2005’s Quake 4 was another solid entry in the shooter franchise, if unspectacular. Plenty of resources were dumped into the fourth mainline game, to the point that a fully fledged expansion was planned—Awakening. You can check out footage from it below.
Quake has always been seen as a spiritual successor to DOOM, and while it’s never reached the heights of id Software‘s FPS icon, you can’t go wrong with a bit of Quake. The fourth game was a return to proper single-player action.
There’s plenty to love about Quake 4, but it failed to deliver commercially, and it’s thought that this ultimately led to the cancellation of planned DLC.
Quake 4 Awakening Gameplay Footage Leaked
YouTube account Justin Marshall started posting videos of the canceled Quake 4 Awakening expansion in April 2026, going into May 2026.
Several of them were shorter clips with watermarks in the middle, making the footage a bit difficult to digest. However, a May 2 video called ‘Quake 4(#1.0) The Awakening Gameplay (RARE Prototype Build) | Lost Expansion Footage’ is pure gold.
It’s over 10 minutes of gameplay footage, including the start-up and the menu, before getting into the beginning of the expansion content.
There’s nothing out of the ordinary in the clip, and it definitely feels like an extension of the original game, from what we’ve seen, anyway.
The official description adds a bit more context to the video:
‘This footage is shared for historical context, showcasing early development content, environments, and gameplay elements that were ultimately cut before release. It provides a rare look into what The Awakening could have been and how it may have expanded on the original Quake 4 experience. Some assets and mechanics appear unfinished, offering insight into the development process and the state of the project before it was canceled.’
Check out the 10 minutes for yourself.
Where does Quake stand amongst the great first-person shooter franchises? With DOOM continuing to smash it, would it be nice to see a brand-new Quake game on current-gen hardware? Let us know your thoughts through the Insider Gaming Discord.
Additionally, check out the report that ID Software could be returning to Quake.
Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
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