Quake Remastered and Other Bethesda Classics
(Image credit: id Software)
Earlier this year, Microsoft utilized its purchase of Bethesda and released a bunch of their games on Xbox Game Pass. The list was exciting for fans of the classics, but sadly the titles on PC were without any graphical updates; check out the Bethesda and Microsoft article for more information on the initial slate of games. Access to the original titles like Doom is excellent, but they severely date any fond memories of a retro gamer. That all changed a week ago, the developers quietly published Quake Remastered, only announcing it in the QuakeCon 2021 presentation. The Load Screen looks at the remaster and what other Bethesda titles could come next.
Quake Remastered is the classic first-person shooter without any additional thrills other than its included four existing expansions. The story and missions are accurate to the original without any alterations, skipping any George Lucas Star Wars mini-updates to ruin scenes with unnecessary modifications. The gameplay does not have dramatic changes like the Final Fantasy VII Remake, but controller support is available even for the PC.
The graphics are fully updated to modern standards and include ray tracing options for next-gen systems. Lights are now more spectacular, and enemies pop from their surroundings. The overhaul makes the title playable on today’s devices, unlike the first set of Bethesda titles available on the Xbox Game Pass. Players barely notice the spinning Quad powerup during loading screens with the update since it takes advantage of better storage drive speeds. Some older games often had issues with load times since the programming can limit speed. Other companies with newer titles have struggled with this problem; look at our HackerOne article that shows Rockstar Games paid to fix a similar issue in Grand Theft Auto V.
One Bethesda title is already getting a sweet update this year. The developers are optimizing Skyrim for next-gen systems when its anniversary edition releases on November 11; see the PlayStation blog post on Bethesda celebrating ten years. Why stop at just Skyrim, since both Morrowind and Oblivion are older? Those updates may come slower since some older titles cannot just get a graphics update for modernization, unlike Skyrim that is already accessible on most platforms.
A robust list of Bethesda classics remains for developers to renew for modern systems outside The Elder Scrolls franchise. The Doom series could use some polishing, especially Doom 3 since it went for photorealistic texturing short in pixel count for a 4K monitor. The older Wolfenstein games would be an excellent addition but would require rebuilding, not just modernizing parts. Fallout 3, 4, and New Vegas make better candidates for a quick revamp with ray tracing and speedy load times since their gameplay and coding are similar to today’s programming.
Quake Remastered is only the start for Bethesda and Microsoft, and it is available on most platforms, including PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. There are so many relevant titles that new gamers avoid because of the headache caused by the original graphics that remastering solves. For anyone who played the originals, these updates will maintain the nostalgia without destroying the dream. The Load Screen team will appreciate any of the Bethesda titles getting an overhaul; hopefully, they will add a camera mode for content creators.
