Quake is a series of first-person shooter video games created by id Software. As of 2010, Bethesda Softworks published the series. The Quake series includes the original game and its nonlinear, standalone sequels, which have different settings and stories.
Quake was developed as a follow-up to id Software's successful Doom series, which began in 1993. As a new series, Quake improved on Doom's fast-paced gameplay, game engine, and 3D graphics. It also added online multiplayer features, allowing players to compete over the internet. These changes helped make the Quake series popular and made it an important example of early online gaming. By 2009, the series had sold more than 5 million copies.
Games
The Quake video game series is based on first-person shooter gameplay. However, the games do not follow one single story. Instead, two main storylines appear in the series, along with the Arena series, which focuses on multiplayer games.
The original game's story follows a player character, later called "Ranger" in Quake III Arena, who travels through different worlds to stop an enemy named "Quake." The game takes place in a dark, mysterious world that mixes elements of fantasy, medieval settings, and science fiction.
- Quake (1996)
- Quake Mission Pack No. 1: Scourge of Armagon (1997)
- Quake Mission Pack No. 2: Dissolution of Eternity (1997)
- Quake: Dimension of the Past (2016; happens after Quake and before its expansions)
- Quake: Dimension of the Machine (2021)
Quake II and its follow-up games switch to a science fiction setting. These games describe a war between humans and a race of robot-like aliens called the Strogg.
- Quake II (1997)
- Quake II Mission Pack: The Reckoning (1998)
- Quake II Mission Pack: Ground Zero (1998)
- Call of the Machine (2023; an expansion for Quake II)
- Quake 4 (2005)
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (2007; a separate game connected to Quake II, set before its events)
Quake III Arena and later games focus more on multiplayer competition than on single-player stories. These games use different settings than the first two games but still connect to them and share elements with id Software's Doom series. Quake Champions, in particular, draws from the original game's stories and legends.
- Quake III Arena (1999)
- Quake III: Team Arena (2000)
- Quake Live (2010; an updated version of Quake III Arena designed as a free online game)
- Quake Champions (2017)
Reception
Since its first release, the series has received mostly good reviews. Quake, Quake II, and Quake III Arena have been named by many video game writers and magazines as some of the best video games ever made. Like Doom, the Quake series faced controversy early on because of its graphic violence. People and the media were upset about Quake and other violent video games, especially after the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999. It was discovered that the attackers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, played both Doom and Quake. This led some media outlets to claim that violent video games could harm children’s mental health and make them more aggressive. John Romero, a co-founder of id Software, said in a 2013 interview that the company and its developers never wanted to "offend or shock" people with their games.