MachineGames and id Software have released Dawn of the Machine, a new episode for Quake, to mark the shooter's 30th anniversary. Sony said the episode is available as a free update on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, and Xbox Wire confirmed it is out on Xbox platforms today.
The episode contains a full 19-map campaign, a new soundtrack and an additional deathmatch map, according to the PlayStation Blog announcement. It carries no cost for existing owners of Quake.
id Software released Quake in 1996, moving first-person shooters into fully three-dimensional environments. The 30th anniversary coincides with the 30th edition of QuakeCon, which the PlayStation Blog describes as North America's largest LAN party and credits, along with the game itself, with a significant role in the growth of competitive first-person shooters. Sony framed the timing of the release as deliberate on both counts.
The episode is distributed as an update to the existing game rather than as paid downloadable content, so players who already own Quake need buy nothing further to access the campaign, the soundtrack or the deathmatch map.
How the episode came together
Sony said the project began after MachineGames finished work on The Order of Giants, a downloadable expansion for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Lead level designer Andrew Yoder approached studio game director Jerk Gustafsson about building an expansion for Quake, and the team behind those projects — known internally as Quake Club — set three goals for the release.
The first was the anniversary itself.
We wanted to create something that felt authentic to the spirit of the original game: Horror! Action! Madness!
To that end, the episode reworks familiar entries from the Quake bestiary into new variants, among them the Rocket Ogre, the Demo Dog and the Blood Shambler. Players face them with new weapon variants including a ricochet-blasting Laser Cannon and a lightning-infused Super Axe.
The second goal Sony described was giving long-time Quake players an experience they had not had before, building on the episodes MachineGames has previously released for the game.
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