I'll tell you a little story about Quake 2.

Way back in the dark ages, Doom came out, and it was good. I played Doom, and I like it.

Then the Holy Trinity of Build arrived, and it was more gooderer. Like Doom before, no fancy 3D accelerator was needed.

Then came Quake. I didn't play it much then. I was busy looking at mostly-nekkid ladies in Duke3D. And I knew that to get the best out of it, you needed one of them fancy new 3D accelerator cards.

So I skipped Quake - who cares about Lovecraftian horror anyway?

Then I was out chillin' with my homies, listening to some Rammstein as we were wont to do. At some point while swapping between Herzeleid and Sehnsucht, a friend produced a mysterious green CD with a familiar-yet-different stylized "q" emblazoned on it. The first track was garbled noise, but then the sweet, sweet strains of metal boomed from the $10 boombox.

I knew I had to play the game.

I bought Quake 2 that day. Being limited to a Pentium 120mHz with a Cirrus Logic 1mb 2D chipset, it was all software, all the time. 320x240, baby. 5-15ish FPS.

I played it like that for a couple of years. Scrimping and saving for a luscious Voodoo card.

Then one day, I was just about fully ready to commit - get myself a new IDT Winchip 233mHz (drop-in socket 5 upgrade) and a new Voodoo. So I went over to BestBuy to drool a bit (yes, BB used to have a very robust PC part selection). On the shelf next to the Voodoos was a mess of yellow BestBuy tape that said "open box - $79.ish". Scraping the tape to the side a bit, I saw the name, something I'd never heard of - Diamond Stealth III Savage 4 32mb. 32mb must be better than 16mb in the Voodoo, and with that discount I'd be able to get the Winchip for an all-around upgrade.

I dropped the most at once I ever had before on a single PC part purchase, and bought my first 3D accelerator card.

Long story short, I bought my first GPU and first major PC investment just to play Quake 2 in glorious 800x600 at 40+ FPS.

Worth ever penny, and every second of gameplay was glorious.

20 years later, I bought my latest GPU for more than most whole systems cost these days just to play that same game, at 1080p60 with RTX on. Literally, the Q2 RTX demo videos brought me back 20 years in nostalgia, luckily with a bigger bank account.

Just like last time, it was worth it. Every penny.

If you own an RTX card, download this. Get Quake 2 for the few bucks as well and enjoy one of the greatest shooters of all time - even after over two decades - with the technological marvel of fully path-traced rendering.

I may not play as obsessively as I did back then, but ever second of Q2 is still glorious id shooter perfection, this time with another technical marvel adding a new sheen of freshness.

The game was free, but it cost me around $1300 to play at a reasonable framerate - and it was still worth every penny.

Memberberries are a powerful drug.

I'll tell you a little story about Quake 2. Way back in the dark ages, Doom came out, and it was good. I played Doom, and I like it. Then the Holy Trinity of Build arrived, and it was more gooderer. Like Doom before, no fancy 3D accelerator was needed. Then came Quake. I didn't play it much then. I was busy looking at mostly-nekkid ladies in Duke3D. And I knew that to get the best out of it, you needed one of them fancy new 3D accelerator cards. So I skipped Quake - who cares about Lovecraftian horror anyway? Then I was out chillin' with my homies, listening to some Rammstein as we were wont to do. At some point while swapping between Herzeleid and Sehnsucht, a friend produced a mysterious green CD with a familiar-yet-different stylized "q" emblazoned on it. The first track was garbled noise, but then the sweet, sweet strains of metal boomed from the $10 boombox. I knew I had to play the game. I bought Quake 2 that day. Being limited to a Pentium 120mHz with a Cirrus Logic 1mb 2D chipset, it was all software, all the time. 320x240, baby. 5-15ish FPS. I played it like that for a couple of years. Scrimping and saving for a luscious Voodoo card. Then one day, I was just about fully ready to commit - get myself a new IDT Winchip 233mHz (drop-in socket 5 upgrade) and a new Voodoo. So I went over to BestBuy to drool a bit (yes, BB used to have a very robust PC part selection). On the shelf next to the Voodoos was a mess of yellow BestBuy tape that said "open box - $79.ish". Scraping the tape to the side a bit, I saw the name, something I'd never heard of - Diamond Stealth III Savage 4 32mb. 32mb must be better than 16mb in the Voodoo, and with that discount I'd be able to get the Winchip for an all-around upgrade. I dropped the most at once I ever had before on a single PC part purchase, and bought my first 3D accelerator card. Long story short, I bought my first GPU and first major PC investment just to play Quake 2 in glorious 800x600 at 40+ FPS. Worth ever penny, and every second of gameplay was glorious. 20 years later, I bought my latest GPU for more than most whole systems cost these days just to play that same game, at 1080p60 with RTX on. Literally, the Q2 RTX demo videos brought me back 20 years in nostalgia, luckily with a bigger bank account. Just like last time, it was worth it. Every penny. If you own an RTX card, download this. Get Quake 2 for the few bucks as well and enjoy one of the greatest shooters of all time - even after over two decades - with the technological marvel of fully path-traced rendering. I may not play as obsessively as I did back then, but ever second of Q2 is still glorious id shooter perfection, this time with another technical marvel adding a new sheen of freshness. The game was free, but it cost me around $1300 to play at a reasonable framerate - and it was still worth every penny. Memberberries are a powerful drug.