure resembles that of Doom and Doom 2, we believe the same will come to Quake—and are stoked to see quality map packs breaking out of the PC ecosystem on consoles like PlayStation, Switch, and Xbox.

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Listing image by Bethesda / id Software

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