
The only way to get in right now is to buy the Champions Pack. The usual free-to-play hooks are also present (or will be at launch). It’s also intended to be the go-to match type for Quake Champions esports events. Finally, the only new addition is Sacrifice, a four-on-four competitive mode that combines aspects of Control Point and Capture the Flag matches.

Duels, which are one-on-one battles, are also pretty self-explanatory. The goal, in both scenarios, is to get more kills (and, ideally, die fewer times) than your adversaries. The first and last mentions in that list should be familiar – the first dropping eight players into a free-for-all, while the latter pits teams of four against one another. The current build has four match types: Deathmatch, Duels, Sacrifice and Team Deathmatch. Abilities vary, from Visor’s Piercing Sight (which lets you see through walls) to Galena’s Unholy Totem (a healing totem and proximity mine), and can be used to get kills, escape deadly situations or lay traps for your opponents. Players can choose from 11 different heroes, each with a unique ability, and swap between them as needed after dying.

You’ll find some of the same ingredients in the new recipe, but Champions is discernibly different from previous additions to the series. Quake Champions isn’t just old Quake with a new label. And although we got to play the Quake Champions Early Access build over the weekend, We’re still not convinced that a new focus on hero-specific abilities will be enough for the Quake franchise to stay competitive in a world obsessed with Overwatch, League of Legends or Dota 2.


Quake Champions is one step closer to its free-to-play debut, following its transition from a closed beta on Bethesda’s network to a paid beta in Steam’s Early Access program.
