Despite not being an huge fan of the game. I do occasionally enjoy boomer shooter games over the years. I do plan to make some comparisons you might expect. Otherwise I'm going to try just talking about the new expansion titled Quake: Dawn of the Machine. I do think this is among the greatest expansions for the classic worth of it's legacy.
Quake: Dawn of the Machine (2026)
The very first major thing I need to say is a huge step up from the previous two expansions they done. The levels are easily among the finest in all of Quake 1. They actually added some newer stuff including enemies to spice things up. This is not a short campaign by any means. I will confirm there will be back tracking.
I understand a lot of people don't like back tracking in video games. I will say this was a rather nice surprise. You need to collect four runes before getting access to the final levels. Yes there is a hub section you can select which levels to play. But inevitably you will need to replay the levels to a degree. Thankfully each rune you have will reduce it.
Not only that, three of them are found in secret levels. Which was a rather interesting decision to say the least. Usually they don't make you have to go to a few secret levels to beat the campaigns. The levels are notably bigger in scope feeling a more proper modernize Quake 1 experience. There's more secret levels than you would expect.
Also unlike some expansions is one huge campaign. It doesn't change the fact there's still a few smaller sets of levels representing particular runes. I will also confirm the final level does not disappoint either. There's a lot of surprises on the way to keep it interesting right up to the end. If you somehow stayed on top of back tracking during a run.
I actually didn't look up any video guides during my 1st run. Being a rather unusual, unexpected thing that happened. This was way better than Episode 5: Alien World Order from Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour. There's a much clearer focus in it's concept as well as it's execution. They don't feel like reskinning older Quake 1 levels.
This is among the longest campaigns in Quake 1 to date. I do get why this gotten nominated for Golden Joystick Awards 2026's Best Game Expansion award. I actually voted for Doom: The Dark Ages - Revelations. There's no in game map making a full run way more frustrating than it needed to be. A major thing I preferred in Quake II despite the compass gotten confused to a degree.
Yeah I was a bit disappointed this turned out to be Nightdive's surprise at QuakeCon 2026. I will say it's a decent expansion for what it is. I actually was a bigger fan of 3DO campaign of Killing Time added to Killing Time: Resurrected. I hope you liked getting tested in a few ways. Your wits especially how well you could adapt to situations going to be tested a lot.
I felt it's like Legacy of Rust in Doom 1 + Doom 2 to a degree. Both being the most recent, ambitious campaigns worthy of their respective boomer shooter games. Considering most levels had over an hundred enemies was mind blowing!!! A lot of the secrets are well hidden. Thankfully this didn't have a serious lack of ammo issue.
As for the final boss, it's Chthon again. But somehow they made this a rather fun final boss fight. You get a lot of ammo as well as a particular power up to avoid taking damage in lava. Yes you also deal with several enemies during this. I'm really glad this wasn't a few bosses in the same area situation. I usually don't enjoy Quake 1 final boss fights.
The soundtrack was decent that helped kept me going. It wasn't my favorite within these campaigns. But it clearly did not suck by any means. I just personally wished for a more killer soundtrack. To a degree, this campaign reminded me of Hexen and it's expansions. Sure there's some aspects I preferred more in Heretic + Hexen.
Quake: Dawn of the Machine still a lot of fun to play. You might want to closely follow a walkthrough to help reduce back tracking. If you dislike back tracking as a whole I can't recommend this. In a way I hope some of the other remasters Nightdive done gets newer campaigns eventually. I will also confess this is the third time they made an expansion for Quake 1.
It already started to rub me the wrong way. Despite things, this was worth playing in time for Halloween. This had huge potential that truly lived up to. You can tell a couple months went into making this expansion. No signs being rushed unlike the previous two expansions. Honestly, I also recommend for those not patient.
Make sure you unlocked Cheats before you start playing. Activate the codes you want to make a lot of this more fun or at least somewhat enjoyable. The insane scope actually felt like it's own game than an expansion. Something I usually don't say about expansions for boomer shooter games. Quake may not necessary needed a newer campaign to celebrate it's legacy.
I'm glad they still made such a great campaign for such a milestone. Quake: Dawn of the Machine was beyond anything this game done before. Right now, I do think it's the best expansion to date!!! My standards are quite high after I fully played this. It's mind how much thought went into the level designs.
The actual story is a bit shorter than expected. But you can find these books that gives hints just not quite clear. You got to take a little time to figure them out even without reading them. I also recommend carefully check around the levels. You will be very surprise how much you'll miss? Honestly, for a free expansion it's among the best I ever played!!!
They took what essentially was Quake 1. Then turned it up to thirteen with it's ambitious scope. This easily could've fell hard yet rise much higher than anyone expected!!! The puzzles were honestly my overall favorite in all the campaigns. Somehow this newer expansion campaign became my favorite aspect of the game.
I still might not be crazy for it's base game. This expansion virtually brought new life to this classic. In every possible aspect was absolutely nailed. You should pay extra attention during an 1st run to make any additional revisits to levels a little better. It's still frustrating when you're in a set of levels you already gotten it's rune.
You have to finish it out again before reaching the hub again. Each rune you have will make revisiting them much better. Let's take a particular level you need to sacrifice people to process. A later revisit of the same level I played up to a door I previously couldn't access. This effective cut a large portion of the level out making it much shorter!!!
Quake: Dawn of the Machine is truly amazing at everything it does. I always was a bigger Doom fan though. I will say this out of respect, you need to play this!!! This really felt like Quake 1 that's perfection!!! Honestly, they took what they learned from the previous two expansions. They really knocked this expansion out the park!!!
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