Quake Champions Now A Free-To-Play Title

During QuakeCon 2018, Bethesda announced that Quake Champions will from now on be free-to-play. Players can download and start piling those frags right now on the Bethesda Launcher or on Steam. 

Players will have access to game modes such as Quickplay, Ranked, Arcade game modes, and all maps currently available. You also get two free champions: Ranger and Scalebearer. But like any other free-to-play title, Quake Champions has an in-game currency called Favor, which can be used to unlock Champions and loot boxes filled with cosmetics. Favor is earned by simply playing the game and completing the game's tutorial. 

Each week, one Champion is made available for free to all players. Each Champion has one active ability and one passive ability. Some are faster but have a lower max health, while some are slower but can take more rockets to the face. There's currently 14 champions available.

Players that are willing to spend on the game can purchase Platinum, a premium currency that you can use to buy champions and other content in the game.

Those willing to pony up some money can purchase the Champions Pack which grants access to all Champions currently available as well as future Champions.  The pack also includes the ability to create custom matches and earn exclusive in-game content. The Champion Pack will will cost $29.99 until September 4. After that, it returnts to its original price of $39.99.

With the free-to-play update, the Champion known as the Death Knight was added to the game. Here's a small description of the new champion by Bethesda and id Software: 

"A new Champion rises from the fire to slake his unending desire for carnage! A familiar (and fearsome) face to Quake fans, Death Knight is available to play right now. Swearing fealty to the Mother of a Thousand Young, Death Knight’s affinity for flame drives his two passive abilities: Forged Skin, which gives him immunity from fire damage; and Charring, which wreathes his Gauntlet in flames, causing fire damage over time on enemies he hits with a melee attack.

Death Knight’s active ability is Flame Strike. Swinging his weighty sword, Death Knight hurls three fireballs in a spread pattern that incinerates the ground and any enemies in the projectiles’ path. But wait, there’s more! Pressing the ability key a second time will make the two outer fireballs converge and deal more concentrated damage."

To play Quake Champions, head over to Steam and you'll notice the Early Access version of Quake Champions is free to download. Bethesda says Quake Champions will remain in Early Access for now as they consider the title a work in progress. But yeah, you can fire it up and start blowing enemies (and friends) to pieces.