Tuesday 22 June 2021

Quake at 25

Today is the 25th anniversary of Quake, the 3D-polygon-based follow-up to id Software’s famous first-person shooter Doom.

Both of them feature design work and monsters by Call Of Cthulhu designer Sandy Petersen, who tells of why it was called Quake as a holdover from the protagonist wielding a ground-smashing magic hammer several iterations before the one we got.

Not that the story matters - Quake II dumps the original interdimensional medieval Cthulhoid setup for an alien invasion and has enough story to justify its action coherently, and some fans considered that too much - but the version that nearly happened sounds pretty fun too. It also explains why the protagonist has even less of a personality than the much latterly named Doom Slayer. (Not counting the Doom films, or the comic which gave him entirely too much personality.)

Add the creepy ambient Trent Reznor soundtrack and generally green and brown, rust and dried blood aesthetic and it can still feel tense after all this time.

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