Episode Two: Quake Shakes The World
A Tour Through Strange Realms, Including the Internet
Welcome to Episode Two of “Quake’s Bizarre, Beautiful History!” Read the previous episode here:
As covered in Episode One, Quake was so ambitious and difficult to make that it basically broke id software as we know it. Most devs are probably happy just to break even on such a troubled project, but what id didn’t know was that Quake was going to be perhaps their most important game ever. For a team like id software, that was really saying something. It may have landed on store shelves bloodied and beaten, but the crucible of its development managed to shape it into something that will live in gaming’s hallowed halls forever.
Arcane Wisdom
No matter which of the four episodes of Quake you pick first, the first map is a human military complex. Computers cover the walls and the enemies consist of insane soldiers dressed just like you and dogs with blood lining their muzzles. Something has gone horribly wrong here, but you’re not sure what until you fight your way to the slipgate at the end of the level. Everything that reminded you of Doom disappears almost instantly. The industrial military facility gives way to dismal castles of brown stone and rusted metal. Light comes from torches, through stained-glass windows, or the purple sky above you. Your recognizable foes are replaced by everything from chainsaw-wielding, grenade-slinging ogres to deformed beasts with faces full of teeth to groaning knights clad in bloodstained armor.
The unholy union of medieval fortresses and gunslinging gameplay was tied together by something which was never in the original plan: cosmic horror. Instead of shrinking from the nonsensical mess they were slapping together, id embraced it with influence from a literary tradition deeply concerned with the unknowable. The connecting tissue between the four strange dimensions and the monsters you meet within is Shub-Niggurath (codenamed “Quake” by the military so that the game’s title still kind of checks out), a figure from H.P. Lovecraft’s own mythos described in-game as the “Hell-Mother” from which “all the dwellers in these nightmare dimensions” descend. The runes you collect to open the way to her “blight your mind” with “terrible secrets” and whisper “dark thoughts into your brain.” The game doesn’t even end with your triumphant return. You’ve saved Earth from the hideous Shub-Niggurath and id software salutes you, but no slipgate appears to take you home. You’re stuck in this nightmare, left to wander until your sanity finally slips. For a game from guys who didn’t seem to care much about story, Quake accomplishes a lot just with atmosphere and some paragraphs of text to punctuate every episode.
What ties it all together is the aforementioned Nine Inch Nails soundtrack. The rumors were true; Trent Reznor jumped at the opportunity to work on an id game, and they challenged him to branch out into ambient sound (Reznor even voiced the player character, so every time you “hup” around the map, that’s him!). The main theme (excerpted below) transitions from intense metal to the droning sounds of an oppressive atmosphere with Reznor’s screams to guide it. There’s no better example of the transformative effect a soundtrack has on an experience. Rather than hyping you up with exciting tracks like Doom, Quake punctuates its violence with uncomfortable, threatening ambience. Despite the gameplay similarities to Doom, this soundtrack entirely changes the tone from wanton demon slaughter to a fight for survival in a hostile realm beyond your understanding. You know you don’t belong here every step of the way.
All that said, this is not a case of style over substance. Quake’s 3D engine enabled its gameplay to be even better than what came before. Just being able to jump was new for this genre, letting players dodge traps and cross gaps in new ways. You could also finally look up and down, and the game takes full advantage of this by hiding secrets and ambushes above or below you. The grenade launcher, wielded both by the player and ogres, leverages the physics of the engine to let you bounce ‘nades around corners, over walls, and under barricades - something unthinkable in the Doom engine’s pretend-3D. The rocket launcher may have been in Doom, but it was Quake which truly defined it. The rocket jump - blasting yourself above and across the level with a rocket aimed at your feet - first appeared here and continues to be one of the most iconic movement techniques in shooters. Fully 3D levels made better use of verticality, allowing maps to stack on top of themselves and feature water to swim through. Gone are the days of getting lost in Doom II’s miserable city levels. The world may look and sound oppressive and confusing, but the natural path players find through maps feels smoother than in any other id game.
Even outside of what the new engine allowed, Quake’s run-and-gun shooting was refined. The balance between the guns is simple and intuitive. Shotguns are reliable and ammo-efficient, but weaker than your other options. The full-auto super nailgun deals heavy damage, but also runs out of ammo much more quickly. The grenade and rocket launchers deal solid damage with plenty of ammo, but can’t be used in close quarters for risk of blowing yourself up. The maps consist of tight hallways and rooms where monsters jump out at you from every angle, keeping you on your toes. Fortunately, every monster is instantly recognizable with a distinct role, letting you quickly assess the situation and respond all while on the move. Swapping between weapons is instant, facilitating quick reflexes and letting you “combo” weapons together for more efficient kills.
Perhaps no weapon encapsulates Quake quite like the Thunderbolt. This arcane, trident-esque weapon shoots a continuous bolt of lightning that fries enemies fast. Every time you pull the trigger, it sounds like a thunderstorm above you. You can’t quite explain what this weapon is, but you do understand how to light monsters up with it. That’s Quake in a nutshell right there.
The result of all of this is a tense, white-knuckle experience where quick thinking is your best defense against countless tricks and traps. For all the ways this game reflects its troubled development, from its pathetic boss “battles” where you hit switches or simply step into a slipgate to the relative lack of weapons and enemies compared to Doom II, the game at large comes together to form the tightest, best-feeling id shooter of all the classics. Like many troubled developments and experimental titles which went on to be classics, it’s much more than the sum of its parts. It works almost in spite of itself, holding up as one of the best shooter campaigns I’ve ever played - and you know that’s not nostalgia talking because I wasn’t alive when Quake came out. It’s just that good.
Quake Undying
Quake’s single-player campaign, impressive as it was, is only the beginning of its legacy. A physics exploit where jumping repeatedly while aiming the mouse at an angle boosted your speed would be dubbed “airstrafing,” also known as “bunnyhopping” (though these two terms and others are often mixed around for a lot of technically-different things). Airstrafing and similar techniques would end up being the foundation for skilled movement in fast shooters even to this day, making the act of simply getting around more fun. Thanks to the internet, Quake speedrunners on the website Speed Demos Archive were able to edit their fastest runs of every level together into a sub-20-minute run of the entire game labeled “Quake Done Quick.” This eventually spun off into Games Done Quick, a popular set of two annual speedrunning marathons for charity.
Quake’s distinctive atmosphere and adrenaline-pumping gunplay have also gone on to inspire countless games directly, especially in the current “boomer shooter” resurgence spurred by Doom (2016). David Szymanski’s Dusk - which I recommend - is perhaps the closest tribute, matching the feeling of Quake’s movement and shooting with modern polish and doubling down on the “horror” part of cosmic horror throughout. The innovative Ultrakill’s Steam page can be reached through devilmayquake.com, referencing its two major influences in Quake and Devil May Cry. Even Doom (2016) and its successors nod to Quake, with Doom Eternal especially emphasizing weapon combos and this year’s Doom: The Dark Ages putting its own spin on cosmic horror.
As unique and inspirational as Quake’s campaign is, perhaps its most innovative feature was its online multiplayer. With maps designed specifically for deathmatches, Quake took off as the first major online shooter. Clans were formed and competitions were held, forming the basis of esports as we know them. One of these clans, the Rangers, filmed Diary of a Camper inside of Quake deathmatch. This was the first machinima, laying the groundwork for the massively successful Red vs. Blue seven years later. A group of Dallas-area Quake fans held a LAN tournament - dubbed “Quakecon” for the game just under two months after the game released. Much to their pleasant surprise, the entirety of id software stopped by to visit. The humble Quakecon became an annual event with ever-growing attendance. Today, it’s organized directly by id’s parent company ZeniMax and acts as their general summer gaming convention, though it doesn’t have nearly as much Quake as it used to.
Quake didn’t just inspire people with what it was, though. With an engine fans could easily use themselves to modify the game, what Quake could be became the bedrock of countless original creations. Like Doom II, the game still enjoys a lively modding scene with custom single-player levels, deathmatch maps, and more; the game basically never ends if you don’t want it to. More impressively still, other iconic gaming franchises owe their existence to Quake quite directly. Valve’s breakout hit Half-Life, a title just as innovative as Quake, was developed from a heavily-modified version of Quake’s basic game engine. The first-ever Team Fortress game was actually a mod for Quake released just over two months after the game itself. Valve hired Team Fortress’ developers to make it a standalone title on Half-Life’s engine, and the rest is history. Fans of pretty much every online shooter from Halo to Fortnite owe thanks to Quake in a general way, but Valve’s iconic franchises really did spring from the same roots.
Why does this matter? I’m trying to say that Quake isn’t just important to me because it’s a good game; it’s probably important to you, too. Online shooters constantly maintain some of the largest player counts on PC or console. Counter-Strike 2, another game that owes a lot to Quake, lives at the top of Steam’s charts. When I play Iron Man in Marvel Rivals, I always appreciate how his explosive repulsors and powerful Unibeam with limited range function almost the same as Quake's rocket launcher and Thunderbolt. Hell, Quake’s a big reason that aiming with a mouse instead of the arrow keys on PC is standard. This game’s DNA is practically everywhere, and so many people don’t even know it. With some historically important games, they’re not always so fun to go back to. For an id software example, Wolfenstein 3D feels pretty primitive and stiff today. Quake simply isn’t like that. Old as it may be, it plays well enough to remain one of the best single-player shooters ever. Try it. It’s cheap. If you’re anything like me, a good boomer shooter like this one will change how you think about shooters at large.
But if Quake is so important and fun, you might be wondering, why isn’t it part of today’s online scene? Why hasn’t there been a new one in eight years, even with the recent success of its older brother Doom? The indie scene is pumping out new boomer shooters constantly, and people are realizing that this style of game hasn’t gotten any less fun over the years. How come Quake doesn’t join the fun? Well, dear reader, you’ll simply have to tune in for the next episodes of this series, where we’ll see how Quake’s future would become no less chaotic than its past…
Watch as id software, refreshed but Romero-less, reinvents Quake again in “Episode Three: Stroggification,” out now! Also enjoy an outline of Quake's expansion packs and other successors in the bonus article “Expansion Pack One: Thunderbolt in a Bottle,” out now!