
More recent examples include Bioshock, Halo, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, and even relatively modern games such as The Last Of Us and Alan Wake. The best examples are the new versions of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Day Of The Tentacle and Full Throttle, where you can switch in real time between the new visuals and old games.

For my money, a remaster keeps as much of the original game intact and just adds some tweaks or refreshes over it.

Remasters are different to remakes, though the line can blur at times. Quake Renaissance is part of a welcome trend – remastering classic games. I’m tempted to find a Quake level editor…ĭid I mention that if you already own Quake on, you can get Renaissance for free? Nice, huh? Nonetheless, it’s very cool that you can run maps and mods as old as the game on this new version. Total conversions such as Arcane Dimensions work, but classics like Quake Rally seem very buggy. There is even mod support, though that’s a hit and miss.

Quake Renaissance also works on major consoles, and it’s available on Steam and Gamepass, with crossplay support. It also offers the two original expansions, a new expansion, and the rare Quake 64 – the only console port of the game. There are also some visual tweaks, though you’d still find a prettier Quake experience through open-source engines such as Dark Places and QuakeSpasm.īut this is the most authentic Quake experience since 1996, even including a soundtrack.

The new Quake, dubbed by fans as Quake Renaissance, is a re-release of Quake but in a slightly modified state that makes it work on modern machines and today’s online multiplayer systems. I’m sure some obscure games beat it to the punch, but Quake set the benchmark. All first-person shooters before Quake were 2.5D sprite-based systems, and Quake was the first to render proper 3D environments. And by ‘new’, I mean the re-release of 1996’s Quake – the granddaddy of all 3D shooters.
