I will never forget the priceless memories of playing Quake II on PC in 1997. In the late '90s, everyone was playing DOOM, Wolfenstein, Half-Life, and, of course, Quake. The first game will forever be a classic, but its sequel (which isn’t a true sequel, only by name), Quake II, was still pretty amazing at the time.

Seeing that id Software remastered the original Quake, and then Quake II was fantastic. Once again, they did everything right by enhancing all the graphics, bundling all the expansions into one title for easy selection, and keeping the core elements intact for a fantastic trip down memory lane.

Everything I remember as a teenager is here, and it’s pretty surreal: adrenaline-fueled music, legendary weapons and grenades, lots of places to explore, and a diverse number of enemies and bosses waiting to be fragged. They did a phenomenal job upgrading the graphics, adding that nifty compass, and making many quality-of-life adjustments. I also felt the lighting was much better here to open things up and admire the incredible level of design, puzzles, traps, blood, gore, and secret areas.

Quake II ran so smoothly that I had zero issues while playing. There were even a few multiplayer servers online if you wanted to frag with friends or against others. They were all filled, and even though you won’t find thousands of people playing Quake II at any given time, enough gamers are playing to fill a few servers to jump into.

I give Quake II a perfect 5/5 for preserving the game as it was decades ago but making it viable for modern gaming. It’s an FPS classic and will always be remembered fondly for being ahead of its time back in ‘97. This newly remastered version is incredible and was highly praised and received by the Quake community. It’s a fun game to play, and if you want to head back to reminisce about this game growing up, go for it. If you love FPS games and want to play one of the greatest classics, jump right in. Here’s to hoping that maybe in the future, thanks to the success and praise Quake and Quake II got from being remastered, we can finally get a brand new Quake game for this modern gaming era. I don’t consider Quake Champions that, but give all of us Quake fans a proper new title that is in the same vein as these two games, and you couldn’t get our money fast enough. I’d buy that in a heartbeat if it’s done right and follows everything we love about Quake. I guess we’ll see over time.