Two years ago, at Quake Con 2021, id Software and Nightdive Studios shadow dropped a remaster of the original Quake which was critically acclaimed for its features and meticulous polish. Two years later, id Software and Nightdive are at it again with an enhanced version of Quake II, available now for all platforms and the best part is that, if you already own Quake II on Steam, it's a free update.
Quake II is currently listed as 
Playable on Steam Deck, although that rating is from the original version so needs Valve to re-review it.
Here's a brief rundown from Bethesda's own launch page:
- Includes the original Quake II campaign plus both Mission Packs, The Reckoning, Ground Zero, plus the previously Nintendo 64-exclusive Quake II 64 and the brand-new Call of the Machine episode from MachineGames.
- Improvements to gameplay, including content restored from the original development, plus visual upgrades such as dynamic shadows, improved lighting, glow maps and more.
- Play local split-screen and online across four Multiplayer modes with crossplay functionality:
- Cooperative
- Deathmatch
- Team Deathmatch
- Capture the Flag
- Add AI opponents in Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes, explore the id Vault, enjoy improved co-op play and much more!
- Various accessibility additions.
Additional Editor note from Liam Dawe: giving it a run on Steam Deck with Proton 8 - it works out of the box. Thanks to Nightdive's upgrades it has the Vulkan API by default, and supports the Steam Deck's native 800p resolution too with controller support working perfectly. Even with the enhancements turned on appears to give really good performance too. Screenshots below:
By the way, I still dream of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars being re-released on Steam.
Quoting: AsciiWolfWhat about the original version? Is it still available?Steam presents the original game and expansions as launch options when you click "play."
Quoting: Jarmerwhoa that's awesome! Never played these old school shooters with a stick, might be difficult. But I'll give it a go on the deck!
"Gyro and Trackpad" Nudge nudge, wink wink.
TactikalKitty Aug 11, 2023
Quoting: Jarmerwhoa that's awesome! Never played these old school shooters with a stick, might be difficult. But I'll give it a go on the deck!
Last Time I played this was using a keyboard. no mouse...just good old arrow keys, CTRL and ALT and annoying accidentally hitting the Windows key. Good times. Great memories!
Quoting: usrtrvLooks like they released some of the source code: https://github.com/id-Software/quake2-rerelease-dll
Quoting: ShmerlLooks like source code for it is out too!
That's just the code for the game dll – needed to make/update mods. Remember that Quake had the game code executed in a vm and then Quake 2 switched back to native code.
Quoting: mphuZReturn to Castle Wolfenstein next, please..I'd buy that in a heartbeat. Especially if it includes the multiplayer part. Such a good game - I still have the original box...
Quoting: AsciiWolfWhat about the original version? Is it still available?Enemy Territory was absolutely immense. It was the first arena game that I played that had actual roles/classes. Or at least, definitely the first one where those mattered, anyway.
By the way, I still dream of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars being re-released on Steam.
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