Abandoned Quake 4 expansion finished by modders and now playable

openQ4 is a free, open-source engine that brings back a lost Quake 4 expansion called The Awakening. This expansion, never released by Raven Software and Ritual Entertainment, has been recovered and published by Justin Marshall. Now, players can enjoy both the original campaign and The Awakening on Windows, Linux, and Steam Deck, thanks to openQ4 0.14.1, also known as the Awakening Edition.

This version offers stable shadow mapping, a new interface, Vulkan support on Windows, smarter bots, and even an experimental Android app. The release includes numerous optimizations and fixes, with crash, memory-safety, and save/restore issues being addressed, along with portable save game formats and modular data packs for future updates.

While some features, like VR support and fully qualified Android playthroughs, are still in progress, the release demonstrates significant progress toward making the abandoned expansion playable. OpenQ4's developers encourage feedback and reports to help refine the experience, with contributions coming from Emile Belanger, Justin Marshall, Schnapple, and many others.