Quake is a first-person shooter developed by id Software. It was released for MS-DOS as shareware on 22 June 1996, and GT Interactive published the full retail version on 22 July 1996. John Romero, Sandy Petersen, American McGee and Tim Willits designed it, John Carmack, Michael Abrash and John Cash programmed it, and Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails composed the soundtrack.
The Quake engine offered full real-time 3D rendering and popularized polygonal models, fully 3D levels, pre-rendered lightmaps and modding through QuakeC. QuakeWorld, released in December 1996, added client-side prediction for online play. After release most of the team left id, including Romero, Abrash and Petersen.
Ports followed for Mac, Saturn and Nintendo 64, and id released the engine source code under the GPL on 22 December 1999. On 19 August 2021 Nightdive Studios and Bethesda Softworks released an enhanced edition together with MachineGames' new episode Dimension of the Machine.1
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | QuakeShareware release with the first episode. | MS-DOS | Jun 22, 1996 | id Software | 1 |
| NA | QuakeFull retail release; Europe followed on 25 August 1996. | MS-DOS | Jul 22, 1996 | GT Interactive | 1 |
| NA | QuakeCommercial Mac port by MacSoft and Lion Entertainment. | Mac | Aug 28, 1997 | — | 1 |
| NA | QuakeEurope 24 May 1998. | Nintendo 64 | Mar 24, 1998 | Midway Games | 1 |
| WW | Scourge of ArmagonFirst official mission pack by Hipnotic Interactive; the second, Dissolution of Eternity by Rogue Entertainment, followed on 19 March 1997. | MS-DOS | Mar 5, 1997 | — | 1 |
| EU | QuakePort by Lobotomy Software; North America 2 December 1997. | Saturn | Nov 27, 1997 | — | 1 |
| WW | Quake ResurrectionRISC OS. | Other | 1999 | R-Comp Interactive | 1 |
| WW | QuakeEnhanced edition by Nightdive Studios; same day on Switch, PS4 and Xbox One. | Windows | Aug 19, 2021 | Bethesda Softworks | 1 |
| WW | QuakeEnhanced edition; same day on Xbox Series X/S. | PlayStation 5 | Oct 12, 2021 | Bethesda Softworks | 1 |
Also known as: クエイク JP2Quake Resurrection WW1Ultimate Quake WW1
Box art by region
NA Quake
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.
Version differences
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GameplaySaturn
The Saturn port by Lobotomy Software has no multiplayer, and its levels were rebuilt to ease the load on the CPU; the real-time lighting it added was praised.1
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GraphicsNintendo 64
On Nintendo 64 the environments are simpler and the lighting is pre-rendered; deathmatch suffered from frame-rate drops, and critics felt it should have supported four players.1
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Graphicsv1.07 and later
Starting with version 1.07, first shipped with Scourge of Armagon, the brown fade behind the menu was removed for performance reasons.3
Translations
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German Official
Bethesda SoftworksWindowsReleased
German is listed on both GOG and Steam.4
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Spanish Official
Bethesda SoftworksWindowsReleased
Spanish: GOG lists Spanish text and audio; Steam lists Spanish (Spain).4
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French Official
Bethesda SoftworksWindowsReleased
French is listed on both GOG and Steam.4
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Italian Official
Bethesda SoftworksWindowsReleased
Italian is listed on both GOG and Steam.4
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Russian Official
Bethesda SoftworksWindowsReleased
Russian: GOG lists Russian text and audio for the current edition, and Steam lists Russian as well.4
Where to play legally today
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GOG Purchase
-
Steam Purchase
Quake
Windows edition with the original game and the 2021 enhanced version, mission packs and MachineGames episodes
Checked: 2026-10-135store.steampowered.com
How to run it today
Buy the Steam or GOG edition: it runs on Windows 10 64-bit and contains both the original moddable game and the enhanced version. Since id released the engine source code under the GPL in December 1999, community engines such as vkQuake are also available; id's maps, models, textures and sounds are still under their original license, so these engines need game data from a purchased copy.
- Quake on GOG gog.com
Best version
The current Steam and GOG edition pairs the untouched original with the enhanced version, which adds improved visuals, crossplay and controller support, and includes both 1997 mission packs and three MachineGames episodes.4
Reception
The original PC version holds 93% on GameRankings and 94/100 on Metacritic. Quake sold over 1.4 million copies by December 1997, and in the US the retail version sold 373,000 copies in its first 12 months. The 2021 enhanced edition scored between 81 and 87 on Metacritic, depending on the platform.1
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
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