# Quake II Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/quake-2/ 25 people recommended Quake II in Hacker News comments, 5 had mixed feelings and 7 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 12 months, in 16 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** People recommend Quake II for its multiplayer, especially LAN and 1v1 play, and fond memories of it. Critics find single-player dull and say software rendering lacks colored lighting. Summary written by Claude from 34 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 33 of those comments still count. ## Why people recommend it - Fun multiplayer, LAN and 1v1 (7 comments in the sample): "Q2 was always my favourite, that's where I started my multi-player journey." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48668814)) "As a singlr player game it was boring but LAN play was just amazing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48663865)) "weirdly made so many IRL friends from local Quake 2 servers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49207313)) - Favourite id game for many (3 comments in the sample): "for me Quake 2 was the first great one" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48662390)) "Personally I enjoyed Quake 2 the most." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48663008)) "Gaming for me peaked with Quake II" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50041746)) - Look and software rendering (3 comments in the sample): "Quake II I would say is the best good looking thing written in pure C" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46928180)) "I really enjoyed the software rendering" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50119294)) "That colored lighting, though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118410)) - Restored enemy AI and mods (1 comment in the sample): "Quake 2 was even easier to mod." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041767)) ## What people warn about - Single-player seen as dull (2 comments in the sample): "it just wasn’t that great of a game" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48662385)) "Gameplay wise it was so limited" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49850109)) - Runs poorly on older hardware (2 comments in the sample): "Quake 2 runs a bit iffy on an O2, but runs fine on PC with a Voodoo 1" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47502262)) "I tried running Quake 2 on Windows NT 4 before 2k came out so like '98/'99 but had an issue as NT lacked DirectX" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46148641)) - Software mode slow and limited (2 comments in the sample): "Q2 struggled at 320x240 while Unreal was slightly choppy but acceptable at 400x300" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49327222)) "QuakeII without hardware rendering was nearly unplayable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49327811)) - No colored lighting in software (2 comments in the sample): "software rendering in Quake II is so boring, it doesn't even support colored lighting" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49326926)) "Software renderer of Quake II has no colored lighting." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118518)) ## Other video games people recommend - [Helldivers 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/helldivers-2/): 33 recommend, 14 mixed, 33 criticize - [Triple-A Minesweeper](https://hackerapproved.com/p/triple-a-minesweeper/): 31 recommend, 8 mixed, 24 criticize - [The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt](https://hackerapproved.com/p/witcher-3/): 22 recommend, 3 mixed, 5 criticize - [Grand Theft Auto (1997)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grand-theft-auto/): 19 recommend, 9 mixed, 9 criticize ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Quake II", https://hackerapproved.com/p/quake-2/ (25 recommend, 5 mixed, 7 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.