- A Night Dive joint
- Major improvements to the light map, liquid rendering and so much more.
- Includes the Nintendo 64 Quake 2 campaign as well as new missions made by Machine Games (of modern Wolfenstein fame)
- Filtering and shader options present that can make the game look even like the original software renderer version from the OG PC release
- Consoles
- PS4 / XBO: 1080p/60
- PS4 Pro / XBX: 4K/60
- Series X and PS5: 4K at 120hz
- Series S: 120hz between DRS 1080p and 2160p. If Series S is ran at 60hz, it tends to stick to 2160p most of the time
- All versions support DRS and all can have a max drop of 50% axis (i-e 2160p *can* drop to 1080p) but PS5|SX tend to stick to max most often.
- One X has a gigantic resolution lead over PS4 Pro in most case
- Switch can drop the lowest, 540p lowest seen.
- Motion blur has the most impact on performance, disabling it can improve performance and reach higher DRS counts.
- Switch does not offer a motion blur option at all, so this is not applicable.
- The Machine Games' new missions are where performance issues come up, these are the heaviest new missions.
- Switch sacrifices the most here, but even here it's largely a 60 FPS experience.
- Visual Enhancements
- Light Maps resolution sees a 4x resolution boost, much higher density and captures more of the environment
- Further smoother shading, baked ambient occlusion, subtle shadowing, liquid materials like water and lava being properly lit, including animated water like the OG Software renderer but even smoother
- Some effects are brought over from the N64 version.
- Dynamic light maps when firing weapon is smooth and casts proper shadows, muzzle flash textures also added
- Quake 3 tech like light volumes also brought over to this conversion
- But some surfaces now glow even when they should not, the glow map is not entirely accurate
- The new version uses DX11 and Vulkan, not openGL.
- CPU draw calls also reduced which helps out Switch version
- Wobbling / warbling effects removed with additional detail on models and weapons
- Staggering increase in detail but art style still looks Quake 2
- Additional geometric flourishes and map data added which expands levels and connects areas to each other
- Intro CG movie also re-created from scratch.
- Quake 2 RTX is its own thing and not included/factored into this remaster
- Non-Visual changes:
- AI has been improved with improved path finding and enemy behavior. Enemies are more aggressive and show behavior not seen in the original game.
- Sound is higher quality, more reverb, more variety in sounds for guns and running depending on room ambiance etc
- Original CD audio, N64 tracks and even newly created tracks are present
- 8 player split screen available on Xbox and PC.
- Limited to 4 players on Playstation consoles
- Additional options like compass added to help guide players to the next objective in case they get lost.
- Machine Games' new campaign is the highlight.
- Bigger maps than anything else in the game, more enemies, combat scenarios that would not be possible in OG Quake 2
- DF comments that this mission pack is so good it could have been sold separately.
- N64 campaign is also present.
- Machine Gun no longer has recoil, some speed running tactics are also not available anymore.
- Consoles support keyboard and mouse but they have a bug where it disconnects after a while and you need to replug them, this was replicated on both PS and Xbox
- PS and Switch support Gyro aiming.
- Largely faithful to the source material and only $10 (and on game pass).
- DF gives a high recommendation to anyone who hasn't experienced it to give it a try.