Quake 2 is free to keep on the Bethesda launcher for a limited time

[Polycount]

Freebies: If you've never experienced the Quake franchise before, now is the perfect time to dive in. Over the weekend, Bethesda offered up the first Quake game free of charge for a limited time, and now, it's doing the same for Quake 2.

Before we get into the giveaway details, a bit of context: Bethesda is dishing out the freebies due to its recent QuakeCon charity drive.

The Quake 1 giveaway was a guarantee, but the company stated that if it managed to raise $10,000 or more for charity, it would give away free copies of Quake 2 as well. That milestone has been met, and then some: during QuakeCon, Bethesda managed to rake in well over $30,000.

Those funds will be going toward organizations like Direct Relief, UNICEF, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and The Trevor Project, among others.

If you'd like to grab your free copy of Quake 2, just download the Bethesda Launcher sometime in the next 72 hours, and redeem the offer. It's a great classic first-person shooter that will likely keep you occupied for at least a few hours, if not days.

If you snagged Quake 1 last weekend and download Quake 2 this week, be sure to complete the trilogy next week when Bethesda begins offering Quake 3 for free as well. We'll likely have a dedicated post for that giveaway when the time comes, so stay tuned.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/86354-quake-2-free-keep-bethesda-launcher-limited-time.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I'm glad that younger gamers can experience Quake 2. Quake 1 and Quake 3, however, weren't as awesome. It would be nice to get Quake 4 later on.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

It still says $1.50

 

[nnguy2]

As weird as it sound I couldn't get past the brown and orange palette. Same reason I couldn't get into Morrowind, the art direction, textures, and brown palette.

 

[pcnthuziast]

As weird as it sound I couldn't get past the brown and orange palette. Same reason I couldn't get into Morrowind, the art direction, textures, and brown palette.

Retro is only cool if it's legit retroism ie you actually played the games when they werre new back in the day. Other than that and looking at them today or even in the last 5-10 years, they are straight up ugly af to look at. No context necessary.

 

[0dium]

Retro is only cool if it's legit retroism ie you actually played the games when they werre new back in the day. Other than that and looking at them today or even in the last 5-10 years, they are straight up ugly af to look at. No context necessary.

That's just personal preference. I have no problem playing old games

 

[pcnthuziast]

That's just personal preference. I have no problem playing old games

Neither do I. Quite the contrary. Even if they are objectively, aesthetically, poo.

To clarify my previous post, I was implying that it would be more seamless for someone to enjoy them now if they first played them back when they released. I did and so for me I'm not looking to have my eyeballs dazzled, I'm looking to enjoy the game play and creative vision. Just like I did back then. Modern gamers are much more concerned with the quality of the aesthetics whereas in the past since the whole bubble of video gaming was newer and smaller, people just took what they could get and got the most out of it.

 

[Rq3EWAq]

Fantastic news. Just downloaded and installed Bethesda Launcher, speed wasn't great. They must have lot of traffic coming their way

 

[VBKing]

It still says $1.50

Same for me when shopping for the game. But I then created a Bethesda account, Downloaded and INSTALLED the Bethesda Launcher (not sure if that part was necessary to just own the game and install later) and now it shows I have it.

On the webpage it still shows $1.50 for Quake 2, but if I LOG IN and click on it, it then says "You already own this product".

In the Bethesda Launcher program, you can log in and click the ">>" button in upper left area and select QUAKE II game and you can then install it.

NOTE: I did NOT check to see if I had the game in my ACCOUNT on the webpage BEFORE installing the Launcher. It may be there after you create an account, but I forgot to check at that point.

 

[MaxSmarties]

It was a dream at the time, but I'm afraid that playing it today will ruin my memories about how great the game was.

 

[kmo911]

Gog steam and now free verions. quake 3 A should have been 1 single player enabled. you have to add boots to play in SP. quake 4 annoying missions removed in steam gog Bb versions.
quake 2 3dfx how to enable with nglide site. done with quake 1 SW version and I was using 3dfx mini driver to get it 3dfx enabled. lovely games comes with a price tag. so free are nice. if q 1 2 3 4 and quake E (5) Enemy Territory Quake Wars E.T.Q.W. even doom 1 2 3 should be free soon BFG

 

[p51d007]

I'd rather NOT have to use a "launcher" to run it. If I want it, I'll either buy it or torrent it.

 

[bviktor]

Duh. Q1 runs in wrong colors, Q2 won't start at all. I guess they really don't care about Intel HD users

 

[amghwk]

True, the palette used in Quake 1 and Quake 2 were .... how to say.... ermmm.... not pleasing, to put it bluntly.

And this is coming from a pre-protected-mode-CPU era gamer.

It's a nice game though, but I do believe Quake 1 had the false impression of being the "first true 360° 3D FPS game", where, that title should belong to (guess who) none other than Bethesda's own Terminator Future Shock, back when Bethesda was developing in-house for the Terminator and Elder Scrolls series.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Same for me when shopping for the game. But I then created a Bethesda account, Downloaded and INSTALLED the Bethesda Launcher (not sure if that part was necessary to just own the game and install later) and now it shows I have it.

On the webpage it still shows $1.50 for Quake 2, but if I LOG IN and click on it, it then says "You already own this product".

In the Bethesda Launcher program, you can log in and click the ">>" button in upper left area and select QUAKE II game and you can then install it.

NOTE: I did NOT check to see if I had the game in my ACCOUNT on the webpage BEFORE installing the Launcher. It may be there after you create an account, but I forgot to check at that point.

Thanks. It's sloppy but I figured it out, downloaded it, played through it and enjoyed it. I even played some multiplayer.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

The game looks great and is still fun to play. Although the player models haven't been upgraded, the enemy models are passable.

The singleplayer experience is still somewhat of a challenge on higher difficulties and the weapon/sound FX are still classics. RAY TRACING with RTX at maximum settings makes the glass, water and forcefield surfaces look more presentable but doesn't really change the basic dynamics of the game.

While Multiplayer seems somehow more laggy and chaotic than I remember, Quake 2 RTX is a great experience for younger gamers. The gameplay -from the dawn of 3D First Person shooters - doesn't hold the hands and is nowhere near as forgiving as games of today. It's astonishing how much planning and creativity went into the level design when compared to modern shooters.

Enemies look a little sharper, their eyes and body parts glow, and the game runs well in 1080p fullscreen at more than 60fps (95 on average).

It's a good technology demonstrator, but even in 2020, I fail to see the necessity of Ray Tracing. Games without it still play just as well and look just as good even from this era.

Q2RTX gives you a flare gun to help light darkened paths, but it's actually easier to use the blaster as a light source since its ammo is unlimited and the flare gun's isn't.

Originally, I was disappointed by modifications made the designs of the railgun, BFG and shotgun, but after playing through the game, I am fully satisfied with them. Functionally they are still the equivalent of their original counterparts.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

As weird as it sound I couldn't get past the brown and orange palette. Same reason I couldn't get into Morrowind, the art direction, textures, and brown palette.

Orange and brown are colors not normally associated with Earth. They needed to make the game appear "alien" and in most cases they did a great job, although a lot of the design elements lend themselves to 6 foot tall humanoids rather than 8 foot tall cyborgs.

I still think this is a classic and more fun to play than the new DOOM games.

 

[Ranmamez]

Oh ffs, I got no internet for the latest 4 days and now I read this news but the time is over for getting it! Too short time for getting it!
Is it possible to talk to Bethesda to still get the game for free?