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Quake gets a surprise remaster as classic games arrive on Xbox Game Pass

By Eric Abent/

QuakeCon at Home 2021 kicks off today, and Microsoft and Bethesda started things off with a bang by announcing a surprise remaster of the original Quake. The remaster is only one part of today's surprise Quake announcements, as Quake II and Quake III Arena have also made their way to Xbox Game Pass for PC today along with this Quake re-release. If you're a Quake fan, then today is probably a pretty exciting day.

The Quake remaster comes with what you'd normally expect from a remaster like this and then some. We're getting 4K visuals and widescreen support on platforms that support them, along with enhanced models and some new features like dynamic lighting, anti-aliasing, and depth of field. The remaster is launching for Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch today, with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S enhancements on the way. For now, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 owners can play the game through backward compatibility.

The Quake remaster comes with the expansions that were originally released for the game, which isn't really a surprise given that most remasters come will all previously-released content. What is a surprise is that Quake comes with two new expansions crafted by the folks at MachineGames: Dimension of the Past and Dimension of the Machine.

This new version of Quake also offers online and local multiplayer and co-op, mod support, and cross-play, so this is a fully-featured remaster we're talking about here. The Switch version even has gyro controls, while Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will be able to play this through the cloud.

Speaking of Xbox Game Pass, not only is this Quake remaster going live on Game Pass today, but so are Quake II and Quake III Arena (though the latter two games are exclusive to Game Pass for PC). We're assuming that neither Quake II nor Quake III Arena have been remastered, but even without a fresh coat of paint, we're sure Quake fans will be plenty pleased to see these hit Game Pass. All three titles are available on Xbox Game Pass today, so give them a download and take them for a spin.

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