My memory of quake 4 was me and my friends were excited because it was one of the first PC games to have a DVD release instead of a bunch of CDs. This felt revolutionary at the time.

At least in Germany, at the time when Quake 4 was released, basically everybody who was slightly interested in gaming topics (independently whether one loved or hated this game) knew about it because of the huge outrage that the German version of Quake 4 was so censored:

> https://censorship.fandom.com/wiki/Quake_4

> https://www.reddit.com/r/quake/comments/1namarb/quake_4_on_s...

How does that even compute.

Halfway through the game there's literally a pivotal plot point that entirely hinges on a particularly gruesome event immersively experienced in first person.

Not to mention the various details in the environment that are incredibly repulsive but are a key part of the unspoken lore, ambiance, and general plot.

The game artistically and thematically entirely falls flat without the reviling experience of the Strogg.

There was a QuakeLive too, playable in a browser, but it was discontinued.

It is still available on Steam, just not the browser interface.

The browser piece is gone, but it's still alive, and it gets played at LAN parties to this day.

It wasn't a real mainline Quake game by id, they got Raven to do it. Also it was single player focussed.

So there wasn't the same level of hype.