Abandoned Quake 4 expansion finished by modders and now playable (openQ4 0.14.1)
Spotted 2026-11-13 00:07 (UTC+8) · original event 2026-11-12 · sources: Hacker News, ModDB · spreading on 2 platformsHeat score
Rank score: 7540% — where it sits on the charts
Discussion score: 8040% — how much people are talking about it
Cross-platform score: 5020% — how many platforms it spread to
Composite heat score:72.0rank × 0.4 + discussion × 0.4 + cross-platform × 0.2
Why it matters
A nearly finished game was cancelled and buried for 20 years; fans, not the publisher, are the ones finishing and preserving it.The angle
The wild discovery story (divorce, secondhand PC, lost hard drive) + what the finished expansion actually adds; play the first missions on screenSuggested format: Short video · for Gamers, retro gaming fansEvidence chain
• HN #3, 69 pts/24 cmt (2026-11-13)• openQ4 0.14.1 on ModDB - modders finished the cancelled Quake 4: Awakening expansion• alpha build leaked Aug 2026 after dev Justin Marshall found it on a secondhand PC hard drive (CBR/Gizmodo/TweakTown 2026-08-10)• ~95% complete per ex-Ritual dev Michael Russell• 01:07 update: HN #3, 106 pts/33 cmt• 2026-11-13 02:07 update: HN #3, 144 pts/46 cmt• 2026-11-13 03:07 update: HN #6, 171 pts/60 cmt• 2026-11-13 04:07 update: HN #9, 197 pts/66 cmt• 2026-11-13 05:07 update: HN #9, 206 pts/74 cmt• 2026-11-13 06:07 update: HN #11, 214 pts/75 cmt• 2026-11-13 07:07 update: HN #11, 229 pts/78 cmt• 2026-11-13 08:07 update: HN #11, 233 pts/80 cmt• 2026-11-13 09:07 update: HN #12, 236 pts/81 cmt• 2026-11-13 10:07 update: HN #12, 242 pts/83 cmt• 2026-11-13 11:07 update: HN #14, 246 pts/85 cmt• 2026-11-13 12:07 update: HN #16, 249 pts/87 cmt• 2026-11-13 13:07 update: HN #14, 252 pts/91 cmt• 2026-11-13 14:07 update: HN #17, 256 pts/91 cmt• 2026-11-13 15:07 update: HN #17, 260 pts/95 cmt• 2026-11-13 16:07 update: HN #18, 265 pts/95 cmt• 2026-11-13 17:07 update: HN #16, 269 pts/98 cmt