Quake II: Remastered

I should spend my energy on something other than feeling genuinely sorry for the reboot kings at Nightdive Studios, but I just can't. The only thing I've been thinking about Quake II: Remastered since last week's Quakecon 2023 announcement is that the studio, which for the second time now has breathed new life into Id Software's old cult classic, remains the gaming world's most elusive curtain-raiser. Nightdive has certainly not created Quake II from scratch (of course not) but they have worked hard to renew, refresh, improve and polish it to a standard that we have not seen before when it comes to Quake II, and for their work they have currently not even been mentioned. Not anywhere.

During Quakecon, the name Nightdive Studios was not mentioned once. There's no mention in the press release, no mention on Id Software's or Bethesda's own sites, and on the official Quake II site (which has also been revamped) there's not a single tiny microphone mention. Not one. The fact that the all-Swedish Wolfenstein studio Machine Games has made a new small expansion to Quake II: Remastered can be read everywhere, but not a word about the people actually behind this reboot. And that's just unfortunate. However, I have no plans to overlook Nightdive's work, here. They have, just like in the case of Quake: Remastered, done an excellent job of bringing this old 90's staple into the present and I have thoroughly enjoyed returning to the Strogg war in Id Software's solid sequel.

As I mentioned last week, Quake II was never really my thing, even though Quake and especially Quake III: Arena are two of my all-time favorites in the action genre. When I examine myself today, here 26 years later, I am absolutely convinced that it was just about expectations and not about the game not being perfect, because it is. In 1997 I had expected more death metal-NiN-based Lovecraft design and that patented strangely wonderful mix of medieval catacombs, glowing nightmare demons and rocket jumps. I got something... different. And while Quake II of course oozed quality back in 1997, I never really appreciated the game for what it actually was. Sometimes we gamers can't appreciate greatness if it's beating us over the head, and now that I've relived the Strogg conflicts over the weekend and run through Quake II, again, I'm not going to shy away from saying that 19-year-old Petter was simply wrong.

Because even though Quake will always trump Quake II in my world, with hindsight I would dare to say that the second game was almost as revolutionary. If we step back a bit and take a wide-angle perspective on where the FPS genre is today and what has happened in the last 20 years, it quickly becomes clear that many of the parts that made up the whole of Quake II set a standard that still applies today. The ribbon design. The artificial intelligence and enemy "patterns" in terms of attacks and aggressiveness and the storytelling, which is done via radio chatter, audio files and how to work with sub-objectives as "side missions", almost. All of this was further refined in Valve's iconic debut title, but even in Quake II there are plenty of ingredients that are used today in blockbusters like Call of Duty, Halo and everything in between. I didn't understand or appreciate any of this at the time, and I would like to apologize to Id Software for that - I blame a youthful lack of knowledge, awareness and perspective. If I make the same mistake today with any other game, I blame old-fashioned forgetfulness and fatigue. Sorry... In other words, there are plenty of them here.

Just as there are plenty of enemies in Quake II, there are plenty of gunfights and weapons. It's full of guns, bullets and charging mutant soldiers who, deep down, just want a one-way ticket to hell. Oblige Them! The first thing that struck me when I fired up Quake II: Remastered on my PS5 was how quirky the enemies feel and how little has happened on the AI side in terms of enemy intelligence in the last 27 years. Almost nothing, unfortunately. The soldiers in Quake II duck, work sideways, flank me as a player and behave cleverly if not as some kind of immortal super soldiers. The game mechanics are tight, the weapons feel good, and the pacing is brilliantly balanced against the rate of fire and enemy movement patterns. Just like in its predecessor, the maze-like environments are cleverly designed, too, and it's fun to find your way through the levels, stumble upon well-hidden secrets and solve simple, object-based environmental puzzles that make the player feel unreasonably smart.

Nightdive has once again done a brilliant job of polishing up the graphics enough without changing anything that would interfere with the whole. The environments are razor-sharp and provide an intriguing contrast to the polygon-poor enemies that I think is more noticeable here than in its predecessor and its lavish, ambitious reboot. Considering how popular newly made "boomershooters" have become in recent years, it's really nice to return to the most famous originals to see where all the inspiration comes from. Id Software, just like Epic Games, Valve and 3D Realms, were way ahead of their time with these titles, and it's all the more obvious when they're entertaining on royal premises 27 years later.

Machine Games' newly made expansion Call of the Machine is also brilliant. In fact, that part contains the best levels in this entire package, and just like in the case of Quake: Remastered, the Swedes have managed to bridge the gap between modern approaches/styles and old school action mash. The Reckoning and Ground Zero mission packs are also brilliant, here, and there's plenty of content for those who really want to run through everything related to the Quake II original. Full 4K/120Hz support, crossplay, co-op, split screen multiplayer as well as online multiplayer, N64 maps, restored midi music... Everything is included here in a package that feels polished and clean in a way that today's games very rarely do. There's no doubt that this is a superb package drenched in nostalgia that no action junkie should miss.