Quake Champions, the free-to-play spin on Quake's landmark multiplayer shooting, has officially left Steam Early Access. The game, which melds the gib-splattering, rocket-jumping FPS fun of the original Quake with more modern "hero"-style characters, each of whom has their own special abilities they can deploy across the course of a match, was originally launched in 2017, co-developed by id Software and Saber interactive.
Champions has been updated fairly frequently over the last five years, with new maps and playable champions added to the existing roster, alongside a few new features such as the ability to play against bots. Considering the length of time the game has been in development, however, it's not a huge amount of new content, perhaps reflecting the fact that Champions never saw the riotous success of other character-led shooters like Apex Legends.
Nonetheless, Quake Champions is a perfectly enjoyable multiplayer romp. Alongside the official Steam release, the game has also been added to PC Game Pass. This might seem a bit pointless considering it's free-to-play anyway. But if you have a Game Pass Ultimate subscription, Quake Champions comes with the additional perk whereby all the game's sixteen champions are unlocked from the get-go. This includes characters from id Software's broader canon like the Doom Slayer and B.J. Blazkowicz, alongside more familiar QC characters like Ranger and Visor.
Champions isn't the only Quake game recently added to Game Pass. Raven Software's underrated Quake 4 was added to Microsoft's subscription service at the same time, alongside a couple of Wolfenstein titles, namely 1991's Wolfenstein 3D, and 2001's Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Microsoft has even added the worst Elder Scrolls game onto the service. These releases are all part of the ongoing QuakeCon festivities, which run through today and conclude tomorrow.
