Available Now: Get Your Copy of Quake on PlayStation 5 Today!

November 10 2021

Enter the Slipgate

By Jared Petty

In the beginning, before we squeezed the left trigger to aim down our sights, before mouse look was enabled by default, there was Quake. And it was very good.

It’s still very good. It’s spooky, angry, frenetic, and gloriously death-metal-industrial-fantasy satanic in all the best ways possible. Quake gave us rocket jumping and smooth 3D verticality (no offense to Rise of the Triad). It popularized bots. Quake armed us with fully-automatic nail guns, lightning guns, and grenades that bounced like nitroglycerin ping pong balls. It’s a very special game to me personally: Quake positively wrecked my university GPA as I spent hundreds of hours blasting friends to ruin.

And right now, Quake is coming to PlayStation 5 in three physical editions from Limited Run. 

I got a chance to pick the brains of three of the folks behind the newest version of Quake: Mike Rubits, Senior Programmer at id Software, Dimitris Giannakis, Senior Developer at Night Dive Studio, and Larry Kuperman, Director of Business Development at Night Dive Studio. They told me how Quake came together on PlayStation 5. 

Jared: So I grew up playing Quake. I ran the college computer lab and totally abused the privilege to turn the facility into a nonstop LAN party. What are people going to love about multiplayer in Quake on PlayStation 5?

Mike: Multiplayer on the PlayStation 5 is the experience you’ll remember from when you were younger, but with much lower pings than the dialup days! Being cross-play across all platforms means it’s simple to group up with your friends, even if everyone plays somewhere else nowadays. In addition to the six classic maps, we’ve unearthed two maps that I'd made but never included officially on the PC: Acrophobia from Quake 64, and a Quake port of the incredibly popular The Edge. Deathmatch bots are also now built-in just in case you can’t fill a room for a LAN party anymore.

Larry: We are using PlayFab for multiplayer. I think that fans are really going to enjoy PlayFab’s cross-play option that allows them to play with friends on PC or Xbox.

Jared: Quake is renowned for its fluidity and speed. How did you translate that feel to the PlayStation 5?

Mike: Supporting gyro controls on the DualSense is a great way to retain some of the small aim adjustments you’d usually have on a mouse. You can also plug in a mouse and keyboard and just play that way if you prefer. We also support 120hz on the PlayStation 5, which makes such a huge difference in Quake. Just be careful if you’re experiencing it for the first time; I have trouble going back to 60 FPS afterward!

Jared: From your perspective, what makes Quake tick? 

Mike: Quake has been a lot of things over the years, but to me, the mix of military, medieval, and cosmic horror is so memorable. Mixing all of that up, and throwing in powerful weapons, complex levels, and freedom of movement is the core of Quake.

Larry: I remember how awesome Quake was when it was first released. Our goal was to preserve all the elements that made the game great while at the same time bringing it to a new generation of gamers.

Jared: Quake is one of the most influential shooters ever, and since its launch, hundreds of other FPS games have followed. For new players, what are the best reasons to play Quake today?

Mike: Playing Quake today doesn’t feel like you’re playing a dated nostalgia trip. First-time players looking for something new will still find a game that feels great, offers a challenge, and puts you in scenarios where you have to be tactical about positioning and weapon usage to survive.

Larry: Since Quake was originally launched, we’ve seen new generations of single-player shooters and many new multiplayer games. But Quake continues to stand out as a classic because of how well it does both things. The strong single-player campaign coupled with the multiplayer options offers endless replayability.

Jared: There’s a new original Expansion Pack in Quake for PS5: Dimension of the Machine. Tell us about it! What makes it great? What was it like creating it?

Mike: Dimension of the Machine was created by our friends at Machine Games and getting to play through it as they finished it was really exciting. The idea of a new official expansion for Quake was just as exciting working on it as it would’ve been for me as a fan. They created something that couldn’t have been made in 1996 on not only a technical level, but also armed with a quarter-century of what we’ve learned about the art and craft of game design.

Jared: For folks coming back to Quake that have played before, what are they going to notice and love about Quake on PlayStation 5?

Mike: In addition to Dimension of the Machine, we also include the two original mission packs, and the 20th-anniversary mission pack Dimension of the Past, which people may have missed originally. We’ve also taken the original campaign and polished up the original levels, monsters, and weapons to make them look their best without altering the style of the originals. We’re also going to be curating community mods that up until now have not made it far outside of the Quake community.

Dimitris:  For me, the PS5 version stands out because not only does it support 4k @ 120fps - if you have a capable display, it also takes advantage of DualSense haptics, rumble, and audio features. This was something we decided we wanted to implement into the game early on. Rounding that off with Gyro controls—I think fans of Quake will absolutely love what we've developed for the PlayStation 5 version.

Jared: What were some of the challenges you faced in creating Quake for PlayStation? How did you address these?

Mike: Taking the original code and trying to get it run on modern systems is often harder than it seems, especially when you’re aiming for the same level of usability as every other game out there. The original Quake barely had joystick support, and the original DualShock controller was still over a year away. We were able to lean on the DOOM Eternal team and use some of their solutions for gamepad controls.

Dimitris: I'd say our biggest challenge simply was time. Before we could get Quake running on the PS5 we'd first need to bring our internal KEX Engine to the hardware. But we have an amazing team at Night Dive Studios, if you're stuck on a problem whether it's technical or project-related—someone is always available to jump in and help out. It was many months of hard work, but we were able to deliver a quality product that I'm proud of.

Jared: What was the best part of making Quake happen on PlayStation 5?

Mike: The best part of making any game is finishing it! Getting any game out of the door and into the hands of players requires a herculean effort from so many people and being able to sit back and see the final result is a feeling like no other.

Larry: Seriously, it has been the fan response. Working on a classic title like this can be intimidating, you really want to get it right. And then the release day comes, at QuakeCon no less, and the fans love it! You breathe a big sigh of relief!

Secure your copy today

Quake is up for pre-order now at Limited Run Games in standard, Deluxe, and Ultimate Editions. And that Ultimate Edition really is something. Take a look!

—but pre-orders close November 14. Don’t delay!