Quake, or Why Quake 5 Is No Longer Needed. Dawn of the Machine

This year Quake turned 30, and to mark the occasion Bethesda released a new update at QuakeCon 2026.

This is a translation of my article from a Russian-language. I used AI for the translation.

Quake

The first Quake is a combination of a dark techno-Lovecraftian atmosphere, intricately structured levels, speed, furious combat encounters, and infernal ambient sound filled with the sinister whispers of damned gods.

Since its release in 1996, the game has never really lost its relevance. Many shooters have come out with prettier graphics, complex stories, and more varied gameplay. But just as many modern shooters suffer from simplification: more linear level layouts, stories that can feel forced and unnecessary, and demands on the player limited to their ability to insert the disc. In any case, when it comes to the combination of its strengths, Quake has had very few competitors in the 30 years since its release.

In 2021, Bethesda, id Software, and Nightdive Studios unveiled a Quake remaster at QuakeCon for Steam and consoles to celebrate the game's 25th anniversary. The main strength of the re-release was that the original 1996 Quake remained almost entirely intact: the weapons, monsters, physics, campaign structure, maps, pacing, and overall character were all preserved. At the same time, the engine and presentation were modernized enough for the game to work comfortably on modern displays and consoles: widescreen resolutions up to 4K, improved lighting, new models, dynamic shadows, anti-aliasing, and other visual effects were added. The original soundtrack, including Trent Reznor's music, was preserved. The re-release also included the Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity mission packs.

In my opinion, taken as a whole, it now looks technically like a high-quality modern indie shooter deliberately imitating the style of the 1990s. And it plays hundreds of times better.

The re-release launched on Steam, where existing Quake owners received it as a free update, as well as on all current consoles.

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The Story of Quake and Its Mission Packs

Quake

In the future, humanity uses teleportation, including for military purposes. At some point, the portals at a military base begin operating in reverse, allowing creatures from other dimensions to attack through them. Only one person survives at the base: Ranger, who fights his way through a portal and enters the dimensions from which the attack originated. After making his way through these places, he defeats the first god, Chthon, finds a magical rune, and returns to the military base. There, however, he discovers that the enemy is still attacking, so Ranger heads into other worlds, finding another rune in each one. This happens several times until Ranger collects four runes, opening the way to Shub-Niggurath, the supreme deity, whom he defeats in the most cynical way possible—from the inside.

Scourge of Armagon

Despite the victory over Shub-Niggurath, everything repeats itself. Ranger returns to the military base, which is still under attack. There is nothing else to do: another portal, more dark worlds, and at the end Armagon awaits, the commander and supreme leader of the enemy forces. The encounter ends with Ranger's expected victory.

Dissolution of Eternity

Returning to the base, Ranger sees that nothing is over. Once again he enters a portal, fights through more catacombs, castles, and sinister dimensions, then kills the Dragon, discovers a gigantic teleportation installation that the monsters used to enter Earth's dimension, and destroys it. In the finale, Ranger escapes the collapsing cavern through a teleporter.

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MachineGames

But although that alone was a wonderful gift for fans, it did not end there, because the hardworking team at MachineGames had been busy down in Bethesda's basements.

Back in 2016 they released Dimension of the Past; alongside the 2021 re-release they launched Dimension of the Machine; and in 2026, to celebrate Quake's 30th anniversary, Dawn of the Machine arrived.

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Dimension of the Past

MachineGames' first add-on was released for the old version of Quake back in 2016, in celebration of the game's 20th anniversary.

What makes this add-on special is that it looks exactly like something that could have been released during the original Quake era. Structurally, it fits naturally alongside the old add-ons, presenting a fairly compact interweaving of corridors and halls. It preserves all the strengths of the originals without adding anything fundamentally new, but it is executed at the highest level.

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The Story of Dimension of the Past

This add-on provides virtually no story information. After Dissolution of Eternity, Ranger once again continues his journey through the dimensions he entered through the teleporter during his escape. The final level is particularly interesting: it closely resembles Quake's final level, but without Shub-Niggurath, and it is titled The Year Zero. In later add-ons, this begins to take on meaning. In the end, Ranger once again steps through a portal.

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Dimension of the Machine

MachineGames' second add-on begins to make full use of the engine's increased limits, showcasing huge, richly detailed levels with hundreds of enemies. It also brings back Quake's level structure, in which several worlds can be visited in any order before the path to the finale opens.

Where Quake was once an interweaving of fairly tight corridors, halls, and courtyards, here the locations are enormous, filled with titanic structures, broad corridors, and more complex connections between their various sections. Quake had always made active use of verticality, but here it is pushed to the absolute limit, to the point where the screen sometimes cannot contain the full vertical scale of a space.

The combat has also changed because of that scale, primarily becoming more difficult. Where a level onc

Why wouldn’t you want a Quake 1 reboot with modern graphics and technology while keeping the same atmosphere and aesthetic?

The point of saying “Quake 5 isn’t needed” is that Dawn of the Machine already gives me exactly the kind of experience I’d hope to get from Quake 5. If a real Quake 5 ever comes out and it’s good, I’ll be more than happy.
Maybe the title came across as a bit too categorical.

(answering unrelated to OP’s post text)

Why wouldn’t you want a Quake 1 reboot with modern graphics and technology while keeping the same atmosphere and aesthetic?

Because the original Quake has a truly sublime aesthetic. Chances are a re-make of Quake would look ugly and misplaced by comparison.

I’d rather have it further remastered with official raytracing and more simple incremental improvements like weapons that are held asymmetrically in left and right hands (with or without shoulder support).

The unofficial Nvidia raytracing update looks insane but I think maybe Quake could be made to look even better using a combination of room lighting and an armor or weapon-mounted light source.

When I go online to play Quake remastered there are like 10-20
players…

Multiplayer could be modernized and relaunched without doing a re-make.

You dont want a new quake, you want the absolutely to hell and back splintered community back in one (or mby 2.. aahh mby 3 cuz 1-3 each MP has their own Charm) Place.

I too want that.

Modern Graphics and such is introducing technical gatekeeping into an already small community, splintering it even further because all those ppl playing these various Quakeworlds and other Ports prolly wont leave for a newer Quake just cause and some of them might not even have a streng enough Rig to run it.

I wanted the Same for the longest time until i realized that i already have what i want with an almost limitless amount of mappacks, mods and TCs for some of the (still) absolute Peaks in the FPS Genre AND the Community is big enough that you can find SOMEONE to play across all 3 (sry 4) games online and have fun.

I personally would still like a Q3A remaster that would consolidate at least THAT Part of the Community, Quake got it's lifesupport through the Ports so... mby you wanna take a look at them, mby there are a bit more ppl to play with apart from the handful u find in the Standard Version.

TL;DR: we are few, we are splintered, pls don't splinter it more ❤️

I think Q1 atmosphere simply can't be recreated. Simple lighting, low res textures, unrealistically low skies and low-ish quality sound really add to the atmosphere, forcing your imagination to take control.

Moreover, some of the looks of the game simply won't be done by any big studio of present day. Quake has enough symbolism (like the giant crucifixion texture) that's a taboo for present day. Compare old Doom (1, 64, evenso doom 3) with the modern ones starting from Doom 2016 onward. The hell in the latter is a family friendly version.

Whats the harm of a modern reboot? Have you seen the state of modern games? Quake needs to stay where it is.

Yeah Hell was honestly a bit lack luster imo. Not saying it had to be like agony but one sight I'll never forget from Doom 3's hell is that vortex of souls you don't know it's purpose it's not overly edgy but eerie enough to where you know their not resting in peace.

Yeah, it should not look like agony and over the top suffering in your face. I was trying to say that it at least should look like a place that's both physically and spiritually offensive. But what we got is just lifeless desert with d&d creatures. It was very well done, yes, but it was not the hell by its essence, it was just some place where our enemies come from and nothing more.

To be super franc I never cared about the story in a video game. But I learned to appreciate it for example in StarCraft/2 after many years and I still don't care at all about the story nonetheless.

I think Q1 atmosphere simply can't be recreated if we're adding "modern" to the equation

I just don’t understand why you would actively discourage another Quake game.

Because it would be with Ray Tracing forced, requiring a NASA PC to run smooth (remember how DOOM TDA runs at literally 19 fps on a decent PC at 1080p (RTX 3080 and 9800x3D CPU: https://fr.gamegpu.com/test-gpu/action-fps-tps/doom-the-dark-ages-benchmark-dlss-4-5 ), no open source, no map editor, no strafe jumping, a travesty of a Quake.

I would rather keep the good memories of Quake rather than see it get destroyed for quick bucks and an influx of new players for a few months before inevitably collapsing into 0 players in multi (DOOM 2016 and Eternal). Even DOOM Eternal single player is averaging 2000 players per month.

But fear not, your wish will be fulfilled, they will milk that IP too until there is nothing left. It's just a mater of time. I mean they fired without notice a dedicated man that worked on Quake for MANY years and was the last pillar of knowledge on Quake at id so you bet they will trash this IP for quick bucks.

Why would you want a reboot? The most boring thing you can do is just retell the same story.

Make a fucking sequel in modern tech, not a remake or reboot.

There never was a "need" for a new Quake 6 (Champions would be Quake 5). There is a desire for it.

You do not desire solely what you need. You desire what you want, usually that which you don't need.