A remake of Quake 1 was, at one point, in development at id Software, and we now appear to have got our first look at the project’s assets.
Thao Le, 3D artist at id Software, has shared a batch of early screenshots from what appears to be the canceled Quake 1 remake on his official website. As per the developer, the IdTech 5 environmental renders feature textures and assets from the original Doom as well as some my new ones created by him. He mentioned that the theme of the renders was a re-imagining of environments from Quake 1 with modern visuals.
According to Le, the environmental renders shared by him contain two different sections. The first section features “stone and old machinery melted into each other “in the weird way that is not familiar with human logic.” He mentioned that gears and chains seen in the screenshots sway around to make the environments appear more dynamic. The second section features just stones with mysterious structures that have dynamically floating stones that give the impression of altering environments during gameplay. He also said that he explored the Shambler just for the sense of scale.
Going by Le’s description, it appears that the Quake 1 remake project was in the early prototyping phase, and the development team at id Software had been experimenting with various ideas to reimagine the look and feel of the original’s environments.
This isn’t the first we’ve heard of a Quake 1 remake. Back in 2019, during an AMA, Quake 1 designer John Romero responded to a question on the possibility of a remake, saying that id Software thought about working on it years ago. While he wasn’t sure if it will happen, he was rooting for it.
In July, 2024, the LinkedIn profile of Megumi McGowan, Publishing Producer at Bethesda Softworks, had revealed that id Software had multiple titles in development, one of which was Doom: The Dark Ages. Among the others may possibly be a Quake remake.
