Quake

Quake brought a fully three-dimensional engine that replaced Doom's earlier sprite-based approach with real polygonal geometry, dynamic lighting, and real 3D enemy models, and that is precisely why it became one of the titles where support for headsets like the Forte VFX1 had genuine justification, since the player could for the first time look up, down, and sideways with full three-dimensional consistency across the gothic and industrial levels full of demons and robots, without running into sprites flatly facing the screen. The real revolution was the fully three-dimensional world itself, which let level designers build far more sophisticated and spatially legible architecture than previous engines allowed.

Practical use of the VFX1 with Quake, however, ran into hardware limits from both sides. Quake itself was demanding for mid-1990s processors, and running in stereoscopic mode, which had to render the scene practically twice, lowered the frame rate even further, which combined with the headset's low resolution and noticeable head-tracking latency created an environment ideal for the rapid onset of nausea. The fast action sequences, strafing, and jumping between platforms that are characteristic of Quake were among the worst possible scenarios for motion-sickness sensitivity in VR at the time, even for players who otherwise had no problem with the headset in slower titles.

Even so, Quake remains one of the most influential titles in the history of computer games, with its dark industrial design, music by Trent Reznor, and the foundations on which the entire genre of networked deathmatches and esports later grew, and its engine also became the basis for a number of other games from other studios. Within the VFX1's history it is remembered as a game that pointed the way toward where VR might move in the future thanks to fully three-dimensional spaces, even though mid-1990s technology was still nowhere near ready for that ambition, whether in processor power, display resolution, or head-tracking speed.

Why play: Anyone who appreciates dark industrial design and Trent Reznor's music will find in Quake one of the most influential titles in gaming history, whose VFX1 version hints at the direction VR could eventually take.