Yep, you read that headline correctly. Id Software’s 1996 first-person shooter revolution Quake has received an Enhanced Edition which was provided free to owners of the original game on Steam. The enhanced edition brings a whole bunch of changes including widescreen and 4K support, dynamic lighting, depth of field, anti-aliasing, and updated models. There’s also a new expansion pack included called Dimension of the Machine. All this is made possible by Nightdive Studios’ Kex Engine which has been used to update many classic games such as Turok, Doom 64, and System Shock.

We’ve given it a quick play and found some changed geometry, a slightly easier Nightmare difficulty, and a very different atmosphere than the original darker release. Something just gets lost when the original dark and grainy visuals are changed. That said, if you’ve never played Quake this is a good time to jump into some gaming history on a modern engine with the minimum of fuss.