Quake

My Saturday night group has a rule: any game that runs on a potato and supports split-screen automatically earns a first look. Quake cleared that bar with room to spare, and what surprised me most was how little time it took for four people who had never touched a 1996 shooter to start laughing, screaming, and arguing over who gets the rocket launcher first. This is a full-on boomer shooter - no cover, no aim-down-sights, no upgrade menus to wade through at 11pm. You move fast, you shoot faster, and the whole thing is built around reading enemy projectiles and strafing out of the way before a Shambler turns you into a fine mist. The arsenal runs from a basic shotgun through a super shotgun, nail guns (literal nails, fired in real projectile arcs you can dodge), and the iconic lightning gun. Each weapon has a clear use case against specific enemies, and figuring that out mid-combat is most of the fun. Levels are labyrinthine, key-and-switch driven, and packed with secret rooms that reward exploration without ever grinding the pace to a halt. The remastered version handled by Nightdive Studios brings the game up to 4K resolution with real-time lighting, ambient occlusion, and updated enemy models - though you can flip all of that off and play it exactly as it shipped in 1996 if nostalgia demands it. The Nine Inch Nails soundtrack is present and correct, which matters more than it sounds. Content-wise, the package includes the two original expansion packs (Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity), the community episode Dimension of the Past, and a brand-new episode from MachineGames called Dimension of the Machine. That is a lot of Quake. The newer MachineGames content is particularly well-built, with more deliberate lighting and larger arena spaces, though it occasionally throws harder enemies at you before the difficulty curve feels warranted. Here is the part that sealed it for my group: the multiplayer. You get local split-screen co-op for up to four players through the entire campaign, plus online co-op and adversarial deathmatch with full cross-platform play across PC, consoles, and Switch. Online servers are dedicated, which means stability is solid. Controller support is present and genuinely responsive - jumping, strafing, and weapon-switching all felt tight in testing, no mouse required. The one honest caveat for newcomers: there is zero story, zero hand-holding, and difficulty spikes can feel abrupt if you jump straight into the later episodes. Casual players on Easy mode will find a much friendlier ride; the game does offer four difficulty settings, including a brutal Nightmare tier for the masochists in the room. If your crew is bored of the same three co-op shooters and wants something that runs on anything, plays in the same room or online, and clocks in at an honest budget price - this is an easy recommendation. The age shows in the visuals even with enhancements applied, and level themes can blur together across a long session, but neither issue kills the fun. It still holds up where it counts: the movement, the weapons, and the raw chaotic joy of a four-player Shambler pile-on.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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