id Tech engine
Hacker ApprovedRanked 5 of 20 game engines by recommenders
Praised for performance and rendering, with many calling it among the industry's best game engine families. Critics say it is hard to develop for and rarely used beyond id Software.
Praised for performance and rendering, with many calling it among the industry's best game engine families. Critics say it is hard to develop for and rarely used beyond id Software.
32 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 26
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 81%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 26 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong performance and high frame rates
“The id tech 8 engine is a whole lot more performant than the unreal 5 engine and absolutely does what it needs to, fantastically”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “I Built an Open-World Engine for the N64 [video]” “the fact that id tech 6 engine games look as good as they do and pump out 200+ fps is pretty novel”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software” “id tech has stellar performance compared to a very general purpose engine like UE.”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software” - Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software”
- Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software”
- Comment from 29 May 2026 in “GTA 6 Developers Unionize”
Technically advanced and innovative design
“i found myself even in such an old engine in awe of the incredibly creative ways problems are solved”
Comment from 30 May 2026 in “GTA 6 Developers Unionize” “Idtech practically invented the modern 3D engine and is constantly pushing the envelope”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software” “I hear a lot of good things about modern idTech. Pervasive multithreading is one”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software” - Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software”
- Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software”
- Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Almost all coders at Id Software have been fired, following Xbox reset”
Competes well with Unreal and Unity
“idTech rendering is more competitive with Epic's Unreal technology than Unity and Godot.”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software” “id tech has stellar performance compared to a very general purpose engine like UE.”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software” “Godot and Id get much better performance than Unity and Unreal”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software” - Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software”
- Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software”
Long-lasting value for games and industry
“For most of the 90s and 00s, your game engine, specifically idTech in this case, was a competitive advantage.”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software” “Thing is the idtech (Quake) engines power basically everything”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software” “it brought great value to the industry for decades”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software” - Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software”
- Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Resetting Xbox”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Complex and inflexible to develop with
“so complicated to develop for that even id Software doesn't use it for every game”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software” “The original id engines were also famously inflexible.”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Making Video Games in 2025 (without an engine)” Little use, even internally
“so complicated to develop for that even id Software doesn't use it for every game”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software” “The games that use this engine have poor sales and no one is even buying idTech.”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software” “it wasn't getting used very much, even internally at Microsoft”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software”
Other game engines people recommend
The four most recommended other game engines, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Godot | 213 | 57 | 79% | 12 | 2 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Unity | 110 | 165 | 40% | 12 | 16 yrs8 owners | — |
| Unreal Engine | 104 | 89 | 54% | 12 | — | — |
| Bevy game engine | 50 | 18 | 74% | 11 | — | Approved |
| id Tech engineThis page | 26 | 6 | 81% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
34 of the 36 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I can't see why idTech can't be a complete package for Halo”
“it brought great value to the industry for decades”
“so complicated to develop for that even id Software doesn't use it for every game”
“it wasn't getting used very much, even internally at Microsoft”
“You should be comparing id tech games to UE games.”
“the fact that id tech 6 engine games look as good as they do and pump out 200+ fps is pretty novel”
“I hear a lot of good things about modern idTech. Pervasive multithreading is one”
“Thing is the idtech (Quake) engines power basically everything”
“Godot and Id get much better performance than Unity and Unreal”
“I didn't buy any of the doom or quake games for the storytelling or IP, I bought it for the engine.”
“well above the industry mean when it comes to the core of what a game engine is”
“And it did help id to sell more games.”
“I wouldn't mind that they grew so slow that we just got IDTech 4.”
“games would run worse , feel worse.”
“The games that use this engine have poor sales and no one is even buying idTech.”
“Rip one of modern gamings best performing engines on older hardware”
“It could still compete with Unreal!”
“perhaps one of the greatest engine families in the industry”
“idTech rendering is more competitive with Epic's Unreal technology than Unity and Godot.”
“id tech has stellar performance compared to a very general purpose engine like UE.”
“I think they should have moved Halo onto it instead of Unreal.”
“an open-source, modern IdTech would fill the empty quadrant in the Godot : Unity :: ____ : Unreal matrix”
“Idtech practically invented the modern 3D engine and is constantly pushing the envelope”
“For most of the 90s and 00s, your game engine, specifically idTech in this case, was a competitive advantage.”
“idTech's rep for batteries not included”
“ID Software engines were always top class.”
“Rip idTech, which was amazing.”
“refusing to turn ID Tech into an ecosystem to compete with Unreal and Source Engine”
“his work is always pleasant to tinker with”
“i found myself even in such an old engine in awe of the incredibly creative ways problems are solved”
“the new Doom series uses highly performant engine”
“The id tech 8 engine is a whole lot more performant than the unreal 5 engine and absolutely does what it needs to, fantastically”
“The original id engines were also famously inflexible.”
“idtech3 is such an incredibly foray into c it's really something else”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.