Destined from birth and by its very name to make noise in the video game universe, Quake planted its flag in the fertile ground of first-person shooters, hoisting itself as the new benchmark for all titles to come.
Thanks to the two most famous Johns in the history of video games, Carmack and Romero, the fathers of Doom and many other milestones, capable of delivering a perfect game from many points of view.
Impugning mostly long-range weapons, with the exception of the axe, which serves as a worthy replacement for the iconic knife used in many other first-person shoot 'em ups, the protagonist must make his way through levels with a decidedly ancient structure, whose architecture recalls immense medieval bastions and dungeon-palaces that seem to come straight out of Gothic horror literature.
The monsters we will face are nothing short of cruel and terrifying, born from developers who, as far as character design is concerned, put in every possible effort to make even the bravest of heroes jump out of their seats.
Once the magical runes scattered throughout the game levels have been collected, we will be able to face the final boss, and all our suspicions will finally be confirmed: straight from the nightmare worlds outlined by H.P. Lovecraft, a brilliant twentieth-century writer, we will find ourselves in the presence of one of the Great Old Ones.
The year was 1996 and id Software gave the world one of the most fun and bleak games ever, a well-executed hybrid between gothic horror and retro science fiction: I played Quake and its expansions to exhaustion on my PC; however, versions were also released for the N64 and Sega Saturn, before being reissued, even today, on modern platforms.
Ciò that makes Quake truly exciting is the constant feeling of being out of place, a human being armed to the teeth but fundamentally alone, surrounded by frightening creatures that escape all human logic. The level design as well, curated among others by a certain American McGee destined to revolutionize the concept of video game fairy tale with his Alice, throws the player into a pixel nightmare, disturbing sounds and sudden accelerations of the soundtrack in the most intense moments, giving the player eternal satisfaction when a couple of shotgun pellets hit the heart of his enemies with pinpoint accuracy.
The essence of first-person shooters at its highest form, Quake revolutionized the genre once again, despite Doom having been released only a few years earlier. It still holds paramount importance today, since legions of programmers who are now very famous and sought after by the biggest production companies began working in the field precisely thanks to Quake.
How? It’s very simple. Quake was the last game of its generation whose source code was made freely available to users: the wonderful consequence of such an act was the proliferation of myriad mods and levels designed by fans. Artistic quality grew over time until it gave rise to true sagas acquired by the biggest production houses, thus giving birth to a new generation of programmers who owe a great deal, indeed a tremendous amount, to Id Software’s masterpiece.
At the moment, the game consists of four official chapters plus some spin-offs, and as we write this, the fifth chapter of the series is in development: for all collectors, moreover, there is good news, since Quake II Remastered boasts a couple of interesting limited physical editions, including the Ultimate Strogg Edition, a practically unique piece not to be missed.
Innovative graphics engine
Lovecraftian horror in a Doom sauce, frenetic and scenically perfect
Shooter with excellently calibrated difficulty and an original setting
Non-linear levels that require a minimum of exploratory skill
A child of his time and it cannot be otherwise
Very fast and extremely challenging toward the end of the game
