Oh man, time to dust off my old Nintendo 64! Quake was one of those games I used to rent at the video store and bought when they got shut down in my little town. Although the award-winning id Software developed the original, Quake is the ground-breaking, original dark fantasy first-person shooter that inspires today’s retro-style FPS games. Now it’s time to experience the authentic, updated, and visually enhanced version of the original.
Quake-story!
For those unfamiliar with Quake and what’s it about – let’s make a little bit of history first;
In the single-player game, the player takes the unnamed protagonist called Ranger, who was sent into a portal to stop an enemy code-named “Quake.” The government experimented with teleportation technology and developed a working prototype called a “Slipgate”; the mysterious Quake compromised the Slipgate by connecting it with its own teleportation system, using it to send death squads to the “Human” dimension to test the martial capabilities of humanity.
The sole surviving protagonist in “Operation Counterstrike” is Ranger, who must advance, starting each of the four episodes from an overrun human military base, before fighting his way into other dimensions, reaching them via the Slipgate or their otherworld equivalent. After passing through the Slipgate, Ranger’s main objective is to collect four magic runes from four dimensions of Quake; these are the key to stopping the enemy and ending the invasion of Earth.
Single-Quaker
Quake’s single-player campaign consists of 30 separate levels, or “maps,” divided into four episodes (with a total of 26 regular maps and four secret ones), as well as a hub level to select a difficulty setting and episode, and the game’s final boss level. Each episode represents individual dimensions that the player can access through magical portals (as opposed to the technological Slipgate) discovered over the course of the game. The various realms consist of gothic, medieval, and lava-filled caves and dungeons, with a recurring theme of hellish and satanic imagery reminiscent of Doom (such as pentagrams and images of demons on the walls).
What was new and groundbreaking at the time was that Quake’s setting was inspired by dark fantasy influences, including H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. For example, dimensional Shamblers appear as enemies, the “Spawn” enemies are called “Formless Spawn of Tsathoggua” in the manual, the boss of the first episode is named Chthon, and the main villain is named Shub-Niggurath (though actually resembling a Dark Young). Some levels have Lovecraftian names, such as the Vaults of Zin and The Nameless City. In addition, six levels exclusively designed for multiplayer deathmatch are also included. One can even argue that Doom (which also features many of these themes) and Quake are connected to some Multiverse (is that you, Dr.Strange?).
Quake-LC
Next to the original game, the remastered version for the Nintendo Switch comes with both the original expansion packs: “The Scourge of Armagon” and “Dissolution of Eternity,” as well as two expansions developed by the award-winning team at MachineGames: “Dimension of the Past,” and the all-new “Dimension of the Machine.” In the last one, you dive into the deepest depths of the labyrinth lies the core of lava and steel known only as The Machine. Crusade across time and space against the forces of evil to bring together the lost runes, power the dormant machine, and open the portal hiding the greatest threat to all known worlds—destroy it…before it destroys us all.
Quake-play
When we talk about gameplay, Quake runs well in both handheld and docked mode. It feels solid to relive the classics, and it takes me back to the N64 era in a whiff. Switching between weapons feels natural, and discovering secrets and hidden weapons feel like a rush. Bosses are tough as nails and give Dark Souls a run for its money. Luckily there is the quick save and quick load option to save you in those situations you don’t want to run in yet.
A
nd for those that want to take a break from shooting monsters on their own – you can always go online and do some multiplayer madness. And with madness, I mean Spartan madness, since it can take a while to find a game, but once you have, it’s as good as I remembered doing this in split-screen. Of course, we moved on to Unreal Tournament on the PC quickly after that, since it was more … accessible on school computers and through LAN parties, but Quake still has a special place in my heart.
Quake-clusion
I can’t believe this is the first time Quake has ever been officially released on a portable. Playing this on the Switch feels downright perfect. Its fast-paced gameplay, ludicrous speed, bite-sized levels, and utterly ridiculous amount of content are a fantastic fit for the system. Sure, you can play this on any other platform and be that guy/girl that’s all like ‘It’s better on the xxx-console!’, well good for you – I really enjoy playing Quake on the go, so excuse me while I’m off to look for another eldritch horror-devil spawn to blow it’s face off.
