Quake Champions: release date, pricing, gameplay and trailers

Quake, for many, is one of the most iconic games of the ’90s, which meant the announcement of a revival at E3 2016 was welcomed by many. Quake Champions is set to launch over 20 years after the first Quake game hit the market back in 1996, and will offer impressive gameplay if nothing else.

Here, we discuss Quake Champions release date rumours, along with gameplay news and any trailers/videos we come across. If you want to find out about any other upcoming titles, check out our guide to the biggest upcoming games.

When is the Quake Champions release date?

Of course, the biggest question right now is “When will Quake Champions be released?” and sadly, we don’t have an answer – not just yet, anyway.

While we’re awaiting the release of the full game, there’s an Early Access version you can play right now. Bethesda announced back in 2017 that a £20 EA version of the game (that’d eventually become a free-to-play version) would be available on Steam and the Bethesda.net launcher. The Early Access game was launched in August 2017, and saw thousands of Quake fans flocking to download it. 

Not much else was said about Quake Champions until QuakeCon 2018 when Bethesda announced that the Early Access version of the Quake Champions currently on Steam and Bethesda.net would become free-to-play, waving goodbye to ditch the £20 price-tag. The Early Access game is now free to download from both Steam and Bethesda.net.

Quake Champions is now FREE TO PLAY! Get into the Arena on Steam or the https://t.co/VKFjPPCSFd Launcher! pic.twitter.com/joyc5LWpUt

— Quake Champions (@Quake) August 10, 2018

Make sure you keep checking back, as we’ll update this section with new information as soon as we receive it!

What platforms will Quake Champions be released on?

Initially, Quake Champions will be PC only, in an effort to stay true to the franchise’s roots on the platform. However, that doesn’t mean there’s no chance of a console version – one just hasn’t been announced yet.

“It’s a PC game. No excuses. No limitations. We’re going to focus on one platform,” said Quake co-creator Tim Willits, but added: “we’re not totally shutting the door on consoles.”

How much will Quake Champions cost?

Quake Champions is currently free-to-play, with players given immediate access to a single character, Ranger. To play as the other Champions, players must earn in-game currency, Favor, which they can spend to essentially rent access to other characters – though the devs have emphasised that you won’t have to spend real money on this. Favor can also be spent to access challenges that will allow you to unlock more Champions and skins.

If that doesn’t appeal, the good news is that you can also spend a fixed sum to unlock full, permanent access to every Champion at once. We don’t know what this will cost yet, but we’d expect the price of unlocking every character to be around the price of a normal full game – so around £35/$40.

What will Quake Champions gameplay be like?

So, what do we know about the all-new Quake Champions? Quake Champions is a competitive arena-style game for the PC, developed by Id Software, the developers of the recent new version of Doom.

Champions features a variety of different characters (named champions) all with unique abilities and combat styles, and more of the fast, frenetic gameplay the series is known for. We discuss the champions in more detail below, but it’s worth pointing out that they’re not quite as varied as in Overwatch – the variation here comes in stats and a single ability per character, not in core weapons or play styles.

We’ve spent some time hands-on with the game thanks to the closed beta, and can confirm that it’s exactly as frenetic and hectic as we remember the original Quake games being, with bullets (and deaths) coming thick and fast. 

Game modes we tried include standard Deathmatch, as well as Duel, a 1v1 mode where each player is given three champions to use as they try to come out on top. There’s also Sacrifice, a 4v4, team-based competitive mode. Weapons are dotted liberally around maps, and include standard shotguns and assault rifles along more esoteric options like a nail gun and a lightning gun.

As for the arenas, we tried out the cheerily named Blood Covenant and Burial Chamber, and were impressed by both – they’re varied, complex enough to prove tough to learn, and feature great vertical as well as horizontal design, meaning players have to make ample use of the height advantage when they can get it.

In terms of performance, the devs claim that Quake Champions will run at 120Hz with an unlocked frame rate, which was welcomed by possibly the biggest cheer of the whole Quake announcement at Bethesda’s E3 2016 event. In our beta experience, the game has performed surprisingly smoothly – even on a decidedly mid-range gaming PC – so it looks like fans have nothing to worry about there.

Bethesda showcased a new gameplay trailer during E3 2018, which you can see below:

What are the Quake Champions characters?

At the time of writing, id and Bethesda have revealed 14 of the game’s playable champions, with more no doubt on the way. They include the likes of Anarki, a futuristic punk; Sorlag, a giant lizard; and Scalebearer, a vengeful warlord. 

Each champion boasts its own gameplay stats, with varied health, armour, and speed, along with one unique ability – Sorlag can spit acid, for example, while Scalebearer can charge into his opponents.

As varied as they are in aesthetic, it’s worth bearing in mind that the champions are nowhere near as varied as in, say, Overwatch. Unlike that game, each character has access to the same pool of weapons and has roughly the same play style – the variation comes only in the differing stats and a single unique ability per character.

We’ve rounded up all the champions announced so far here, but you can find out more from the game’s official site.

• Nyx
• Scalebearer
• Anarki
• Slash
• Clutch
• Galena
• Ranger
• Visor
• Sorlag
• BJ Blazkowicz
• Doom Slayer
• Keel
• Strogg & Peeker
• Death Knight