New Quake Mission Pack Adds Maps and Mechanics

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original Quake, publisher Bethesda has released a new campaign chapter titled "Dawn of the Machine." Developed by MachineGames in collaboration with id Software, the pack adds 19 new maps that continue the story from previous campaign additions. These maps were created by a team known as "Quake Club," comprising several MachineGames employees who work on Quake maps in their free time. The new levels utilize Trenchbloom, a modern map editor, allowing for greater complexity and capability than the tools available in the late 1990s. The campaign introduces new gameplay mechanics, such as a time loop that reshapes the future with each visit and a disorienting teleportation system that creates the illusion of levels changing on the fly. These time shifts occur without player input, drawing parallels to mechanics seen in games like Titanfall 2 and Dishonored 2. The update also includes new music and variants of existing enemies and weapons. The premise involves the player character, the Ranger, navigating a dimension where time folds, creating a looping structure. Players collect runes to open new paths and discover secrets, with persistent health and ammunition upgrades adding a layer of progression. The new maps are integrated into the remastered version of Quake and are available free to all owners of the game on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo consoles. This content release comes amidst reports of significant layoffs at id Software due to Microsoft's Xbox reorganization, though MachineGames, which has been the primary source of new Quake content, has not yet been as deeply affected. The release signifies continued support for classic PC games, similar to Age of Empires II, which has also seen a resurgence with new content following its remaster.