Quake 2 Remastered Is Stunning - The DF Tech Review - Every Version Tested

The id software classic is masterfully updated for the modern era thanks to the brilliant Nightdive Studios - with an assist from Machine Games, who've brought a brand new mission to the game. John Linneman revisits the history of Quake 2, compares every version of the new release and stacks up the various enhancements. Available to buy at a very low price, available on Game Pass, or as a free upgrade on PC, this is a simply phenomenal new version of a truly legendary game.
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00:00 - Introduction
01:05 - A Brief History of Quake 2
02:17 - Initial Findings on Quake 2 2023
04:25 - Platform Comparisons - Every Version
07:10 - Visual Enhancements
08:28 - Light Map Showcase
10:53 - Coloured Lighting Improvements
12:53 - Height Fog
13:49 - Enhanced Model Quality
17:05 - What about Quake 2 RTX?
18:06 - AI is enhanced!
19:50 - Sound Improvements
22:35 - The Machine Games Campaign is amazing
23:41 - Quake 2 64 is here too!

[@SDK2K9]

That's amazing that they found unfinished map data in the ID archives and went through the effort to restore areas that weren't in the final game. They really are putting R* to shame here.

[@YunkBread]

ID has put every company in shame, They created the modern FPS genre, true 3D Graphics and some great games along the way, and NightDive has made great remasters true to the orginal games they are based of off, seriously that System Shock Remake is impressive

[@SterkeYerke5555]

Yeah, this is what a real Definitive Edition looks like

[@parthanandi9991]

You are forgetting only one thing in here. R* have no shame.

[@AFourEyedGeek]

​​​​​@@YunkBreadtrue 3D wasn't due to iD, but the rest seems accurate. You had 80s arcade games starting with Battlezone in 1980, Star Wars in '83, Winning Run '88, on the SNES you had Star Fox '93 which was 9 months before Doom, and 2 years before Quake you had 6 degrees of freedom in Descent in '94.

[@starrystreams3642]

3D that could work on home computers?

[@petejams7340]

Rockstar should be ashamed. This is how you bring older games to current gen.

[@JangianTV]

Rockstar DGAF anymore lol! 💰

[@akaimizu1]

Rockstar does Older gen game modern/ports so dirty, it's actually an IMPROVEMENT when they do a very straight port. When they decide to remaster a game, it's actually a de-master.

[@nrgamingtech2797]

​@@doublewhopper67does that make them incapable of making crap? Nice blind fanboy sheep logic right there

[@YOBAMUSTDIE]

Nope this remaster is not so good, How come nobody addresses issue with lack of leglegs animation when you move and shoot that was not fixed in quake 1 remaster and still happening in quake 2 remaster, also how come nobody criticized remastered of quake 1 and 2 for lack of autodownload from server and clients all custom sounds, textures, models, and maps and other assets including game DLL that was present in original game? Also why nobody criticized them for lack of 32 bit executable for compatibility with old 32 bit DLL mods for quake 2??? Also why nobody complained about lack of mod loading menu and lack of Bethesda net curated mods download that was present in quake 1 and doom 1-2 remasters???? These issues would not be fixed until many people will start talking about that!!! Oh yeah where is transparent water in many locations?

[@alphagames8737]

Facts

[@willwunsche6940]

What a phenomenally handled remaster and for that price too? Wow. This gives me massive respect for the studios that worked on it

[@Mike-mc5ll]

And then there is Konami...

[@willwunsche6940]

@@Mike-mc5ll Ah Konami, the gambling and mobile game company. They are interesting

[@KaraokeNig]

Indeed

[@JanLe82]

There's just nothing like John diving into some beloved classic, I could watch these for hours.

[@pessimisticnihilist7338]

Not even Civvie ?

[@Skeames1214]

Honestly wish John would exclusively do retro stuff. He does great work with modern games too, don't get me wrong, but his enthusiasm for retro games is so contagious. I didn't get into gaming until the ps2, and didn't get into pc gaming until 2016, so there's a lot of really cool games I've missed.

[@alexsilva28]

The DF retro vids are probably my favorite outside of their regular tech reviews

[@coolbrotherf127]

​@@pessimisticnihilist7338Civvie is awesome, but John definitely has a more chill vibe. Civvie is a bit more chaotic and intense.

[@MKMadness]

Rockstar take notes, this is what a proper Remaster is.

[@Swisshost]

And Blizzard 🤫

[@Chasodey]

​@@MicheleKalina704That's right, D2R is definitely worth its price for the amount of work done

[@newyork1222]

Don't worry, they're not lol. They'd laugh at the amount of effort that was put into a game pass title with no extra cost. Meanwhile they give minimal effort and charge you $50 for a trash port. Bunch of clowns over there 🤡

[@meowijuana2322]

Based

[@risinggael1685]

Thing is ID was the cutting edge of graphics at their peak dominance...Rockstar never was originally...it would be highly embarrassing for ID to let anything out that isn't perfection of what was originally perfection at its time...I guess that's the difference between the two companies...one was THE company for game engines until unreal challenged ID...

[@BIaziken2]

They really did do a great job with this remaster, definitely hits that sweet point of looking how you remember the game looked.

[@Faxie83]

It looked a tiny bit better than in my memory, though the better lighting was obvious. But seeing it side by side now, I'm surprised how crappy the original looks compared to the remaster.

[@eagle_rb_mmoomin_418]

​@@Faxie83you should see the RT version of the game.

[@AFourEyedGeek]

​@@Faxie83it is amazing isn't it? Same thing with me.

[@Masterdesstruct]

​@@Faxie83People used to have monitors that made it look better. Those resolutions aren't good looking in a 1080p monitor

[@Faxie83]

@@Masterdesstruct Yeah, I thought about that too. At the time we only had CRT's, and mostly 15 and 17 inch. Even when LCD's came, the biggest ones were 19 and not that great of a quality. Your mind would fill in the graphics and that's why you remember it looking better than it did. It happens with a lot of older games, FF7 comes to mind too, I remembered those backgrounds to look much sharper.

[@RazorOfArtorias]

Fair price for one of the best remasters I've played. Great job Nightdive Studios and Machine Games.

[@epicgames_simone]

This is what happens when dev are passionate/love a project and given the freedom to do the best they can. What a fantastic Remaster.

[@eternalsword1999]

Easily one of the best remasters I've ever played, Nightdive Studios once again knocked it out of the park, Quake 2 64 alone is more than enough reason to recommend this bad boy.

[@bobsnow1620]

What’s the difference between quake 2 on pc and quake 64?

[@DeskoDev]

​​@@bobsnow1620 Quake 2 64 is more or less a completely different game. Outside of some levels resembling base game maps and having a few mission pack maps, the rest of the game's level design is completely different.

[@farisakhtar4824]

I downloaded this game on Xbox just to play quake 64 again. Great memories were made with this game growing up.

[@Erikcleric]

​@@bobsnow1620differences are immense. Quake II 64 has much lower resolution textures, the player weapons are sprites (very well made though) and the campaign itself is quite alot shorter compared to the PC version, compressed sounds.

[@wargreysama]

@@Erikcleric I never realized they were sprites, though I never owned a N64 and only played the game on RetroArch on my AndroidTV stick. That's an amazing information. Thanks sir!

[@-PVL93-]

Nightdive Studios need to be protected at all costs, they and Bluepoint both develop great remasters

[@JDelwynn]

Too late, Nightdive is now owned by Atari and Bluepoint by Sony, they're going to get worse over time.

[@slowmercy69]

BluePoint... yeah I dislike them now especially after Demon's Souls Demake

[@packetpupper]

​@JDelwynn Sony have a great first party track record. Ghost of tsushima, horizon forbidden west, god of war, ratchet and clank... how is this bad? Atari are another story but IDK that it's known to ruin games.

[@blackbeardddd]

​@slowmercy310 ya was so terrible.....not. Bluepoint has alway excelled with Sony. Most of their work has been with Sony hence the acquisition. Demon souls is excellent

[@ThunderingRoar]

​@@slowmercy69demon souls remake was fantastic??

[@decoyfox]

This game was a formative experience for me in 1997, kickstarted a life long FPS addiction that will only stop when I'm pushing up daisies

[@GuruJSGamingIsFun]

Don't you mean FPDS? (First Person Daisy Shooting)😂

[@purebaldness]

Yeah same here man. What's funny is I dabbled in a bit of Doom II and Goldeneye beforehand, but I used the arrow keys for Doom and none of the C buttons on the N64 controller. It took playing the Q2demo to discover strafing, and it all fell into place from there. We're eating good these days with all the 90's style FPS everywhere

[@Cream_CurdlR]

another forgotten one i wish they would bring back is soldier of fortune and soldier of fortune 2

[@Lord_Deimos]

Playing 3D accelerated Quake 2 was quite the thing to behold and one of the best memories I've had with pc gaming.

[@pants8029]

Yep, I bought 2 Voodoo 2's just to play Quake 2 at 1024x768 back in the day.

[@GraveUypo]

it was also my first high frame rate experience. my pentium 233mmx flew in this game with a voodoo2. death match at 85fps was a joy

[@jcdenton868]

I remember my big brother buying voodoo 3d card and speaking about how big deal it it :D

[@sealboy1211]

Yup, I first played quake 2 on software render, my dad brought home a voodoo one day and I remember walking into a room with lava and I couldn’t really believe the colors I was seeing. Will never forget it.

[@Jonteponte71]

Going from Q2 on software rendering to Voodo 2 GPU was a revolution back in the day. Had a friend that bought one and I was hooked from that moment on. Q2 FFA DM is still the game I was/am pretty good at.

[@RGDcommentnode]

Looking back it's wild that we bought 3D accelerators for our PCs so we could run Quake II in OpenGL mode at resolutions like 640x480 or 800x600. Coloured lighting and smoother textures were quite alluring in the late 90s.

[@gwynbleidd13]

What is wild is that I used a ball mouse, 3dfx voodoo 1, 14” monitor and was delighted when it run at 28-32 fps. It felt so good. None of us had a clue you want minimum 60fps, and a precisely tracking mouse.

[@GraveUypo]

@@gwynbleidd13 none of whom? i had a voodoo 2 and this thing ran at a butter smooth 85fps most of the time. delicious fluidity. but ngl i'd been happy with 30fps, considering how i played quake 1 (20fps on a very small window that was at most a third of full screen). i think without the voodoo2, my pentium 233 mmx ran quake 2 at roughly 30fps in 320x200. it wasn't bad.

[@gwynbleidd13]

@@GraveUypo I would have done disgusting things to much older men for a Pentium 233 MMX :-) I had a 166 MMX, a Genius PS/2 mouse, Daewoo Monitor. Still, to this day I remember how tweaking gl_ commands, one could make the game run faster.

[@hughJ]

@@gwynbleidd13 There was actually a 3dfx tech demo in the voodoo2 era that contrasted 30 and 60fps side by side.

[@rubensano4860]

£7.99 for all this is an incredible deal.

[@Moshugaani]

Moreover, it's actually free if you already owned the Steam or GOG version before!

[@FeTetra]

@@Moshugaani what abt quake 2 rtx on gog lmao

[@lolcat]

​@@FeTetrathat's already free by default so no

[@FeTetra]

@@lolcat i personally prefer to play quake on dark places ngl

[@chrisb.9083]

Free on game pass

[@nitad001]

Young gamers will never know how amazing the introduction of 3d accelerators were 😂

[@ncs9667]

Even Quake 1 running in software mode is still impressive to me. Going from Doom to Quake is probably the biggest jump I have ever experienced in graphics. I feel like since around Bad Company 2 coming out graphics improvements are much more granular. They are still getting better but these sorts of jumps are much rarer. When you threw 3d acceleration into the mix it was mind blowing.

[@bemhibbits4157]

Or a free CD with multiple demos on it every month.

[@syrus3k]

@@ncs9667 3dfx was simply the biggest leap in computer graphics.. ever in my opinion. It truly was mind blowing and changed the face of gaming forever.

[@jothain]

@@syrus3k Yes, what I experienced plugging in Voodoo2 and doing some games. It was leap never since experienced. Well ok, I have to add SB16 to same category. Getting cd drive and that compared to floppies and beeper was in level in the at least same level of change :)

[@MikoYotsuya292]

Also, many youngsters will not know their favorite modern FPS games' architecture came from Quake or specifically, id Tech 😎

[@fatfreddyscoat7564]

Unless you were of that time you’ll never understand his mind blowing a 3dFX card was back in the day, and seeing games running in OpenGL or Glide was absolutely breathtaking.

[@durrclips746]

This update is essential. It's only $10 and it's easily the best way to play Q2

[@landoishisname]

it was $5 before the remaster, rip slow gang

[@alcelobo9114]

​​@@landoishisnameZero dollars giveaway couple of years ago during quakecon. They did give quake, quake 2 and quake 3. I wasn't much impressed then, because Quake for example didn't even have music. LoL. It was like pirate version from 90s, 30 mb. I haven't expected that this crap version would be turned into such fantastic remaster with all official addons with music and new campaign. Same with Quake 2, even better with new AI behavior.

[@thefuturist8864]

It was a free update for me.

[@papayer]

​@@landoishisnameIt includes a new episode that's literally a new game altogether. Also it's a free upgrade if you already had vanilla Q2.

[@kongk4]

@@alcelobo9114 The lack of music was due to both Q1/2's code looking for the CD. Why? Hard to say. Probably as a slight anti-piracy measure or maybe because Red Book audio sounded better extracted from the CD? Before the enhanced versions, people had to manually put the music files in a new folder and mod the game's ini file to look within said folder instead of a CD.

[@vio2112]

Don't think I didn't catch you guys briefly sneaking in that Descent 2 music at the 1 minute mark.. One of my all time favorite soundtracks!

[@Ruwetuin]

yeah indeed it confused me too!

[@CorporalDanLives]

0:05 Oh damn, I wrote that article and took all those screenshots back in the day. PCG flew me out to Mesquite and I spent a few days with id; I remember spending an entire day sitting in an empty office playing the game and taking screenshots just like it was yesterday. I especially remember what a great guy John Cash was; I think he went on to work at Blizzard and write a whole bunch of WoW.

[@TrueDiox]

This is a level of love I have not seen another game get in a remaster... Ever.

[@mar21182]

Metroid Prime Remaster was pretty amazing too

[@yoshi314]

what about Homeworld?

[@Mike-xp1nx]

Resident evil 4 was perfect

[@MatthewShep]

​@@Mike-xp1nxthat's a remake

[@Squant]

@@mar21182 You've gotta be kidding. There are interviews with the developers on KZbin talking about all the awesome tech they had to cut from the Switch version. The game looks depressingly lifeless without beam lighting.

[@Frostlead042]

Now THIS is how you do a remaster! Props to Bethesda and the devs for giving this game the love it deserves!

[@femto8402]

Nightdive studios never disappoint. It is probably their best work so far imo

[@mechanicalmonk2020]

​@@femto8402let's pretend Blood Fresh Supply and Blade Runner didn't happen eh?

[@battlebunny88]

@@mechanicalmonk2020blood is mostly fixed

[@Deliveredmean42]

​@@femto8402well it sure suggest that Nightdive isn't perfect so they did disappoint in those two games.

[@azreow]

Bethesda is a publisher only for this game. Id and nightdive deserve the credit here. Bethesda (the dev studio) NEVER puts out something polished, only broken.

[@irgpie6669]

With each of these stellar remasters and new expansions I hope we can get a full new Quake entry from Machine Games some day. Their absolute love for the series and understanding of what makes it good is so evident in their work.

[@yellinginmyear]

I never thought about it that way but yeah - a whole new quake game based on their work with the campaigns they made would be awesome. Would even give them free reign creatively to come up with visual themes of their own

[@TefenCa]

You could try revisiting Quake 4 but add in the extra mods for texture, faster walking etc. so it plays like a new Quake game.

[@murderman8578]

​@@yellinginmyearwhich campaigns did they make

[@matthewlongo6404]

@@murderman8578 New campaign in Quake 1 and 2 remasters. More level packs but still cool.

[@murderman8578]

@@matthewlongo6404 the Actual names

[@SombreroCat270]

0:58 was not expecting a Descent 2 track, awesome!

[@soyunbonus]

I prefer to play without texture filtering... but I can, because it's a setting! It's truly a great remaster.

[@danbooke2001]

When I was in the Marines from 97-01, we used to have office LAN parties each week... this game hits me in the nostalgia feels hard.

[@Atrus999]

This is how remasters should be done.

[@RicochetForce]

Holy crap, this was absolutely a labor of love and passion like few other things in the industry. Thanks for the review, John!

[@NintenJon2023]

John, I just wanted to say how much we really appreciate the attention-to-detail you have in your gaming retrospectives. This is why Digital Foundry has become my premier source for gaming news and otherwise. You all bring deep, intrinsic analysis and shine a spotlight on the games and companies that really deserve the attention like Nightdive Studios. Thank you so much for your dedication, especially in terms of video game preservation. Can’t wait to play Nightdive’s version of Quake II. Keep up the great work, y’all!

[@Jammet]

Bot support for Capture the Flag is missing, and that is SUCH a SHAME ... man that is the best Capture the Flag I experienced next to that of Unreal Tournament 1 ... It was also my first CTF! Three-wave-Capture-the-Flag was amazing and I wished they'd patch the bot support into the game mode! PLEASE!!

[@SSGLGamesVlogs]

Thanks for the heads up.

[@mattg768]

Picked it up on PC, luckily I already owned it so I got the remaster for free. Such a nice gift as I didn't realise it was coming.

[@jinx20001]

in ones mind classic games are always remembered as great looking but when you play them today its like ''this is not how i remember it looking''. Whats awesome about the quake 2 remaster is its EXACTLY how i remember it looking even though its been improved, its done just enough but not too much to the point this is how i remember it in my minds eye and thats very very cool.

[@worsel555]

Personally, as someone who bought Quake II when it first came out on PC years ago day one, I am SO HAPPY the killer OST by Sonic Mayhem was put back into the digital releases of this game after not being included for YEARS. I remember taking the game CD to school, and since I had music classes first period every day and we were given free reign to do what we wanted before class started (usually played cover songs), popping it into the sound system and having my classmates ask me who this band was. Explaining it was the actual Quake II game I know some people who legit went out and bought it after school that day. I am glad I still have my copy to this day and in great shape too, I also backed it up years ago including ripping the OST to FLAC, but this made me so happy to install from my Steam collection and hear the music blasting out once again.

[@rabid_si]

Such a beautiful remaster and love affair to the game, and the fact that the CD audio is back and fully present was the bit that got me fist pumping. This game's soundtrack is like my childhood.

[@worsel555]

@@rabid_si I was in high school when this came out... excuse me I need to sit in my rocking chair and yell at kids for bending the grass on my lawn now...

[@patrickc.6183]

It's great to see the Quake series get these excellent remasters 👍.

[@modernmobster]

Great job, Nightdive. Hopefully they'll do a remaster of Quake 4, as well as Soldier of Fortune 1 and 2.

[@ajsingh4545]

Also want them to remaster Deus Ex 1 and 2, Heretic 1 and 2 and Thief 1-3

[@Cobaltios]

Heretic and Hexen please.

[@jamesellis3583]

Nightdive have 2 unannounced remasters waiting for us, wonder what they might be ?

[@purebaldness]

SoF for sure, but I don't think Q4 warrants a remastering. It's hardly beloved and it still looks pretty good today I'd say SoF2 had great multilayer though. I'd love to get back in on that with modern consoles.

[@modernmobster]

@purebaldness they should remaster Quake 4 because it's stuck on the 360 for consoles, which runs horribly, and you have to do workarounds to get the resolution to work properly on pc. They could touch up the lighting and some texture work at least.

[@phrozac]

I love this game. Everything about it blew me away back in 1998. Playing this version on the Deck is such a blast and makes me thirst hard for a Quake 5. Awesome review as always, John!

[@LordTimelord]

You're not alone! I bought Quake II on my Switch the instant I heard about this awesome stealth drop of the remaster! Not 20 minutes into playing it on my Switch OLED, I paused the game and fired up my Steam Deck. I was VERY pleased to see the Quake Pack with seven games on sale due to Quake Con currently going on. Scored all seven games for twenty bucks to run on all my different PC's!

[@murderman8578]

​@@LordTimelordis Quake 3 active by any chance

[@LordTimelord]

@@murderman8578 I haven't played any Quake III yet. Going all the way though Quake II at the moment. I went all the way though Quake I Remastered last year. I have a feeling that Quake 3 & 4 Remastered are in their pipeline considering how many copies of 1 & 2 they're selling though!

[@markotaylor9894]

playing quake 2 on my phone. amazing how far tech has progressed.

[@ConeFlower-gx2qk]

@@murderman8578late reply but kinda i found several servers when I played a year ago but it was basically impossible to play against them cuz they had like 20 years of experience prolly playing together. Like seriously I love competitive fps’s but it was so hard

[@kyle52905]

I like how he remembered the little correction someone made on his last quake 2 video 6 years ago about the character models warping and incorporated it in this video

[@Carlos-cu4ms]

16:19 Oh, that was brutal!!! When I initiated Quake II (2023) and I saw the movie for the first time, I was stunned from the work then have done. Amazing!

[@krelakuma]

Nightdive Studios doing more brilliant work! I live in hope for a Soul Reaver remaster by them!

[@pierre-charlesleonhart8357]

Omg

[@Pietreszcz]

Just thinking about it hurts too much, considering Soul Reaver got de-listed from the surface of Earth :( I reaaaaally want NightDive to remake it, but it's really unlikely, unfortunately

[@aerthreepwood8021]

Aren't there weird license issues with those games?

[@raypuiaascii4653]

​@@aerthreepwood8021Not really, Eidos got brought up by Embracer Group.

[@davidrenton]

doesn't Rockstar get embarrassed by this, ID , Nightdive and Machine Games actually respect the legacy of Quake and their fans. Also $10 for this amount of content

[@purringc5552]

Another fantastic review Mr. John. No need to rush these videos because I'd rather wait for the quality you always put into them. I truly do look forward to whatever you cover next.

[@Alexand3ry]

I'd love to see a list of your top 5 remasters/remakes/love letters of all time. I feel like this might make the cut

[@OlviMasta77]

Fantastic!

[@AFourEyedGeek]

I agree, that would be a great video. I'll guess at John's picks: Quake 2, Halo: Master Chief Collection, Demon Souls, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 & 2, and Resident Evil 2. What about yours? For me I'll pick my favourites of the ones I played originally and the remakes: Quake 2 Remaster, Baldur's Gate 2: EE, Black Mesa, Command & Conquer Remastered Collection, and Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.

[@alexsilva28]

@@AFourEyedGeek Shadow of the Colossus PS4 and the Bluepoint remasters (Shadow/ICO, GoW and MGS)

[@masterquake7]

Back in the day, I was obsessed with Doom and Quake. I bought my first video card just to run Quake 2 because the software rendering ran like crap on my machine. I grabbed a 3dfx Voodoo 2 16MB PCI. It was life changing. I became a PC game believer and fell in love with Glide. Pretty sure I also ran a Glide mod for Quake 1 as well. Quake 2 may not be my favorite in the series, but I still love it and it holds big nostalgic value for me. I also didn't update my video card until I got a Geforce 4 TI 4600 (in an AGP 4X slot though).

[@RedSaint83]

Did Voodoo 2 go up to 16 MB? I was an early adopter of Voodoo 1 and later on Voodoo 2 combined with a modest Matrox 2D card, but inbetween those purchases my little brother jumped straight to a 16 MB Voodoo Banshee. And that's why I'm wondering if Voodoo 2 went to 16 MB as well, because I remember being jealous lol 😅 Also, good on you to stick with that card until Geforce 4, because I was in the trenches so to speak, I was trying out stuff like the Kyro 2 card soon after Voodoo, and oh boy, that was not very well supported.

[@dazzab111]

@@RedSaint83no…8mb and 12mb. I had 2 8mb’s in Sli mode. Made Half-life and counter strike fly!

[@GraveUypo]

glquake wasn't quite a mod as it was officially supported. ironically, i think quake 1 was more demanding than quake 2. i had a voodoo2, and my brother did too. when he upgraded to a geforce 2, i briefly used the voodoos in sli, for about 6 months. it was quite something. iirc, voodoo2 in sli was as fast as a voodoo3 2000

[@brutalseed6643]

I hadn’t played Quake II since I was 7 or 8 years old. Playing through it again at 33 is an absolute blast.

[@ehrenloudermilk1053]

It's amazing that such a talented team of obvious experts came together to analyze the heck out of games. And they give it to us with a smile. People have ascended to sainthood for less. Thank you, gentleman.

[@sykode]

I love how John talks about the Q2 info in a magazine as a kid, I was the same way, and then my dad tried so hard to get quake2 to run on his Linux machine, so we could play LAN in our house, and that LAN was coaxial, before routers and ethernet were a thing. hell it was before we got our cable modem! now I feel old. (after finishing the video, I totally gotta buy this game, Nightdive did an awesome job)

[@Unain]

I lived in Q2DM1 The Edge when I was young... such a fun multiplayer map

[@aarlavaan]

I was a fan of tokays towers myself.

[@notturok7841]

That fmv scene gave me such goosebumps I gave a tear or two watching it remastered. Really hit me in the nostalgia

[@roflBeck]

It's insane how much cleaner it looks. Can't believe they made it again from scratch. I assumed it was just an old master copy lol.

[@MDFGamingVideo]

0:58 - Props for using the first track from Descent II Vertigo in the intro. 👍

[@light3267]

there is also a rtx remaster version build in the works (unofficially)

[@ImJustThatGamer22]

Sweet

[@Dracobyte]

A certified classic comes back to life!!!

[@LusRetroSource]

I love the insight into the behind the scene changes made to the engine. Not using BSP partitions anymore, upgrading the 3d models to the MD2 format and so much more.

[@kamesna6641]

Excellent review of this John. The review was more in-depth that I anticipated (which is a good thing). I will have to check out Quake and Quake 2 once I am done going through the first 3 Doom (which I am currently playing). Keep up the awesome work.

[@segasdreamer]

I enjoyed Quake 2 on the N64 long after the release as it felt really good to play. Now playing those levels again with a modern controller, I really feel the evolution of 3D controls.

[@Horeteppe]

Having such a blast with this release on both my Switch OLED and PC the past week! Also feels right at home playing this on a CRT-monitor lol! This is a remaster PACKED with goodness! Call of the Machine is so damn good as well, just amazing! Really appreciate they included Quake 2 64 as well!

[@OlviMasta77]

CRT is what Q2 should be played on!

[@Horeteppe]

@@OlviMasta77 feels like being back in the glory days of not having a care in the world ;) I have both a CRT and a OLED hooked up to my 4090, best of both worlds

[@Leo-Tyrant]

Great video as always by John and DF. Perfect remaster. In case you are wondering how to change the Shadow Mask on the CRT filter: Console > set r_crt_shadowMask 1 (and press enter, this will enable the Shadow Mask as seen in the Zoom-in portion of the CRT section in the video)

[@ziggys745]

This is my favorite game of all time. I use to play it in 1998 starting with a Pentium 1 with a 120 mhz processor. to play on line I had to reduce the resolution to 640x480. We also had "Dial up" back then so it was rough but because all of this was cutting edge at the time, it was just as addictive as getting a new game today can be. My favorite MOD was WOD and also the grapple which added a whole new dimension to the game. I am really happy to see this game revitalized , so cool to see the historical notes of ID team.... man how things have changed, I would give anything to rewind to those times.

[@CasepbX]

Nightdive did extra ordinary work! Looking forward to Q3A!

[@rubensano4860]

Is that confirned?

[@Wobbothe3rd]

​@@rubensano4860no, amd in fact I'd has already remastered Quske Arena twice with Quake Live and Quake Champions, not to mention many cross compatible PC-only sourceports. And the old Dreamcast exclusive maps have already been ported. Nonetheless it would be cool to see Quake 3 on modern consoles.

[@Okusar]

​@@rubensano4860No.

[@Chasodey]

​@@rubensano4860who knows but seems logical to remaster Q3. God, imagine crossplay lobbies in Q3 damn what a competition against quake 3 human bots on PC who have never played any other game after Q3 and casual console John/Mark/Ivan/Li/Jack. Oh, what a massacre.

[@jamesellis3583]

We can but hope!

[@donizettilorenzo]

My compliments, John! Perfect review for a perfect game! :D

[@t.mendoza1396]

I love playing this remaster. It's the same feeling i got the first time i played it

[@attic636]

I think I should get the remaster, too. But one question before I do so - in the original game corpses of dead Strogg which were not shot to pieces completely used to attract some flies soaring above, depicted as black square pixels together with a humming sound. Do we get to see this in the remaster as well? If yes, what do the flies look like with deactived square pixels in the options? Nicer and rendered properly in HD or the same square pixels as before or are they missing at all?

[@duality222]

Excellent release and a great overview! The new campaign from MachineGames is especially great. As a die hard Quake 1, this made me fall in love with Quake 2.

[@DeskoDev]

I really like the AI improvements in this version! I do also wish there was a way to turn it off for the purists out there, and the Berserkers' jump attack should be nerfed a bit, but I feel for general play it's a huge improvement!

[@victorio681]

Reducirse el salto de ataque de los Berserquers?? Cobarde!!! Dale ! Jajajaja

[@krelakuma]

I find that staying in the mid distance to the berserker works great, at first it's annoying but then it's just requiring a different strategy to best deal with them.

[@MrNegativecreep07]

That jump attack is annoying, feels like there's no way of avoiding the splash damage.

[@DeadPixel1105]

I do like the AI changes as well, but it is a strange change for Nightdive to make when I think about it. I mean, if the original id Software devs removed some AI behaviors and enemy attacks from the original game due to balancing issues and reducing player frustration, it kind of doesn't make much sense for Nightdive to add them back to the game. The original devs back in the 90s designed enemy AI and attacks a certain way, for a reason. Like, look at the Beserkers new jump attack. Everybody hates it because they think it's a cheap attack that is nearly impossible to avoid. There was a reason id Software devs back in the 90s said: "Nah, take that out of the game."

[@Blindsyde5762]

Purists can skip the remaster lol

[@izuthree]

It's the best kind of remaster, one which presents the game as you think you remember it, rather than how it actually is. Faithful enough that you might not even notice a lot of the updates and changes until you compare them to see how transformative they are over the ACTUAL original version of the game.

[@Blackson187]

This remaster is easily in my top-5 favorite games of this year. It might be my favorite.

[@AcidFink666]

Agreed. GOY for me... it's like deja vu all over again.

[@eugeneko26]

Amazing review, thanks for focusing attention to all little the details and changes! Really brings back memories from childhood.

[@Crovon1]

This is some fantastic work and a great release for Xbox studios, and nice to see that they released it as multi platform as well. Well done guys 👍🏼

[@OneLastScholar]

Sony would never. MLB The Show only made it to Xbox because MLB itself threatened to halt the collaboration unless it became multiplatform.

[@user-sp8fi2zv2v]

@@OneLastScholardon't talk bullshit. Bungie games will also release on XBOX 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@harb1911]

​@@user-sp8fi2zv2vapples to apples and oranges to oranges.

[@184Dadada]

​@L.LS.N Quake 2 OG was already on Playstation... why would they not? Giving Xbox studios any kinda credit here is laughable.

[@harb1911]

@@184Dadada oh! the playstation Sony is giving very little fks about? where is the backwards compatibility with PS1,2,3 on your beloved plastic box?

[@franalmonte8843]

Just finished Call of the machines. Best quake campaign ever IMO

[@ncs9667]

Wow, I already had Quake 2 on Steam but I only just realised after seeing this video randomly on KZbin that I have this version already installed and ready to go! Watching this video I thought it looked kind of cool, but actually playing it is amazing. The sound is what stuck out to me the most.

[@vinniecorleone62]

Impressive for a remaster! Now we just need this attention to detail in a "Wolfenstein Return to Castle" remaster for all consoles & PC!

[@fernandohood5657]

That would be the last nail in the coffin of Wolfenstein franchise,machine games making a remaster of rtcw , ha

[@twistedtxb]

I'm having a blast playing all the different campaigns. I haven't had this much fun playing a videogame in so long

[@igorthelight]

"I haven't had this much fun playing a videogame in so long" - did you not played DUSK, Amid Evil, Proteus or Total Overkill? ;-)

[@Chasodey]

​@@igorthelightProdeus is mediocre at best imo. That save system completely kills any sense of challenge and enemies are quite bland (not to mention how many of them are DOOM replicas)

[@FranciscoFJM]

@@igorthelight Why do i have to play those? Cant i just like Quake 2?

[@igorthelight]

@@FranciscoFJM Of course you can just like Quake 2! It just implies that there were no good oldscholl FPSes after Quake 2 (in a way).

[@willissudweeks1050]

It really is a lot of fun. Never really played quake but I love it. Love the compass cause I don’t have time to look around forever haha

[@txcrix9236]

Great video! I really appreciate your detailed analysis of all the changes, especially the smaller not so obvious changes/updates. I can't wait to play this version of Quake 2 after I finish Rise of the Triad Ludicrous Edition. Talk about reliving my childhood! 🤘

[@MetalJody1990]

Great stuff, John! I'm loving this remaster.

[@LuisRivera0506]

ID Software never disappoints

[@ThunderingRoar]

we ll pretend rage never happened

[@LuisRivera0506]

@@ThunderingRoar so, you have chosen death

[@Chasodey]

​@@ThunderingRoarYou know, Rage is fine. Maybe it's not a masterpiece but I had fun time with Rage 1 shotgun and got a blast with combat of Rage 2

[@blueowl0708]

Doom 3 says hi

[@StephenStine]

@@blueowl0708 Doom 3 is the Dark Souls 2 of the Doom series. You have a rabid, but small fringe group of defenders of those games. Despite both those games not being terrible, they're just not as good as their predecessors or successors. Both games are black sheeps.

[@CoyoteKnight]

I like how nightdive dropped a hint that Turok 3 is coming soon, on this rerelease no less.

[@xPvtMurphyx]

Wait, he remade the cinematics FROM SCRATCH? Just eyeballing it? That's amazing! (Small thing, but I wish they had updated the progress map between levels in the Quake 2 64 campaign too. That remains pixelated. Having a lot of fun with this campaign though as I never owned Quake 2 on the N64.)

[@EndlessFunctionality]

Would be cool if they updated that N64 progress map. They definitely remade that opening title screen sequence with the enemies shooting at the scree.

[@jackkenny4194]

Wow… you guys are stellar with the way you do these videos! Great job

[@hobster07]

I am having a blast with it! I was really surprised when it was released.

[@jaredbeckwith]

Been playing the game and love the nostalgia!

[@NireFuster]

Despite never playing Quake I have to say this should become one of the golden standards of how to best remaster a game. Not only does it faithfully maintain and enhance the look and visuals of the original which is already enough, they also add a bunch of new modern and QoL options on top of that, restored content, behind the scenes stuff, brand new content, it's crazy. When other remasters just slap some AI upscaled textures and maybe higher resolution and call it a day these guys are going above and beyond for their fans and even just giving it to you for free if you already own Quake. Absolutely insane stuff.

[@videostash413]

Wow, looks amazing! I think the lack of red skies really changes the RTX version too much, I like what they did here a lot.

[@tyrus1235]

You can actually enable a re-rendition of the original Stroggos skies in RTX... Or even outright enable the original skybox too. Although, for showcasing purposes, the "Earth-like" sky works best to show how much path tracing can change the environment.

[@rowanunderwood]

I love the Compass feature, already further in Quake 2 than I've ever made it before because of this :)

[@Xyos212]

Me too. Those early 3d games were fun, but navigation and map design was not the best. Its such a good addition.

[@shaneosullivan8546]

Got this immediately. My five year old has me playing split screen death match ever since. He loves it and has managed to finish the first few campaign levels solo. I'm so proud.

[@dangr3957]

It’s sweet and I a jealous as I would not convince my wife to let our son to play this age.😅 Isn’t it a bit too early for a child to play a gory game like this?👶😅

[@shaneosullivan8546]

@@dangr3957 Nah, Roblox is way worse than Quake 2. All my kids started gaming early. Minecraft, mario and the like but I know what they play and have limits.

[@YupTurtle83]

I really appreciated the added muzzle flash. Weapons always felt soft without them.

[@Narcan885]

Nope. They felt more realistic, and it's a thing almost no FPS manages to do. They all give weapons huge, bright, almost solid looking muzzle flashes when in reality almost all weapons and especially small caliber ones have invisible muzzle flashes during the day.

[@andrewfrey6960]

A remaster we probably dont deserve in this day and age. It's so perfectly done, leaving the game untouched in any unwanted way, but updating it in ways that makes it feel like we've never left stroggos. Id software, thank you.

[@paulnewhouse5126]

Was pleasantly surprised how it was only $15 Canadian And so got it day one after John posted it's release, also the gyro controls are great if you have them on mildly. Great video John, thanks!

[@kartikkaushik9811]

Incredible work by the quake 2 team. More than reasonable price of $10 as well. Putting rockstar to shame really

[@bmx7596]

Play it on Quest 2 if you really want a wow moment. It runs rock solid and it's incredible in VR with no PC needed. Runs right off the headset as do Doom 1-3, Jedi Outcast/academy, Hexen, Wolfenstein, and Quake 4 this year. All of them have mod support too.

[@cardo128]

As a big fan of the original I’m blown away by what has been achieved so tastefully with the remaster. A couple of my favourite changes are how you can dodge the parasite’s tongue attack and it doesn’t automatically hit the player if they’re in range; and how the collision box of an enemy is now removed at the moment of death, and not half a second later. Both make a big difference to game feel.

[@0ring0]

Nightdive is a godsend! That being said, as a fan of Quake II 64. I got one small, but major nitpick. I miss the unique UI the game had. Here's hoping they bring it back in an update.

[@Bast6]

I only PLAYED the PlayStation version back in the days BUT saw the PC version in all its glory in a store (a time when PC games came in big boxes with awesome illustrations… I spent hours in that section of the hypermarket as a kid while my parents were getting the groceries). This new remaster looks sooooo awesome.

[@theveryrealbarto]

Wasn't that audio processing with differing reverb part of the game back then, too? You needed an EAX compatible SoundBlaster for that, I think. I remember sitting in the same pipe marveling at that reverb coming out of my 4 speaker setup. Or am I mixing this up with another game?

[@doleph1]

That Q2 railgun is still my favorite weapon. The gas trail with the swirling smoke around it was so awesome!

[@theodomon2774]

It's funny how they tricked nostalgia here. This is how we all remember Quake II but in reality it's been fully modernised, though just enough to make it feel like it's from 1997. It's genius.

[@AvengedKyle]

Nightdive has done many of my childhood games justice. Seriously a great developer.

[@RobVespa]

I wouldn't call them a developer and if you research them, you may come away disheartened.

[@AvengedKyle]

@@RobVespaReally? Oh man. Let me be oblivious lol

[@theinsfrijonds]

Phong Shading! @8:55 a blast from the past. I’m not even sure that I played games back in the day that had that rather than Gouraud…

[@Jammet]

Keyboard and mouse works flawlessly on Switch. Keyboard and Gyro, too! Interesting combo, to say the least! And you can only do that on a switch because of the Joycon halfes.

[@GameplayandTalk]

Great analysis as always! That Machine Games campaign made me grin. I can't wait to try that, it looks closer to the intensity of a lot of the modern DOOM WADs I play. Also, I am really glad they added new enemy behaviors. That really spices up the campaign. I loved Quake 1 as there was more of that kind of behavior in that game, so Quake II's original campaign felt a bit flat in comparison at the time. The new behavior really, really helps and I am looking forward to experiencing it again in a new light. The Nightmare difficulty also helps!

[@dannyroberts7118]

Great overview John! I am looking forward to playing this over the coming weeks….would like to get a proper cartridge of this game.

[@PeteOliva]

It's just awesome how much detail and care was put into this release. This was totally a seminal game for me. I got a Voodoo card FOR this game and Unreal back in the day, and also one of the first games I really cut my teeth on as an online gamer. It's so nice to see it take center stage once again.

[@Kasper0822]

Spent many hours on it with the PS version. Seems like a good time for some nostalgia.