Quake Champions

Quake Champions is a free-to-play arena shooter developed by id Software and Saber Interactive and published by Bethesda Softworks. It entered early access in August 2017, became free to play in 2018, and left early access in August 2022. Released for Windows, it brings the speed, weapon pickups, and contested arenas of earlier Quake games into matches where each player also chooses a character with a distinct ability. Unlike a shooter built around a single campaign, Quake Champions centers on multiplayer competition; its characters’ backgrounds appear in their biographies and in the game’s supernatural setting.

Those characters are called Champions. Ranger, the protagonist of the original Quake, can throw a Dire Orb and teleport to it. Visor uses Piercing Sight to reveal opponents through walls, while Nyx can briefly disappear from view and avoid damage with Ghost Walk. Scalebearer charges forward with Bull Rush. The roster also crosses into other id Software series: Doom Slayer appears from Doom, and B.J. Blazkowicz appears from Wolfenstein. Their abilities alter how a fight begins or ends, but everyone still competes for weapons, armor, and health placed around the map.

Quake Champions retains recognizable Quake equipment, including the Rocket Launcher, Railgun, and Lightning Gun. A direct rocket hit, a precisely aimed rail shot, and sustained lightning damage reward different kinds of aim. Players also time their routes around major pickups such as Mega Health and Heavy Armor, denying those resources to opponents when possible. Its arenas include Blood Covenant, which reworks the layout of The Camping Grounds from Quake III Arena, and The Longest Yard, another return to a Quake III map. Newer arenas, including Ruins of Sarnath and Burial Chamber, give the game its own ruined, otherworldly architecture.

The game offers both individual and team competition. Duel puts two players against each other, making control of weapons and major items especially consequential; Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch allow more crowded fights. Sacrifice, a team mode featured prominently during the game’s early competitive period, asks teams to capture a soul and carry it to an obelisk. Quake Champions also became the basis of organized tournaments: the 2017 Quake World Championships at QuakeCon featured Duel and Sacrifice and advertised a $1 million prize pool. The later Quake Pro League kept the game’s one-on-one competition visible to spectators. Across its modes, the defining difference from earlier Quake arena shooters remains the Champion choice: a player must account not only for an opponent’s position and equipment, but also for a character-specific ability that may change the next encounter.