Saturday 6 August 2016

The first gameplay trailer for Quake Champions has arrived


Following the massive success of Doom 2016, it seemed inevitable that id Software would follow up with a reboot of its other famous first-person shooter franchise, Quake. Its existence was confirmed at E3 when the studio revealed a CGI trailer for Quake Champions, and now the first gameplay trailer has been released as part of QuakeCon’s opening ceremony.

The upcoming “competitive multiplayer arena shooter” looks very much like a modern imagining of 1999’s Quake III: Arena. The 75-second video shows that development on the game is moving along at a fast pace, and, as you would expect, there's an emphasis on high-speed action. As the trailer’s Sauron-like voice announces “I see you,” we get to see some of Quake Champions’ weapons, including shotguns, assault rifles, rail guns, lasers, and rocket launchers – and yes, rocket jumps are possible.

The verticle space appears to play a big role in the game; a lot of the footage shows player flying through the air using launch pads or the aforementioned rocket jumps.

“We’re focusing on pure Quake gameplay,” said id Software boss Tim Willits. Speaking about the absence of weapon loadouts in the game, he added: “You time the pick-up right, or you kill an opponent and take it. That’s how you get a gun in a Quake game!”

Quake Champions will feature a number of character classes, each one offering different skills and some with varying speeds. “The classes only add value to gameplay,” Willits said.

The game will initially launch only on the PC and run at “120Hz with unlocked framerates.” Much like the recent Doom, id Software is aiming for Quake Champions to work smoothly across a wide range of hardware. "You'll be able to turn down your specs and get a decent game at lower-end. But we want to shine on good systems."

There will be a public gameplay demo this Saturday at QuakeCon, and a closed Beta is expected sometime early next year. Keep up to date with developments at quake.com.