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Tech

Twenty Years Later, a New 'Quake' Episode Appears

New episode contains hidden rooms and multiple difficulties.
Image: Algren334.

The months leading up to this year's phenomenal reboot of Doom were stuffed with all kinds of fun developments surrounding the original series, whether it was mods that let you play as Duke Nukem or whole new levels from famed designer John Romero. There's now a new Quake game in the works, and already it appears to be enjoying a similar renaissance. Yesterday MachineGames, the studio behind Wolfenstein: The New Order, released an entirely new episode for the original Quake in celebration of its 20-year anniversary, and you can play it entirely for free.

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I've played it for a couple of hours this morning, and I still haven't beaten it. That alone speaks to the way the new episode captures the brutal essence of the series, where death comes quick for the unprepared. Much like the original, it's filled with hidden rooms and puzzles (even if these seem a tad too simple, as if aimed at an audience who's never played Quake before). I wouldn't call it a masterpiece of design or anything, but it's certainly fun, and a welcome reminder of how well id Software's shooter holds up after two decades.

In fact, I think I enjoyed the installation process most of all. It's as unabashedly retro as the game itself, involving the download of a RAR file that you should then extract into a new folder called "DOPA" in your main Quake folder. If you're playing on Steam like I am, that should be [Steam directory]\steamapps\common\Quake. You'll then open the DOPA folder, click on the file "dopa.bat," and jump right in. I haven't tested it on other platforms, but I know from friends that it also works with the GOG version of the game. Fortunately, if you don't own Quake, you can currently buy it for just $2.49 through the Steam Summer Sale.

There are other, sketchier means of acquiring it, but if you can't bother to spend three bucks on one of the finest games of all time, you're free to hunt down that method yourself.