Quake 2

Quake II is a 1997 first-person shooter developed by id Software and published by Activision, released for Windows on December 9, 1997 in the US and three days later in Europe. Despite the name, it has no story connection to the first Quake — the Lovecraftian slipgates are gone, replaced by a straight military invasion of the machine-flesh alien homeworld of Stroggos. It was acclaimed on release (PC Gamer scored it 96, GameRankings averages 87% on PC), won PC Action Game of the Year at the first Interactive Achievement Awards, and sold more than a million copies by 2002. Its reputation then turned: for years it has been called the weakest of id’s major shooters, a verdict that PC Gamer’s Rick Lane tested by reinstalling it after the 2023 remaster.

If you landed here after searching “Quake 2” you will probably ask one of two things — is it worth playing first, and which version? The short answers are in the sections below; the long answer is that the 2023 remaster is the version to buy.

Technical Specifications

Bitterman on Stroggos

Earth is under attack by the Strogg, a race that fuses captured humans with machinery and has been abducting soldiers for parts. The player is Marine Bitterman, one of the survivors of the assault drop on Stroggos, the Strogg homeworld, who pushes through the planet’s Strogg installations to reach the orbital asteroid base of the Strogg leader, the Makron. The story is told through satellite-view mission briefings rather than cutscenes, and the structure is a mission-based campaign with levels connected through hubs rather than Quake’s episodes. The mood is science-fiction war, with the Strogg’s flesh-and-metal body horror as the main visual idea; the stroggification of captured Marines was powerful enough that the sequel Quake 4 built its midpoint around it.

Railgun, BFG10K, and Hub Levels

Movement is slower and more grounded than in Quake, with crouching added. Four of the first game’s weapons return and six are new, including the Railgun — an instant-hit weapon that became a fixture of arena shooters — and the BFG10K. Levels link through hubs, and mission objectives replace pure exit-hunting. Enemy design was a step forward: Strogg soldiers, Gladiators, Tanks, and Berserkers react to damage with distinct death animations, and the sound design is widely praised as unsettling. Multiplayer ran deathmatch, 1v1, capture the flag, and co-op, and id released the engine’s source code under the GPL in December 2001, which fed a long line of source ports and mods.

From 96% to “The Worst id Game”

PC Gamer’s Rick Lane wrote in 2024: “When Quake 2 came out, we gave it a 96% review; now, it’s seen as the worst id game.” His verdict, after replaying with the remaster, is balanced. On the plus side: the Strogg are well designed and animated, the atmosphere is excellent, the super shotgun and railgun remain satisfying, and the briefing-driven missions give the war a sense of scale. On the minus side: the levels are repetitive “brown” warehouses and crates, several weapons feel underpowered, the pace is flatter than the original Quake, and the premise is trite by modern standards. Lane calls it an evolutionary link between the maze-like Quake and the more grounded Half-Life that followed, among the most advanced shooters of its moment even if its ambitions were only partly realised.

The 2023 Remaster

Announced and released the same day at QuakeCon, on August 10, 2023, Nightdive’s remaster was a free update for existing owners and $10 for new players. It contains the original campaign, the N64 version’s levels (Quake II 64), the two classic expansions (The Reckoning and Ground Zero), and a new 28-level episode from MachineGames, Call of the Machine. It adds toggleable lighting, fog, and effects upgrades, a 64-bit build, split-screen and online multiplayer with PC/console crossplay, custom maps, and improved AI and bots. The original version stays playable beside it.

Where to Play It Today

The GOG edition (Quake II, $9.99, regularly $3.99 on sale; 4.2/5 from 151 users) bundles the original, the enhanced version, both expansions, Call of the Machine, and Quake II 64. It is also on Steam, Epic, and the Microsoft Store (where it is included with Game Pass), and on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. First-timers should start with the enhanced version and play Call of the Machine afterwards; those who want the original experience can launch the unmodified game from the same install.