Quake II Remaster gameplay changes

This page is intended to be a list of changes to Quake II gameplay as part of the 2023 remaster. Some of these changes were already implemented as part of the Ground Zero mission pack, but for simplicity they have been included as well, as compared to the original Quake II.

General[]

inventory wheel (Q) and weapon wheel (E) added. Auto-bindings for various powerups (e.g. Q for Quad Damage) removed, but you can reset them yourself with the console
Hard+ difficulty renamed to Nightmare and no longer hidden, being freely selectable when starting a new game or choosing a level
various improvements to AI including dodging projectiles, jumping up/down to pursue the player, and sometimes being aware of the player earlier than before
Game now slows down when you open the Help Computer (F1)
Footstep sounds made by enemies
New areas in some maps, and new secrets in Processing Plant and Outer Hangar
Health boost from Stimpacks/Trap cube no longer lost when a player moves to a new level. However, it does deteriorate back to "normal maximum" after collecting Megahealth.
Compass added as a usable inventory item
Barrels take a longer moment to explode when hit with light damage
Dying enemies no longer block movement
when underwater, the player gets three "gulping" sounds as a warning they're about to start drowning, will start taking damage after the third gulp
most weapons now deal double damage against an idle monster (certain weapons already did so, notably the Railgun)
All items from the base game, the expansion packs, the N64 version and Call of the Machine can now be found in multiplayer maps. Two of the new CTF maps added reflect this.

Weapons[]

Disruptor added. damage 160 per shot, rate of fire 100 per minute, has homing ability, hurls its target backward, ignores Power Shield/Power Screen. Higher DPS than Chain Gun. Ammo is uncommon.
Blaster damage increased to 15 (from 10), matching its multiplayer damage
Machine Gun upward recoil removed
Chain Gun fires ten bullets with a single tap instead of nine
Hand Grenade trajectory altered
Railgun damage decreased to 125 (from 150) in single-player
BFG10K now deals energy damage and its tracers can penetrate through monsters
Phalanx now deals energy damage, and has much better splash damage than before - comparable to the Rocket Launcher now
Trap now affects flying Strogg, doesn't harm the player who threw it, and generally less glitchy than it was
Chainfist field of effect improved, no longer drags the player forward, potential DPS roughly doubled, and can make monsters flinch in pain even on Nightmare
Prox mines are no longer triggered by the player who launched them (although they can still be harmed in the explosion)
Tesla mines max capacity reduced to 5 (from 50), ammo pickup reduced to 3 (from 5). Tesla mine health increased to 50 (from 30), no longer shoots other Tesla mines, and no longer "runs out of power"

Other items[]

Power Shield reworked making it more susceptible to energy damage, but a minimum of 2 cells lost with every activation - even against weapons that only deal 1 damage
player can choose to enable manual/auto Power Shield, but retains the ability to switch on and off
Adrenaline is now added to the inventory to be used at will, instead of being automatically used upon pickup
Ammo Pack correctly increases max capacity for Flechettes, and now includes three Disruptor rounds.
Quad Damage and Double Damage can now stack with each other
Silencer now has a visual counter displaying number of silenced shots remaining

Enemies[]

Shotgun Guard maximum damage per shot reduced to 18 (from 24), now only fires one shot in his dying attack
Barracuda swims more slowly
Enforcer chain gun accuracy improved against strafing target
Berserker gains a running attack and a long-range leap attack that deals a large area of effect and hurls the player away. Upward blade swing doesn't knock the target into the air anymore
Gunner machine gun accuracy improved against strafing target, grenades better at adjusting for elevation
Gunner has "suppression fire" behaviour if loses sight of the player, firing grenade volleys in their general direction
Flyers move more aggressively, sometimes being eager to get into melee
Parasite tube has a much longer range and can adjust for elevation, but can be dodged now. If it strikes a wall the Parasite gets stuck for a moment. Potential damage per tube attack reduced to 19 (from 25) and can heal the Parasite by damaging its target. Parasite also behaves more aggressively, no longer stopping for a moment every so often.
Brains replaced by the upgraded Beta Class Brains from The Reckoning, gaining a long-range tentacle attack and a laser fired from its eyes
Medic much quicker to revive fallen Strogg. No longer infights with other Strogg
Gladiator less vulnerable to the "dancing" strategy; it only tends to use its clamp attack once, firing its railgun instead if the player keeps trying to provoke the clamp attack
Iron Maiden has "suppression fire" behaviour if loses sight of the player, firing rockets in their general direction
Tank/Tank Commander has "suppression fire" behaviour if loses sight of the player, firing rockets or blaster in their general direction. Tank/Tank Commander no longer infights with other Strogg.
Super Tank gains a grenade launcher attack. Chain gun accuracy much worse against a strafing player.
Hornet accuracy much improved against a strafing player with both weapon systems. No longer infights with other Strogg.
Jorg health increased to 8000 (from 3000)
Gekk moves faster and more aggressively on land
Laser Guard correctly performs his dying attack
Repair Bot blaster damage increased to 15 (from 2)
Beta Class Iron Maiden rocket homing ability decreased
Beta Class Gladiator health reduced to 250 + 250 power shield (from 800 + 400 power shield). Phalanx damage decreased to 17/35 per projectile (from 100). Beta Class Gladiator less vulnerable to the "dancing" strategy; it only tends to use its clamp attack once, firing its phalanx instead if the player keeps trying to provoke the clamp attack
Beta Super Tank's gains a grenade launcher attack and its rockets now track their target.
Turret health decreased to 50 plus 50 combat armor (from 240), blaster damage reduced to 8 (from 20), rocket damage reduced to 40 (from 50). Turret now has a laser sight that sweeps to and fro, and an "enemy sighted" sound (a mechanical whirring) that can warn players of their presence.
Stalker blaster damage reduced to 5 (from 15)

Multiplayer[]

Bots can now be added to matches. Their AI is a bit rusty, and has some limitations. (In CTF, they won't go for the flag, for instance). It's documented that they're also mod-agnostic, as only a declaration file needs to be created in order to make them work with mods.