Quake II
Hacker ApprovedRanked 4 of 78 video games by recommenders
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.
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.
41 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 33
- criticize it
- 8
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 33 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 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
Fun multiplayer, LAN and 1v1
“Q2 was always my favourite, that's where I started my multi-player journey.”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “John Carmack on the mistakes around Quake that ruined id software” “As a singlr player game it was boring but LAN play was just amazing.”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “John Carmack on the mistakes around Quake that ruined id software” “weirdly made so many IRL friends from local Quake 2 servers”
Comment from 7 Aug 2026 in “Quake – 30th Anniversary Update” - Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Unreal Tournament 2004 is back”
- Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Quake Engine Indicators”
- Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “John Carmack on the mistakes around Quake that ruined id software”
- Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Pentium II at 600Mhz with Voodoo 3 Emulated on 86Box with M6 Mac Mini”
Favourite id game for many
“Q2 was always my favourite, that's where I started my multi-player journey.”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “John Carmack on the mistakes around Quake that ruined id software” “for me Quake 2 was the first great one”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “John Carmack on the mistakes around Quake that ruined id software” “Personally I enjoyed Quake 2 the most.”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “John Carmack on the mistakes around Quake that ruined id software” - Comment from 11 Oct 2026 in “The RAM shortage is bringing back DDR4”
Look and software rendering
“Quake II I would say is the best good looking thing written in pure C”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “I Write Games in C (yes, C)” “I really enjoyed the software rendering”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “I love software rendering” “That colored lighting, though.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “I love software rendering” Restored enemy AI and mods
“restoring numerous enemy AI routines that was supposed to be in the original release but got cut at the absolute last minute to hit the publisher deadline”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “EDuke32 – Duke Nukem 3D (Open-Source)” “Quake 2 was even easier to mod.”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Single-player seen as dull
“As a singlr player game it was boring but LAN play was just amazing.”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “John Carmack on the mistakes around Quake that ruined id software” “it just wasn't that great of a game”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “John Carmack on the mistakes around Quake that ruined id software” “Gameplay wise it was so limited”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Pentium II at 600Mhz with Voodoo 3 Emulated on 86Box with M6 Mac Mini” Runs poorly on older hardware
“Quake 2 runs a bit iffy on an O2, but runs fine on PC with a Voodoo 1”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “IRIX 3dfx Voodoo driver and glide2x IRIX port” “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”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Why WinQuake exists and how it works” Software mode slow and limited
“Q2 struggled at 320x240 while Unreal was slightly choppy but acceptable at 400x300”
Comment from 17 Aug 2026 in “SIMD in the 90s: Programming Intel's Pentium MMX” “QuakeII without hardware rendering was nearly unplayable”
Comment from 17 Aug 2026 in “SIMD in the 90s: Programming Intel's Pentium MMX” No colored lighting in software
“software rendering in Quake II is so boring, it doesn't even support colored lighting”
Comment from 17 Aug 2026 in “SIMD in the 90s: Programming Intel's Pentium MMX” “Software renderer of Quake II has no colored lighting.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “I love software rendering”
Other video games people recommend
The four most recommended other video games, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helldivers 2 | 50 | 34 | 60% | 10 | 1.9 yrs3 owners | — |
| GPU building game | 49 | 16 | 75% | 2 | — | — |
| Triple-A Minesweeper | 40 | 25 | 62% | 1 | — | — |
| Quake IIThis page | 33 | 8 | 80% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 28 | 13 | 68% | 9 | — | Approved |
What people said
34 of the 42 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I really enjoyed the software rendering”
“Software renderer of Quake II has no colored lighting.”
“my favourite 3D games (Quake 2 and Pod)”
“That colored lighting, though.”
“a slight improvement over Quake”
“Gaming for me peaked with Quake II”
“Gameplay wise it was so limited”
“q2ctf was the absolute best.”
“QuakeII without hardware rendering was nearly unplayable”
“Q2 struggled at 320x240 while Unreal was slightly choppy but acceptable at 400x300”
“software rendering in Quake II is so boring, it doesn't even support colored lighting”
“weirdly made so many IRL friends from local Quake 2 servers”
“They encoded the game as an audio CD, so you could toss the disc in a boombox”
“Quake 2 was even easier to mod.”
“It had this gritty, rough feel that I really enjoyed.”
“Q2 was always my favourite, that's where I started my multi-player journey.”
“the super-shotgun, rocket launcher, railgun and BFG felt amazing in their own unique way”
“As a singlr player game it was boring but LAN play was just amazing.”
“Quake 2 multiplayer is such a blast.”
“Personally I enjoyed Quake 2 the most.”
“for me Quake 2 was the first great one”
“it just wasn't that great of a game”
“Q2/Q3 are totally fine too, but I feel like QW really just nailed everything.”
“Quake 2 ran pretty well too if I recall”
“It was a technical tour de force for the original PlayStation.”
“had the best fn soundtrack”
“Quake 2 runs a bit iffy on an O2, but runs fine on PC with a Voodoo 1”
“restoring numerous enemy AI routines that was supposed to be in the original release but got cut at the absolute last minute to hit the publisher deadline”
“they have no accessibility to speak of”
“Quake II I would say is the best good looking thing written in pure C”
“quake1 and quake2 have been my jam for far too long”
“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”
“I loved playing 1v1 on Quake 2/3 and UT”
“There is a very loyal 1v1 / 2v2 crowd.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.