Quake Update Adds New Horde Mode Levels And Accessibility Options

Sniper


Quake led to a significant amount of buzz when it dropped on Switch and other systems, and was certainly a retro highlight of 2021. It wasn’t just the classic game thrown onto modern hardware, but rather it has various improvements and entirely new content to dive into; it’s often cheaper than a takeaway cappuccino, too.

Bethesda and ID Software are still improving it, with MachineGames continuing to pitch in with content. The third major update is now live, and it adds another three new levels for the Horde Mode – Relic, The Trial and The Tower.

Most impressively, this update adds some notable accessibility improvements, all designed to ensure more players can enjoy the game. Below is an example of the UI when an alternative high-contrast option is enabled, along with a list of other accessibility improvements.

Quake Accessibility Options 1 960x540
Image: Bethesda

Read Chat Out Loud – Converts incoming multiplayer text chat into a synthesized voice (Text to speech is not supported for menu narration, however)

Transcribe Voice Chat – Converts incoming voice chat to text in the multiplayer chat window

Speak For Me in Voice Chat – Converts outgoing multiplayer text chat into a synthesized voice audible to other players

High Contrast

Alternate Typeface – Changes the original in-game font to a more modern one for improved legibility

Screen Flash Amount – Decreases opacity of onscreen effects to reduce flash intensity

Center Message Time – Changes the display duration of center print HUD messages

Corner Message Time – Changes the display duration of corner print HUD messages

Maximum Lines – Changes the maximum number of onscreen corner print HUD messages

Chat Message Time – Changes the display duration of multiplayer text chat messages

The update also adds quality of life improvements, below:

General Gameplay

  • Added option to disable automatic weapon switching on pickup (Note: This may not work with certain Add-ons)
  • Improved spawn logic to avoid spawning enemies when the player is on a spawn point

Horde Mode

Skill selection balance adjustments:

We’ve received community feedback that Horde Mode is too hard on Easy and too easy on the more difficult skill selections. To accommodate this feedback, we’ve made Horde Mode less difficult on Easy and more difficult on the Hard and Nightmare skill levels. We hope these balance changes are to your liking and look forward look forward to hearing from you on them!

  • Fewer enemies are spawned in each squad on Easy skill selection
  • Boss enemies will start showing up in earlier waves on Hard and Nightmare skill selections
  • Hard skill selection now starts with as many enemies as wave 3 had previously
  • Nightmare skill selection now starts with as many enemies as wave 6 had previously

Additional balance adjustments:

  • Ammo now respawns every 20 seconds instead of once per round
  • Enemies are now more tenacious – they will now route around the map and obstacles to find you. No more hiding and safely picking off harmless monsters from a distance!
  • Four player games will now spawn in double the enemies in each wave

Multiplayer

  • Removed ability to enable cheats in public multiplayer matches (Note: Cheats can still be enabled from a PC host in private matches)
  • Changed color of enemy text chat from red to green for increased contrast and improved legibility
  • Online multiplayer text chat messages can now be sent via the Pause Menu (Note: Only PC versions support text entry from physical keyboards)
  • Added option to toggle the scoreboard on/off with a button press instead of a button hold (in Gameplay Options)

Multiplayer Bots

  • Added Deathmatch bot support for all single player levels in the original campaign, courtesy of Jorge Martins (Check out their super useful guides made for community modders here)
  • Bots now roam around if the current map doesn’t have items, finding their own roam goals
  • Bots now better handle maps with lots of air blasts that push them around
  • Improved bot navigation on MGDM1, and E1M2
  • Bots now roam around if map doesn’t have items, finding their own roam goals
  • Bots now better handle maps with lots of air blasts that push them around
  • Improved bot navigation on MGDM1, and E1M2

BUG FIXES

General Gameplay

  • Fixed an issue in which music was not playing correctly on certain Add-ons
  • Reduced audio latency throughout the game
  • Fixed a bug in which the House of Doom achievement was not unlocking when finding the secret level in Dimension of the Past
  • Resolved an issue in which the Corner message would print the incorrect one for a single frame
  • Fixed an issue in which menus would not scroll all the way to the top of the screen
  • Resolved the issue where the text chat window was too small while playing at 4K resolution on supported platforms

Horde Mode

  • Fixed a bug in which suicide in Horde Mode would not deduct points and immediately respawn you
  • Resolved an issue in which killing a teammate would incorrectly grant a frag and not end kill streaks

Removed the random offset from dropped powerups to prevent them from falling out of the level

Multiplayer Bots

  • Fixed an issue in which bots would sometimes miss shootable triggers
  • Fix bots incorrectly using Mjolnir when they don’t have ammo
  • Addresses the issue where bots wouldn’t chatter when killing an enemy, or if teamkilled

Another meaty update, then. Let us know if you’ll be checking it out!