Quake celebrates its 30th anniversary with a new free episode

The Dawn of the Machine expansion was made by MachineGames in collaboration with id Software.

It takes a pretty special video game to remain relevant and active after a single decade, but Quake has long since blown past that milestone. The legendary first-person shooter is coming up on its 30-year anniversary and is marking the occasion with the addition of brand new content. Dawn of the Machine is a free update that's available today for Quake owners on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, Steam, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Microsoft PC Store, Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass.

The expansion includes a 19-map campaign, a new soundtrack and a new Deathmatch map. It was made by MachineGames, the same studio behind the recent hit Indiana Jones and the Great Circle as well as several newer titles in the rebooted Wolfenstein series, in collaboration with the series creator id Software. Perhaps fittingly for this anniversary expansion, there's a time loop mechanic at play along with some new variants of the familiar Quake enemies and weapon arsenal. Several of the franchise's current and past leaders, including id Software co-founder and game design icon John Romero, participated in a livestreamed panel discussion today during Quakecon to discuss this latest chapter in the influential first-person shooter's history.

As one of the titles that defined FPS gaming and more recently inspired the boomer shooter subgenre, it's pretty cool to see Quake still getting love from players and devs after a whopping three decades.