For many older gamers, the early days of the first-person shooter genre were a delight, especially for those who played on PC. Games like Doom and Quake were hugely innovative and influential FPS titles, both of which are still making an impact to this day. The latter in particular was given some love last year with a remastered update, and now a new patch has just been rolled out that brings with it another important feature in gaming.
In a new update via Steam, classic Quake has had its capture the flag mode implemented. Called "Threewave CTF," it was originally released back in 1996, not long after the game itself had come out, and left a significant imprint on the early days of FPS games and multiplayer in general. For those who haven't played a CTF game before, the object is to capture the enemy's flag and bring it back to the home base, all while players are trying to defend their own flag. Such a mode has been implemented in many games since those early days, with such titles as Call of Duty, Halo Infinite, and Overwatch having their own capture the flag matches.
Quake was a pioneer in multiplayer deathmatches, along with its predecessor Doom. Although the idea of battling it out with other players in an online match didn't really kick off for the game until 1998, it was in these formative years, when the internet was starting to become more popular in homes, that the idea of multiplayer gaming on PC started to see a rise in popularity. Of course, these days it's very commonplace, but back then it was something of a new venture for many gamers, and such modes as Quake's capture the flag increased interest in online play.
As mentioned earlier, Quake was given a remaster last year. While it still looks the way it did when it was first released more than a quarter of a century ago, it was given some modern tweaks. For example, its visuals were upgraded to make it more up to date, including improved lighting. It also came with the official expansions and had Trent Reznor's haunting soundtrack reinstated.
For those who have yet to play this influential FPS, Bethesda is currently discounting a ton of games in honor of QuakeCon. This includes all the Quake installments, as well things like Doom and other classic shooters like Hexen and Heretic. Now seems like as good a time as any to jump into some retro gaming.
Quake was originally released in 1996 and is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Steam