As unconvinced I am of the original Quake's take on gothic lovecraft stuffs, it doesn't take a genius to see just how much less personality Quake II has in comparison.
The weapons are a tad more generic, but are mostly satisfying to use. The interactivity in each level gives off the feeling of a gimmicky tech demo, even without the RTX implementation, but in a fun way that I don't hate. Enemies are boring, both in theme and behavior, and can often feel overly spongey.
The music of Quake II isn't great, but modern releases excluding it altogether is a strict no-no.
The RTX implementation is mostly quite good, but the lack of muzzle flashes on weapons you fire yourself seems like a glaring omission that would have enhanced the overall experience and weapon feedback.
Like the original Quake, some things begin to click a bit more in multiplayer deathmatch, but an increasingly useless starting weapon and the lack of modern on-boarding features as seen in the 2021 Quake remaster keep the barrier of entry to that experience as high as it's always been.
The weapons are a tad more generic, but are mostly satisfying to use. The interactivity in each level gives off the feeling of a gimmicky tech demo, even without the RTX implementation, but in a fun way that I don't hate. Enemies are boring, both in theme and behavior, and can often feel overly spongey.
The music of Quake II isn't great, but modern releases excluding it altogether is a strict no-no.
The RTX implementation is mostly quite good, but the lack of muzzle flashes on weapons you fire yourself seems like a glaring omission that would have enhanced the overall experience and weapon feedback.
Like the original Quake, some things begin to click a bit more in multiplayer deathmatch, but an increasingly useless starting weapon and the lack of modern on-boarding features as seen in the 2021 Quake remaster keep the barrier of entry to that experience as high as it's always been.