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:
Quoting: redmanThe first thing that I thought was: Will Yamagi Quake II will be improved by this ?
Improvements will likely trickle down to source ports like what happened with Quake 1 last year (especially in Ironwail). This includes using assets from the remastered version (new maps/models), but also various QoL features.
That said, it'll be a while until a source port is able to implement all new features and tweaks found in the remaster. Some of them (such as the increased tickrate) require deep changes in the engine and gamecode, breaking mod compatibility.
Last edited by Calinou on 14 August 2023 at 11:58 am UTC
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