Index
- Intro
- List of games
- Source ports
- Multiplayer
- Where to get the games
- Maps and mods
- QDoom
- Further reading
Inmost lore
Hot on the heels of Doom, idTech 2 is the engine that powers Quake, Quake II, and several other games. It's a very successful engine, being one of the earliest to have a fast, robust fully-3D engine, and later seeing several forks and iterations, most notably in Goldsrc, the engine that powers Half-Life, and beyond. In fact, a bit of its codebase can be found even in the most recent Call of Duty games! A small note: Quake II uses an updated version of the engine with several new features, but when id Software retroactively applied the id Tech label to their older engines following the reveal of RAGE (which uses idTech 5) they lumped Quake and Quake II together, and so we do too.
Where's Goldsrc you ask? It gets its own page.
The mystical past comes alive...
When Quake was released, it was -- pun intended -- a seismic shift, an early step forward for what would be a rapid growth in what video games were capable of over the next decade. Sure, most of them weren't substantially different, gameplay-wise, from Doom, but that's not a bad thing. Quake also came out as high-speed home internet was growing more accessible, making multiplayer deathmatch the online mode for 3D shooters for several years. While the industry has grown tremendously since those days, these old games have been revisited and given a new lease on life.
The fight for justice
Playing Quake and most other idTech 2 games in the modern day tends to be pretty hassle-free, thanks to the existence of several source ports. Several of them, Quake 1 and II included, have official remasters as well, taking a lot of the sweat out of getting these games to work. But always refer to the instructions provided with the source port of your choice for getting mods going!
Dark realities...
Here's a non-exhaustive list of the games that use idTech 2, new ones included. Everything is sorted alphabetically first by series, then main title, then expansion. I've also color-coded each entry based on what version of the engine they use, Quake or Quake II's.
Alien Arena: Warriors of Mars (2004)
COR Entertainment
A freeware multiplayer shooter with a retro-1950s sci-fi scheme. Finally,
the Mars Attacks! game we all wanted. Began life in 2003 with
two singleplayer campaigns (see below) before releasing as
CodeRED: Alien Arena the following year. Over time it's
supplanted the singleplayer stuff and eventually just ditched the
CodeRED title entirely.
CodeRED: Battle for Earth (2003)
COR Entertainment
The original single-player campaign that
Alien Arena eventually grew out of.
CodeRED: Martian Chronicles (2003)
COR Entertainment
Initially released as an add-on pack for
Battle for Earth before receiving a stand-alone release.
Anachronox (2001)
Ion Storm
One of the best RPGs ever made, with id Software legend Tom Hall's unique
brand of humor. Join a detective and his eclectic crew that includes a
stripper assassin, a depressed superhero, and a literal planet run by the
most annoying people in the galaxy. Maybe someday we'll get a sequel.
AQtion (1998)
AQ2World Team, TNG Team, A-Team (Akimbo)
Originally known as Action Quake II, it's basically deathmatch with more realistic weapons and damage
modeling. Many of the devs eventually went on to work on
Counter-Strike.
BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER 3 (2024)
Joeveno
A surreal comedy shooter, the full title of which is
BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER 3: OPENED A PORTAL TO HELL IN THE FAVELA TRYING
TO REVIVE TIM MAIA NEED TO CLOSE IT. Yeah, it's that kinda game.
CIA Operative: Solo Missions (2001)
Trainwreck Studios
Trainwreck Studios was the budget gaming division of 2015, Inc., a mostly
small-time outfit whose biggest developer credit is
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. Play a CIA agent out to stop a terrorist group. (Weird
how
often
this
theme
popped
up
shortly before 9/11...)
Daikatana (2000)
Ion Storm
Also known as John Romero's Daikatana, it was the legendary Doom designer's first big game after
leaving id Software. It was a total flop, for a long time being seen as
the flop. If you play it, you'll understand. It's something about a
swordsmaster from the future being sent through time to stop an evil warlord
from taking over the world with a mythical sword.
Eternal War: Shadows of Light (2001)
Two Guys Software
An ultra-low-budget Christian game about cleaning someone's tainted soul. I
am probably never going to play this. If you really want, you can read
Hardcore Gaming 101's
old article about Christian FPS games.
Gravity Bone (2008)
Blendo Games
Brendon Chung is a long-time developer of small, stylish games, who I deeply respect. Gravity Bone is a short-form semi-interactive story with a spy movie twist, utilizing his Citizen Abel character (previously seen in a number of Quake II maps as well as Half-Life mod The Puppy Years.)
Thirty Flights of Loving (2012)
Blendo Games
The followup to Gravity Bone, it's another first-person short story about planning and executing a heist in the fantastic retrofuturistic city-state of Nuevos Aires.
Heretic II (1998)
Raven Software
The followup to Heretic, Corvus finally manages to find his way back to his home dimension only to
discover his hometown in the grip of a magical plague. Unlike its
predecessor, or the Hexen series, Heretic II is
a third-person action game.
Hexen II (1997)
Raven Software
The followup to Hexen: Beyond Heretic, play as one of four classes and visit four different lands in a bid to
liberate your medieval world of Thyrion from the grip of Eidolon!
Hexen II: Portal of Praveus (1998)
Raven Software
The official mission pack for Hexen II. An evil wizard is trying to resurrect the Serpent Riders, and it's up to
you to stop him. Features a new setting to explore, and a fifth class to
play as.
Laser Arena (2000)
Trainwreck Studios
A laser tag simulator from the same guys who did
CIA Operative: Solo Missions. There must have been a market for these weird budget titles about stuff
you can totally go to a sports center and do in real life.
Malice (1997)
Ratloop
Similar to HACX being a Doom II total
conversion you had to pay for, Malice is a
Quake 1 total conversion. Set in the 23rd century, you're a
mercenary fighting against a rival crime lord, but not everything is as it
seems...
Quake (1996)
id Software
The original classic. A military teleportation project has been
compromised, and something incomprehensibly evil on the other side intends
to use it to invade earth. Step through the Slipgates, achieve arcane
knowledge, and blow up eldritch horrors!
Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon (1997)
Hipnotic Interactive
Once you blew up the eldritch horrors and cleansed their arcane dimensions
you're supposed to win, aren't you? Aren't you? Where's your fat
reward and ticket home? What the hell is this? It's not supposed to end this
way! Looks like you've still got some cleaning up to do, as a sinister force
steps in to fill the void, in this honestly fabulous first expansion
pack.
Mission Pack 2: Dissolution of Eternity (1997)
Rogue Entertainment
Another expansion pack, picking up where
Scourge of Armagon left off.
Quake Remaster (2021)
id Software, Nightdive Studios, MachineGames
A big remaster that finally brings under one roof the original game, both
expansions, the original freeware expansion
Dimension of the Past by MachineGames, their brand-new
expansion Dimension of the Machine exclusive for the remaster,
plus a curated list of mods and addons, including a port of
Quake 64 with its unique soundtrack by Aubrey Hodges. I'm not
exactly a big fan of the lighting changes, but fortunately it comes with the
original release of the game and its two expansions for you to run in the
source port of your choice.
Quake II (1997)
id Software
Fourteen years ago Earth was attacked by the Strogg, a spacefaring alien
race of war-hungry cyborgs with no purpose but conquest and assimulation.
Now, you and thousands of other hardened marines will invade Stroggos and
shut them down for good... you hope. No, this has no relation to
Quake 1. Yes, I've been mad about it since 1997.
Quake II Mission Pack: The Reckoning (1998)
Xatrix Entertainment
The first expansion pack for Quake II. Follow a different marine on a mission to infiltrate a Stroggos moon base
and destroy their orbital defense fleet.
Quake II Mission Pack: Ground Zero (1998)
Rogue Entertainment
As the only one who was able to slip past the Stroggos Gravity Well holding
the entire Earth fleet in orbit, it's up to you to shut down the Strogg
defenses.
Quake II Netpack I: Extremities (1998)
id Software
Just when you thought id Software were done releasing literal shovelware,
here comes Netpack I, a collection of twelve freely-available multiplayer mods (including
Action Quake 2) and a bunch of maps downloaded from the internet, sold as a commercial
product.
Quake II 64 (1999)
Raster Productions
Rather than being a direct port of Quake II to the N64,
Quake II 64 is a brand new campaign with a brand new
soundtrack by none other than Aubrey Hodges.
Quake II Remaster (2023)
id Software, Nightdive Studios, MachineGames
A fantastic remaster of Quake II. Features the base game, the two expansions, a brand new exclusive MachineGames expansion titled Call of the Machine, a long-awaited port of Quake II 64, lots of new visual effects and tweaks, and the original version of the
game to play in your favorite source ports. A remaster done right.
Shrak (1997)
Quantum Access
Another commercial total conversion, this one's about retaking Earth from
the hordes of mutants and their mysterious leader.
SiN (1998)
Ritual Entertainment
In this futuristic shooter, play as the trash-talking John Blade and wage
war against a sinister biotechnology megacorporation and the dangerous
recreational drugs they produce.
SiN: Wages of Sin (1999)
2015, Inc.
Picking up where the base game left off, it's up to you as John Blade to
protect your city from the crimelord seeking to take over. Also, yes, that's
the same 2015, Inc. that owned Trainwreck Studios.
Soldier of Fortune (2000)
Raven Software
Blow out kneecaps and literally disarm your enemies as John Mullins, an
American mercenary (and
real person) on a mission to stop some missing nuclear weapons from falling into the
wrong hands. And yes, this is a licensee of the war magazine
Soldier of Fortune.
Station 37 (2023)
Rory Lambert
A sci-fi horror shooter aboard a crumbling space station.
Steel Storm: Burning Retribution (2011)
Kot in Action Creative Artel
A top-down action shooter where you fight aliens.
Warfork (2019)
Team Forbidden
A freeware multiplayer shooter that began as a fork of the once-popular
freeware multiplayer shooter Warsow, after the latter effectively ceased development.
Wrath: Aeon of Ruin (2024)
KillPixel
A dark gothic shooter in the vein of Quake.
X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse (1997)
Zero Gravity Entertainment
Yet another total conversion, this one featuring
X-Men characters. Despite having such a big name on the box,
it is notoriously awful.
WTFFTQWEBBQ?
Similar to idTech 1, there are an awful lot of source ports, most of which are for Quake 1. Here's some of the more important and active ones.
Daikatana Unofficial 1.3 Patch
Probably the closest thing we've got to a Daikatana source port, this adds a lot of QOL features and fixes a ton of bugs, upgrading the game from "garbage" to "mediocre."
One of the more important Quake 1 source ports with an aim towards making it look nice. You get the option of high-definition textures (eugh!) and fancy dynamic lighting (provided you have the proper RTlights files.) Not as popular as it once was, but still a solid choice.
Well would you look at that, a source port for SiN! It'll have to do until that Nightdive remaster...
Essentially a bugfix source port aimed at improving id Software's old GlQuake release. Pretty influential for its time, though long superseded by QuakeSpasm and others.
Calling this the GZDoom of Quake source ports isn't totally inaccurate. Originally based on QuakeWorld, it runs Quake, Quake II, Quake III Arena, Hexen II and a bunch of FTEQW mods. Lots of features, but not the most accurate.
Dedicated Hexen II source port. If you're after a more vanilla experience this is your best bet. Honestly, this is the better option for Hexen II either way.
One of the many QuakeSpasm forks out there, with an aim towards performance. Whether you prefer this or VKQuake (another QS fork) comes down to preference.
A straightforward port with some light graphical enhancements but mostly focused on speedrunning.
KexQuake Steam (1) Steam (II) GOG (1) GOG (II)
The official KEX-powered engine for the Quake and Quake II remasters. Very solid in and of itself and I'd personally recommend it for Quake II at the very least.
A straightforward, modding-focused Quake II port.
An old competitor to QuakeSpasm but has fallen out of favor partly due to persistent technical issues and limited mod support.
An "official" source port of sorts intended as a proof of concept for NVidia's RTX technology.
The fancy graphics source port for Quake II.
The most popular port. Straightforward, simple, classic. Lots and lots of forks building on it -- you might like those better.
Right after QuakeSpasm is this fork of it, with fancy special effects. That
being said, like its parent it's a little outdated, and is a bit buggy.
QuakeWorld
An official, multiplayer-based port of the original Quake engine, intended by John Carmack as an update to the original version's netcode. Very deprecated but very important.
Soldier of Fortune source port.
Another QuakeSpasm fork that runs on the Vulkan renderer for performance improvements comparable to IronWail. Which one you use comes down to preference.
A straightforward, vanilla-focused Quake II source port. If you don't want to use KEX, this is probably the next best option.
The tough guys, who came to kill...
While Doom deathmatch was a big deal at the time, it was Quake, coming out as it did at the dawn of the modern internet, that was a gamechanger. People are still fragging each other to this day. Here's what you need to get started.
Quake:
Grab a QuakeWorld-derived source port. Here's some all-in-one packages --
source ports, maps, mods, etc. -- to get you started:
nQuake - The popular
one.
AfterQuake
- The fancy one.
Just follow the instructions for getting online.
You can also play directly in the remaster but I dunno how much luck you'll have finding people.
Quake II:
Just head to tastyspleen.net, here's a guide to get you started.
Remember for both of these you'll need to get the requisite data files out of the original versions of the game, not the remaster!
There's also a few networks you can use to get going.
Classic Gaming Arena supports original Quake 1 and its expansions.
NukemNet supports Hexen II, Laser Arena, Quake, and Quake II.
Nine inch deals
Alien Arena: Warriors of Mars Steam alienarena.org
CodeRED: Battle for Earth
ModDB
CodeRED: Martian Chronicles
Check the comments under Battle for Earth.
Anachronox
Steam
GOG
AQtion
Steam
aqtiongame.com
BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER 3
Steam
CIA Operative: Solo Missions
Out of print.
Daikatana
Steam
GOG
Eternal War: Shadows of Light
ModDB
Gravity Bone
itch.io
Steam
Also included in Thirty Flights of Loving.
Thirty Flights of Loving
itch.io
Steam
Heretic II
Out of print.
Hexen II
Steam
GOG
Hexen II: Portal of Praveus
Out of print.
Laser Arena
Out of print.
Malice
Out of print.
Remaster. You get the base game, both the original official expansion packs, MachineGames' freeware expansion from 2016 Dimension of the Past, and the new remaster-exclusive Dimension of the Machine. You also get a port of Quake 64 with Aubrey Hodges' soundtrack, some new features like Horde Mode and a mod browser, and the original version of the game+expansions.
Quake II: Quad Damage Steam GOG
Remaster. You get the base game, both the original single-player official expansion packs, MachineGames' new remaster-exclusive Call of the Machine, a port of Quake II 64 (which is an all-new campaign, unlike Quake 64), a mod browser, and the original version of the game+expansions.
Quake II Netpack I: Extremities
Out of print, but all of its contents were freely available multiplayer mods, including Action Quake 2, the predecessor to Aqtion.
Shrak
Out of print.
Collects base game and expansion.
Soldier of Fortune: Platinum Edition GOG
Station 37
Steam
Steel Storm: Burning Retribution
Steam
Warfork
Steam
Wrath: Aeon of Ruin
Steam
GOG
X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse
developer website
Get the soundtrack here.
Whack whack here's some mods
Looking for more to see, do and kill? Check out these map and mod repositories!
Quaddicted - Almost every Quake 1 singleplayer map and mod ever!
Arcane Dimensions - The mega community pack, which deserves a mention all by itself.
Doomed Lands - Has a big collection of Quake II stuff.
Tasty Spleen - Also has a bunch of Quake II stuff.
ETTinGRiNDER's Fortress - Probably the one place you're gonna see a lot of Hexen II mods.
ModDB has collections for some games, including some of those out of print Quake 1 conversions...
Dimensions of the doomed
Dimension of the Boomed: A short episode in the Quake style. The Quake Champions: Doom Edition version is a full monster replacement, too! Just use QC:DE 2.7 -- it doesn't work properly in 3.0.
Parallel Doomensions: An MBF-compatible Doom wad with a Quake theme.
QDoom: A now-legendary mod from the early 2000s that sort of demakes Quake into Doom, using the EDGE engine. I would suggest using EDGE-Classic rather than mainline EDGE. Rather than being a straight attempt to port Quake levels, it features a moody original campaign from one-time community legend Marc "Fanatic" Pullen.
QDoom: A recreation of Doom's first episode into Quake. Comes free with the remaster.
Quake 1 Stuff Ultra Reloaded: A gameplay mod for GZDoom.
Quake: Descent into Heresy: A gameplay mod that converts Heretic into Quake. Your choice on if the texture replacer's worth using or not. Pretty outdated at this point but might still work.
Slayer's Testament: A demake of sorts of Doom Eternal in Quake 1.
Your Path of Destruction: A recreation of various Doom and Doom II maps into Quake, created years before the official QDoom mod.
And here's a few edge cases...
The Darkening: While not explicitly a Quake-themed wad, it takes many design and aesthetic cues from Quake.
The Darkening 2: Despite a totally bespoke texture set, the Quake II inspiration is screamingly obvious.
Project Slipgate: A Quake-styled mod making heavy use of ZDoom features. The original version has been replaced by the remake on /idgames, so I've linked to an archived version of the defunct Doom Wad Station review. Here's the remake.
Disillusion: The followup to Project Slipgate. Like its predecessor, the /idgames entry has been supplanted by a remake.
Quake2Doom: An attempt at recreating the Quake II vibe in Doom from one of the future creators of Project Slipgate. Might be worth using K8Vavoom for the 2008 version, though.
Enter the slipgate...
Quaddicted - Probably the place for Quake 1 business.
Slipseer - A newer Quake 1 forum, though they've been discussing adding Quake II stuff too.
func_msgboard A long-running forum dedicated to the original Quake trilogy and several other games. Their links page has a lot of stuff.
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