Quake, a first-person shooter (FPS) video game that many consider a classic now, was released by id Software on June 22, 1996. Today, the game is thus 15 years old.

Quake has been largely praised throughout the gaming community, and it quickly dethroned previous FPS titles as the best in its category. Some would even go as far as to say that it revolutionized the way multiplayer games were developed. It went on to dominat the video game industry, which was rather young at the time.

Putting aside the four spinoffs and the at least 12 unofficial ports, we can see how successful the game became just by looking at the number of total games in the Quake video game series, which by the way does not really follow a logical story whatsoever. There have been 10 games:

  • Quake (1996)
  • Quake Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon (1997)
  • Quake Mission Pack 2: Dissolution of Eternity (1997)
  • Quake II (1997)
  • Quake II Mission Pack: The Reckoning (1998)
  • Quake II Mission Pack: Ground Zero (1998)
  • Quake III Arena (1999)
  • Quake III: Team Arena (2000)
  • Quake 4 (2005)
  • Quake Live (2010)

Out of all the games I played as a kid, Quake has probably been the most addicting. I played the original many times, but Quake III: Team Arena probably kept me away from the real world for the longest. When Quake 4 turned out to be disappointing, I switched to the Unreal Tournament series, and I haven't looked back since. Still, I'll always remember Quake as the game that made sure I pick FPS over all other genres (yes, even more than Warcraft and Starcraft have for my love of RTS).

If this post has made you feel nostalgic, fear not. The original Quake game has been available on Steam since May 31, 2007. What are you waiting for? Go relive those childhood memories.