Quake Champions has most definitely earned the reboot it was promised during Bethesda’s conference at this year’s E3.
After previously aiding id Software on the modernization of both Wolfenstein and Doom, the publisher of Fallout and The Elder Scrolls follows its extremely successful chronological revival of the great shooters in gaming history. And, despite the horrifying experience that was Quake 4, hopes are high for the upcoming multiplayer arena shooter which takes a twist to the original Quake formula, by adding “diverse warriors with unique attributes and abilities”.
Quake’s road is one of ‘lovecraftian’ medieval single player combined with fast paced sci-fi gameplay, which are essentially embodied by, respectively, Quake I and Quake III. The third, multiplayer focused, installment of the franchise would eventually lead to a free, browser based, PC port, under the name of Quake Live, which can now be found on Steam as a paid standalone title.
Champions clearly takes its DNA from that version of Quake, while accepting the visual identity of their common ancestor. But, even more than its predecessors, it dedicates itself to gameplay, excellence in mechanics. In the words of producer, Tim Willits: “Can you imagine making a Quake game where the Quake pros didn’t like it?”.
id’s new project does not risk this, it tries out adding active and passive hero dependent buffs and powers, but at its core, it focuses on the Holy Trinity (Rocket launcher, railgun and lighting gun), as well as on gathering ammo and armor, picking up your weapons, understanding timers and maintaining a ridiculous and constant game speed.
The greatest worry with the return of Quake was creating “a real Quake game” which plays “the same way”. Fortunately, the newest generation of Bethesda funded id Software understands that to do this you must maintain some of the characteristics which made the original so successful and beloved, for Wolfenstein this is the over the top action, for Doom the brutal gun play, for Quake, it’s the speed.
“No excuses, no limitations.”
And at this point, for id, consoles are a limitation.
Quake Champions will be PC only, at least for now. And while PR tries to slip it under the same rug as the lack of a singleplayer campaign, the need to create a “tight-focused” product, that homages the “essence of what Quake is” and allows them to “keep the scope” and “keep the design as tight and focused as possible”, developers can’t avoid revealing what steered them away from Sony’s and Microsoft’s platforms, the need for “the twitch and the real competitive eSports play”, for which “you need PC”.
Immediately after the reveal, which opened the conference, it was announced the game would run at uncapped framerates on 120 Hz, which only PC could provide. Deep down, this calls for the spirit of the gamers who lowered Quake Live’s setting all the way, even normalizing the textures, to ensure they had the ever slightest advantage over their opposition, and therefore falling well out of general console usage.
Consoles are dead for Quake, at least for the true uncompromised Quake experience. But the title of this article is admittedly deceiving. Consoles are not dying, but they are shifting purpose.
At one point, after the fall of the arcades and before the rise of the PCs, they were the epitomes of technology. Then, they fell behind, but, with every console generation, appeared to have a chance at catching up to their Windows and Linux powered brethren (Sorry OSX). Hoever, as the newest line of consoles rolled around, PC just seemed to permanently depart them, in the direction of constant improvement.
At one point, acquiring a console meant the producers were losing money on hardware to gain it on the software side. Now, consoles are sold with a profit margin, which is not morally reprehensible (it is a business after all), but most certainly shows that manufacturers have given up on their eternal chase in exchange for an investment in streamlining, ease of use and exclusivity.
It then seems reasonable, that if the two mentalities have been permanently separated (on the short to medium term), the methods of play and the ideals of each will be equally split. Not for most titles, mind you. There is little reason to keep titles in the vein of Assassin’s Creed, Dishonored or Saints Row from appearing on either platform, so they will continue appearing on the systems which offer them profit.
However, some videogame developers will opt for console (due to financial incentives or the use of unique features) or for PC (due to superior hardware or cheaper development). id Software chose the latter for Champions, due to obvious reasons. Platinum Games went with the former for Bayonetta 2, in accordance with the needs of any studio.
Consoles are hardly dying, they are selling better than ever, but they are letting go of certain genres and ways of gaming, with more or less willingness, and they seem to have accepted their only way of holding on to what they have, innovation and financial investment.
And if PS VR and the HoloLens are anything to go off, they are on the right track, even if the PC is chasing down the same market.
But, do leave E-Sports for the PC, that’s a battle which seems to have already been lost.
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