Despite revisiting a twenty-five-year-old game, 2021’s remastered edition of Quake has been a big success. Players have enjoyed rediscovering the game's visceral, fast-paced gunplay as well as its disturbing, Lovecraftian setting, and rumors of a Quake franchise reboot are circulating faster than a vore’s fireball.
As it did with its remasters of Doom and Doom 2, id Software has announced its intention to regularly update the game with new mods, maps, and bonus content. At launch, the only available add-on is Quake 64, the beloved Nintendo 64 incarnation of the game with a Reznor-rivalling soundtrack created by Aubrey Hodges. However, if the iconic developer honors its promise, the good news is that there is an astonishing array of top-quality fan-made mods and maps for it to incorporate in the future.
How Quake’s Fan Community is Thriving Even After a Quarter-Century
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Quake was released in 1996 and quickly became renowned as a game-changer for the industry. Unlike the clones of Id Software’s previous classic Doom, the developer had outdone itself by creating a fully 3D engine, meaning that the limitations of its predecessor (fake 3D levels that didn’t allow true verticality, sprite-based enemies, unsophisticated lighting) were swept away in a hail of revolutionary graphics and nine-inch nails.
The game quickly became enormously popular, spawning a legendary deathmatch scene that continued well into Quake’s sequels. This drove demand for more maps, as multiplayer experts quickly became familiar with the limited deathmatch level selection included in the base game. Fans of the single-player campaign also wanted more Quake to sink their teeth into after completing the game’s four episodes and its pair of expansion packs. (Although not regarded as the greatest Quake content, these two releases—Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity—are included in the Quake remaster alongside new episodes created by Wolfenstein developer Machine Games).
Thanks to various source ports, enthusiasts were soon able to get their hands on the game’s source code, making Quake mapmaking easier as new editing tools were developed. Improving hardware-enabled maps to be larger and more intricate than ever before, and designers continued to find new ways to create challenging and innovative content despite Quake’s limited asset set. It wasn’t just new maps that fans were busy creating, but also an endless supply of mods. These ranged from small tweaks, like the ability to hack apart the corpses of deceased enemies, to entirely new gameplay modes like Quake Rally and Team Fortress.
This ability to constantly change, expand, and improve upon the original game has ensured Quake’s longevity, and fans have continued to breathe new life into the classic shooter in the decades since its release. The community gradually coalesced around a site called Quaddicted.com, where the best maps and mods are uploaded, reviewed, and made available for free, ensuring that this content can be enjoyed by as many fans as possible.
The Best Quake Mods and Maps Id Software Should Adopt
Thankfully for Quake newbies, there is plenty of online discourse about the best mods and maps the fan community has to offer. Although these are currently only available to PC and Mac gamers, id Software certainly has the option to approach its creators about inclusion within a future add-on pack for its recently released Quake remaster, bringing these fiendish creations to consoles and a new generation of gamers.
The jewel in the crown of the Quake modding and mapmaking community is Arcane Dimensions. The mod/map pack combo adds a staggering amount of additional content to Quake, including new enemies, textures, sound effects, weapons, mechanics such as breakable objects, and a huge array of maps to showcase all of these features. It plays very much like a grab bag of maps, with a central hub location leading to dozens of fan-made masterpieces which transport the player to locations like a necromancer’s keep, a somber ice world, a decrepit swamp, and even a beautiful aquatic palace.
Other popular mods focus less on new content and more on refining the existing game. Copper, created by Lunaran, is a Quake mod that addresses many of the issues that arose from Quake’s troubled development, and which fans believe would have been fixed if Id Software had had more time. Problems like the ogres’ lack of vertical awareness (the monsters will attempt to rain grenades onto your head even if they’re positioned beneath you), the shamblers’ exploitable AI that nullifies their ranged attack at close range, and a number of other improvements and bug fixes have been incorporated. Fans of the original game consider Copper to be a well-considered and intelligent set of enhancements.
In order to showcase these changes, Lunaran has packaged a new episode with his mod entitled Underdark Overbright, which features seven medium-sized and ingenious maps. The episode opens with a rusted, overgrown reimagining of Quake’s very first level, ensuring fans know instantly that they are about to experience something old and familiar, but with a brand new, cunning twist.
The Copper mod also provides improvements and additional tools for level designers, which the mapmaking community has already taken full advantage of. The episode pack Dwell adopts a mysterious Egyptian theme that becomes increasingly permeated with Lovecraftian horror elements as players progress through its brilliantly designed and sprawling maps. Dwell provides players not only with a top-tier new episode but also with a difficulty level far in excess of the original Quake.
If the rumors of a Quake reboot are true, fans will be intrigued to see how id Software is able to modernize its legendary FPS. In the meantime, there is a bewildering amount of new content available for Id to bring to the remaster of the original game, should the developer choose to plumb the dark and disturbing depths of the Quake fan community.
Quake is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
