User Score
8.7 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 266 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 15 out of 266

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  1. Mar 7, 2013
    10
    Best Single Player and Multi Player game ever. Fast, balanced is a perfect game who requires a lot of skills. Also Unreal Tournament and Serious Sam are good game but, Quake 1 is better.
  2. Jan 29, 2013
    7
    Recuerdo que la primera vez que jugué en red no tenía noción de lo que estaba haciendo, para mi era como jugar contra la máquina como siempre lo había hecho. Hoy miro hacia atrás y me doy cuenta de lo importante que este juego fue para mi.
  3. Jan 2, 2013
    10
    Why is ID soft. making the best fps/arcade fps games in the world? I remember Quake as the first FPS game with an awesome balanced multiplayer, great engine, lenghty and cool single player, high repetetive value. This game was so innovative back in the day, that you could easily call it a precursor (a great or even perfect one) to todays best arcade multiplayer fps games.
  4. Dec 31, 2012
    10
    I never finished the single player version of the game but I played it online for 6 years of addictive fun. ID revolutionised multiplayer FPS with this game and Quakeworld was even better. The game was incredibly versitile with things like rocket jumping, speed jumping, custom binding scripts etc. Then there were the TF and CTF mods that I played extensively too. The game revolutionised 3D FPS games too and the GL versions were a thing of beauty when I first beheld them. This is one of my favourite games of all time and I can't understand why people would ever give this a negative score. Expand
  5. Dec 11, 2012
    9
    One of the best FPSes ever made. I'm not sure what else there is to say about it! If you haven't played this and DOOM you are really missing out on the crown jewels of the innovators of the genre (id). My favorite numbered Quake game because of excellent map design, an exhilarating sense of speed and movement, and unique environments & enemies. My only grip is the fourth act is very dark to the point that you're often crawling down corridors and backpedalling when you run into something, unlike the almost racing game-pace of the rest of the game. Expand
  6. Nov 24, 2012
    8
    Epic game.
    A FPS which, with DOOM, has started a genre of games called FPS Arena. Technically excellent, as well as the gameplay. If you aren't very skilled with games, you won't like this, and that's why it's excellent: it is extremely challenging.
    Probably, one of the best games ever made.
  7. Nov 20, 2012
    10
    Quake... In my childhood played this game all the time. It's addictive and fast paced if any of you didn't played it, try it out even if its old as hell.
  8. Nov 19, 2012
    10
    After 2 decades, there is no doubt that the first Quake is still one of the most revolutionary and incredible games ever made. With arguably the best graphics at time, Quake creates an unique world with an incredible atmosphere that was never seen until it. Totally 3d, sometimes looking better even than games that came after, Quake is a masterpiece for many reasons: the excellent controllers, the great diversity of weapons, enemies and levels, the depth of level exploration, the amazing atmosphere created, the great multiplayer and the gorgeous music/sound effect made by Trent Reznor (you can even see the Nine Inch Nails logo in the ammo boxes). With an engaging gameplay during 4 episodes of game, set in different locations, Quake never gets boring thanks to great level design, mixing puzzles and combat. The fans still waiting for a sequel, one time the next games with the name "Quake" only shared the name of the series. It stands alongside the first Doom as the best game ever made by legendary Id Software softhouse. Expand
  9. Nov 18, 2012
    10
    This game revolutionized what we know to be 3d, lighting, and open-sourced add-ons. Simply amazing game that I spent countless hours admiring. Beautiful game.
  10. Jun 10, 2012
    10
    Look at this game.
    Now look at the reviews.
    Now look back at my reccomendation.

    There are no scores under 6.
    Therefore this game is pristine and excellent. And the best part is that the download takes 20 seconds because of how old it is.
  11. May 27, 2012
    10
    SIMPLY THE ONLY-KING-MASTER-AMAZING GAME OF ALL ETERNITY!!! i always tell people (after I say that i have been playing it for 12 years, and WILL NEVER gonna stop playing it (Quake World) that this game has 3 dimensions of SKILLs, you have AIM/SHOOT/WEAPONS skill, STRATEGY/TACTIC skill, and you have the THIRD skill dimension, that NO-FPS-GAME NEVER WILL HAVE: MOVEMENT/MOTION skill....... this is just the only explanation, the best reason, to confirm that this is BY FAR THE BEST GAME OF ETERNITY... Expand
  12. Oct 14, 2011
    10
    The mother of multiplayer FPS games, this was the first internet game I played (back in 96). It completely drew me in and I spent way too much time in front of the computer. It negatively affected some of my grades, but boy was it a blast. I may be a bit biased by saying this since it has a lot of nostalgia factor with me, but IMO it's the best multiplayer FPS game of all time.

    For game
    rs today it probably looks very outdated, but back during the mid 90's it was perfect. Expand
  13. Jun 25, 2011
    10
    This game is amazing! I tried not to factor in the nostalgia of the best game of my childhood, but then I realized that I've played this game recently and still love it. Quake 1 is still the king of shooters in my mind, and I'd give it 15/10 if I could.
  14. SDM
    Jun 21, 2011
    10
    Fifteen years after installing the original Quake on my Pentium 166MHz for the first time, the game is still one of my three favourite first person shooters.
  15. Mar 20, 2011
    10
    damn this game!! one of the best fps out there.. i rembember the panic the.. QUAKE it game to the gaming community... countless hours playing!! what can anyone say? the levels the dark atmosphere the sound the ferosity of the monsters, the worlds past and future embed together in a **** of awesomeness and unparelled adventure.... one of handful games that one must play in his life if real;ly cares about FPS's.
    just finished it again in nightmare skill 3 days ago. the new pack for better graphics darkplaces-tenebrae rock !! now going after the expansions.. i must play for everyone..
    Expand
  16. Mar 16, 2011
    10
    Extremely good FPS game. One of the best if not the best. Multiplayer made this game ever green classic and only thing I find bad is that it's textures are bit too alike to each other.
  17. Feb 21, 2011
    10
    Wow, i remember going to a computer show in 1995 at London and playing this for the first time with the new first ever 3D card, the Geforce Voodoo. Gamers had never seen smooth textured grahics beforeon the PC and to say it blew me away playing it was an understatement, I immediately went and paid for a 3d card at £150 back in 1996 for one (all my wages as a student!!). 3D textured quake back in 1996 was the bomb! I played it endlessly online lol, a great game and aside from quake and wolfenstein, a classic! Expand
  18. Jan 10, 2011
    10
    Words simply cannot fully describe the perfection of competitive multiplayer that is Quake (so I'll be brief). No game has yet improved upon its gameplay, even nearly fifteen years later; I only found the game recently, within the last year or so, and even my knee must bow to the King of Deathmatch. It is tragic that the majority of the multiplayer FPS community has deemed to settle for so much less. Expand
  19. ScribbleS
    Mar 30, 2010
    10
    To this day, I still think Quake 1 is the best online FPS gameplay (balance and fun) that has ever existed and compared to all other online FPS both current and old. Quake 1 is old, but other FPS owe more to Quake 1 than people think.
  20. AndrewH
    Feb 18, 2010
    10
    This, as far as i can remember, Quake was the first action game i have ever played. I was a year old when it came out in 1996 and i often got in trouble for playing it without permission. Even today i still play it with the Darkplaces mod which makes it look better than ever. Quake deserves all of the credit for revolutionizing the gaming industry. ID Software, this time i solute YOU!!!
  21. JesseB
    Dec 27, 2009
    10
    i cant help but feel extremely nostalgic every time i load this game up. and what else can you give the game that broke up out of the 2.5D and into 3d? 10
  22. SantiagoB
    Dec 26, 2009
    9
    I played the shareware a year ago and liked it so the other day I bought it on steam WITH the id super pack that was discounted to $23.95. Quake 1, unlike its brother Quake 2, is exactly like wolfenstein, doom and heretic/hexen. You get the keyboard/mouse/joystick, run around and shoot things until you reach the end of the level, then you shoot things more. There is minimal story except that the fact is is that you are mad and go rampaging through the underworld or hell or wherever you go, and kill whatever you see, grab dropped ammo, and get bigger and badder weapons. This game isn't a mindless killing game though, which some companies should take some ideas from this game that incorporates "not running around shooting around 50 enemies pouring out of the same doorway.", iD knew where the enemies were to be placed, and there are a few moments in which players can sneak off and find secrets. The Quake engine was one of the revolutions of gaming, as was Wolfenstein being the first first-person shooter, the Quake engine being highly modifiable AND helpled in making more widely know games such as half-life, and also Quake 3 that introduced the "vis" concept. Expand
  23. chasep
    Nov 15, 2009
    10
    God bless Quake. I love you. The BEST memories I have with regards to gaming are thanks to this amazing release. The intro map and Abandoned Base are responsible for countless 20+ hour frag fests that my friends and I still joke and laugh about to this day, over a decade after we stopped playing. I doubt there will ever be a game released that I truly enjoy more than the time I spent playing Quake. Expand
  24. Anonymous
    Nov 7, 2009
    10
    Ha ha... Of course there was a story, and they weren't "Lucifer's" forces. The forces belonged to Shub-Niggurath, an alien god out of the Lovecraft mythos (which as you may realize is different from Satan). In other words, Hell had nothing to do with the game and perhaps if you paid attention to the actual story then you'd have known this. Are you thinking of Doom?
  25. RobertK
    Oct 8, 2009
    10
    Quake is still the definition of 3d gaming. There have been no major jumps since, and probably won't be any major jumps like it ever again. Until we find a way to make it more real than it already is, Quake will always be no. 1. And who cares if its a decade old? All the shooters you've played since 1994 were not only inspired by Quake, but built on it.
  26. _KaszpiR_
    Sep 13, 2009
    10
    Played Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Duke Nukem, Hexen and so on. All of them had 3D map model with flat 2D enemy/items models. And then Quake showed up and it was just blowing your mind with fully three dimensional enviroment. Single player - dark places enlighted with the flames on walls, explosing grenades of the Ogres. While in the shadow you could hear the groan of the Fiend that was attacking really fast. But the biggest shiver was giving the Shambler - white monster that was shooting lightings to the enemies. Multiplayer.... ah, the deathmatch essence that later on was expanded with teamplay, CTF and other modifications. What else to say - the fundaments of the current multiplayer games. I've retournd to Quake after over 10 years. Running ezQuake (nQuake) - game totally refreshed by the vast amount of fans by adding better netcode, nice textures and effects. The result - game looks really nice now, and playing single player maps in cooperative mode with friends is just great fun in the evening :) Games that made me to come back to them to play again I can cont on my right hand fingers. And that is the core of the real game. Expand
  27. PaulK
    Aug 19, 2009
    10
    Amazing - years after it was first released and it's still better than lots of games out now :-)
  28. JaredJ
    Jul 29, 2009
    7
    Even after it was released for the Nintindo 64, I still blazed through the levels again and again. Now I look at it and realize what it was missing, a story. Every time I played it I felt it was missing something. You go through 32 levels with no story. There is nothing more I love then kicking Lucifer's (Satan, Devil) forces back into Hell (as I am a Christian) but it never did grab me the way I hoped because it was missing the most important thing, a story. i.d. Software you will be missed, why did you merge with Bethesda? Expand
  29. StevenH
    Jun 9, 2009
    10
    The most important FPS. The common ancestor of modern 3D graphics and first person shooters. Without it, there would be no Half-Life or Call of Duty. Online multiplay would have been severely stunted. The atmosphere of the game has since been unequalled - instead replaced by military games and typical Starship Troopers knockoffs. Id at its best. Pure and uncontaminated FPS. A transdimensional warrior with metal armor, a bloody axe, a savage grimace, and guns that shoot railroad spikes battling Lovecraftian monsters while wielding the power of hell magic. Enough said. Expand
  30. [Anonymous]
    May 28, 2009
    10
    An all-time classic and a must play for any FPS gamer. Quake was a totally revolutionary game for the time, with the most advanced 3D engine ever built. Quake is still very playable even on modern day hardware despite the older graphics. There are a multitude of single player missions but multiplayer is where this game really takes off with co-op or deathmatch gameplay. This game pioneered the almighty rocket jump and competitive deathmatch and will forever be one of the best games of all time. Period. Expand
  31. AnthonyM
    May 5, 2009
    10
    A TRUE classic, as already stated; the benchmark for all FPS's to this day. Not being bogged down with frivolous and unnecessary story lines, character development and overly complicated weapons, Quake still manages to create a dark, claustrophobic atmosphere more successfully than it's later siblings.The perfect blend of puzzles, mindless slaughter and intelligent level design still make this game a challenge today, especially on Nightmare difficulty. Naturally the enemies are are far short of the intelligence we would expect from todays grizzlies, but are by no means easy, or repetitive and still require different tactics for their dispersal. And make sure you play with the original CD to benefit from the soundtrack! Expand
  32. DavidW
    Sep 14, 2008
    10
    When I first played this in 1998 on my 486, I was amazed. When I played through it again just a few days ago, I was still amazed. There are bits that still make me jump in my seat. It certainly hasn't lost any of it's charm or atmosphere. The sounds are still as bone-chilling as ever, and it still freaks me out to hear the howling of a vore. This game is fantastic, and it is well worth looking up for a bit of retro fps action. Expand
  33. RyanD
    Sep 10, 2008
    9
    Quake, like most ID games, seems dumbed down. This game was originally going to be more like an RPG and have a story behind it. Its a great game still, when you consider how many great mods came from it. Team Fortress started on Quake and look at what it is today: Team Fortress 2!
  34. AnttiA.
    Mar 27, 2008
    10
    Best FPS out there. Was and still is #1. Music gives awesome tension and gameplay is just pure gold. First modern FPS game. Everything after this is based to this. HL uses modified Quake engine and CS and TeamFortress where born from this game's modding culture.
  35. DanielO.
    Dec 21, 2007
    10
    Asides from Doom, this is the definitive standard by which all shoot em ups to this day should be measured and judged. It was this magnificent game that spawned an entire online multiplayer community that's still active to this day, as well as providing millions more (especially myself) with fond memories of nailgunning shamblers and fiends, and then using quad damage to easily axe an ogre to death over a pool of acid. To this day a remarkable classic that will always be a benchmark in not just first person shooters but gaming in general. Brilliant. Expand
  36. ArturP.
    Dec 1, 2007
    10
    Never dying game! still has a strong community all around the world, still servers and gamers, great spirit of old times :) great job ID !
  37. WilliamT.
    Nov 9, 2007
    9
    Back in the day, Quake would have easily scored a 10. And who could blame that? It was full of action, gore, explosives and dark, satanic imagery. Today, Quake is still being played by many and still provides a goob hour or two of baddie-blasting goodness. A classic.
  38. JasonC.
    Oct 5, 2007
    10
    Pay your respects, for this (Quakeworld) be the granddaddy of all online fps games!
  39. rzr
    Oct 1, 2007
    10
    There is no more classic FPS than Quake 1. With modern graphics clients still being developed by the community for this game, it's still very playable, and a lot of fun.
  40. JonathanM.
    Sep 30, 2007
    10
    It's a 10 back in the day and still at least a 6 or 7 now. This and Wolfenstein 3D (the original) are what cultivated my love of first person shooters. It's amazing how scary and intense that game can be *today* on a graphics engine that old. Seriously. The gothic theme, interesting enemies, and well-designed levels make the Quake experience something you aren't likely to confuse with anything else. Very entertaining multiplayer, too. I have to say that id has fallen quite far since then. Quake 1 and the first couple of the Doom series are the best games, by far, they've ever made. Expand
  41. Spiker
    Sep 11, 2007
    9
    What is there to say about Quake? Incredible shooter that to this day provides a riveting FPS-experience. Set the standards for 3D FPS's to come after it.
  42. ScottM.
    Aug 13, 2007
    10
    I have been playing fps games for about 4 years and I have found quake to be one of the most fun games that I have ever played, it is basically set the bar for all other fpses to aspire to.
  43. PeterB.
    Aug 7, 2007
    10
    FPS in its purest form. Quake helped make the industry what it is today.
  44. LilDude
    Aug 5, 2007
    6
    This game is now a decade old... And its a classic.
  45. koHaN
    Jul 14, 2007
    10
    If you HATE Nine Inch Nails, First person shooters, and co-op gameplay, you will still LOVE quake1.
  46. TomG.
    Jan 11, 2007
    10
    This is sure to keep you up all night, blasting your way through hordes of monsters with some hardware sure to hook you up with girls... assuming you can survive. What makes it shine, is the online multiplayer and the OpenGL addon. Totally worth it.
  47. Dimi
    Apr 16, 2005
    10
    Revolutionized the FPS-scene and gaming on the net for ever.
  48. v1m
    Apr 9, 2005
    10
    Never surpassed. The FPS genre's highwater mark is now a decade old, and all who love Quake ask: why cannot it not be equaled?
  49. KarlM.
    Feb 25, 2005
    10
    The divergence of of 2d from 3d. Forget duke nukem, forget the majority of games today. This game had, HAS style, like other great works of art, this is a masterpiece, an inspired synthesis of style, adrenaline, and pure terror. In many ways superior to Doom 3, plus it runs on anything from your Pda to Osx!
  50. JeffM.
    Nov 11, 2004
    10
    This game was revolutionary and changed many's perspective on FPS. The large following of Quake and jumpstarted the online gaming community or deathmatch teamplay. Quake's engine created by id was and still is a model used for future games.
  51. Marc
    Mar 21, 2004
    10
    I love this scary, revolutionary romp. Love it love it love it.
Metascore

Universal acclaim - based on 9 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. If you're into action games, and even if you're not, you should be playing Quake right now - it's as good as PC gaming gets.
  2. Satan, your game has arrived. It spits up blood and pisses vinegar. It sprouts horns from its head like the proud minion of evil that it is. It shoots lightning bolts, for cripes' sake. It's a game of pure evil. And even purer entertainment. It's also the best action game on the planet.
  3. The graphics, sound, and intelligence factors combine to make a game that will scare the hell out of you! The main problem that Quake seems to have is a lack of identity. It wants to combine "DOOM" elements with Hexen elements which creates a mish-mash effect.