Quake

Quake is a first-person shooter video game, developed and published by id Software in 1996. It is the first game in the popular Quake series. In the game, players must find their way through various maze-like, medieval environments while battling a variety of monsters using a wide array of weapons.

The successor to id's Doom series, Quake built upon the technology and gameplay of its predecessor in many ways. Unlike the Doom engine before it, the Quake engine offered full real-time 3D rendering and early support for 3D acceleration through OpenGL. After Doom helped popularize multiplayer deathmatches, Quake added various multiplayer options. Online multiplayer became increasingly common, with the QuakeWorld update and software such as QuakeSpy making the process of finding and playing against other competitors on the Internet far easier and more reliable.

Various multiplayer mods were developed including Team Fortress and Capture the flag.

The game received much acclaim on release and its commercial success led to several sequels, starting with Quake II, which abandoned the gothic stylings of the original for a science fiction theme. Quake has been an influence on user mods and machinima.

In the single-player game, the player takes the role of a protagonist known as Ranger who was sent into a portal in order to stop an enemy code-named 'Quake'. The government had been experimenting 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 in order to test the martial capabilities of Humanity.

The sole surviving protagonist in 'Operation Counterstrike' is Ranger, who must advance, starting each of 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 later discovered as Shub-Niggurath and ending the invasion of Earth.

The game consists of 28 separate 'levels' or 'maps', grouped into four episodes. Each episode represents individual dimensions that the player can access through magical portals (as opposed to the technological Slipgate) that are discovered over the course of the game. The various realms consist of a number 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). The latter is inspired by several dark fantasy influences, most notably that of H. P. Lovecraft. Dimensional Shamblers appear as enemies, the 'Spawn' enemies are called 'Formless Spawn of Tsathoggua' in the manual, the end boss of the first episode is named Chthon, and the final boss 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. Originally, the game was supposed to include more Lovecraftian bosses, but this concept was scrapped due to time constraints.