If you bought Bethesda's recently released Quake remaster for Sony's or Microsoft's platforms, today's your lucky day—the publisher just released a next-gen edition that adds 4K resolution at up to 120 fps, and the upgrade is free.
Announced Tuesday on Bethesda's blog, id Software's classic first-person shooter is now available for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S to owners of the game on PS4 or Xbox One, following the game's surprise release at QuakeCon in August. At the time, the remaster shadow-dropped for Sony's and Microsoft's last-gen consoles, Nintendo Switch, and PC; next-gen versions were announced as coming in the future, but no release date was given.
No matter the platform, this is a quality remaster with a range of improvements, including cross-play and bot support for multiplayer, the original single-player campaign and its expansions, and toggles for visual perks such as antialiasing, ambient occlusion, and upgraded gun models.
Bethesda even surprised fans with some excellent bonuses, like a brand-new episode from Wolfenstein developer MachineGames, Nine Inch Nails' original unsettling soundtrack (missing for years from the only modern version of the game available), and—maybe best of all—Quake 64, complete with a beautiful lo-fi filter to recreate an impressively authentic-feeling CRT effect in high-def.
The biggest draw of this upgrade is arguably the one that's exclusive to the PS5, which is DualSense support. The haptic vibration and adaptive triggers add a little extra punch to your carnage-fests, complemented by sound effects from the DualSense's speaker, which you'll probably want to turn down a bit in the PS5 system options. These are welcome additions, though we hope to see Bethesda tweak how the gunplay feels in a future update, allowing players the option to increase trigger tension from the subtle-but-noticeable push the controller currently gives.
We should note that we didn't test all of the available weapons, so it's possible some of the later explosive ones yield more trigger resistance; the drawback of the PS5 game is that you can't transfer save data from the PS4 version, so you'll have to start over without access to your full arsenal if you were playing on PS4 before. (A level select is offered from the get-go, however.)
The Xbox Series X/S versions do allow save transfers, and the game is Xbox Play Anywhere-compatible, which is a nice consolation prize. Both platforms support the higher 120 fps frame rate as long as you own a compatible display.
If you don't already own Quake on PS4 or Xbox One, you can pick up the next-gen versions of the game from the PlayStation Network or Xbox stores for $10. The upgrade is also available for Xbox Game Pass owners on Xbox Series X/S. Get gibbin'.
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