What are you reading this for? Nightdive’s rumored remaster ofQuake IIhas been released, and you might already own it if you already had a version ofQuake IIon Steamor something. If the PC version is too good for you, then it’s also available on Xbox, Switch, and PlayStation platforms. What am I even writing this for?
Okay, because I’m expected to meet a certain word threshold to please the internet robots, I’ll tell you more. Bethesda and Nightdive dropped a remaster for the original 1996Quakeback in 2021, and it was an excellent source port of the classic game. It kind of felt like a similarQuake 2remaster in the KEX Engine was an inevitability, butwe only heard murmurings about ituntil today.
Quake 2was initially released at the tail end of 1997, and featured a new, jazzed-up engine to take advantage of hardware acceleration. It wasn’t initially planned as a sequel toQuake, but gradually began shifting in that direction. Most notably, it has no narrative connection to the first game’s very loose story. Instead, it introduces a space war against the cyborg-like Strogg.
Quakeis often considered to be the last game by id Software’s classic line-up. After some creative differences, a bunch of staff departed id, including John Romero. You can absolutely feel it inQuake 2, as it’s unusually cohesive for the studio. There was sort of a wild experimentation in early id games that kind of lags behind the technical wizardry inQuake II.
Okay, good enough? TheQuake IIremaster is now available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch. It includes all its expansions, as well as a port of the N64 version’s campaign. Cool, bye!
