Dawn of the Machine is an official Quake expansion released by Machine Games to celebrate the thirtieth (!) anniversary of the classic shooter. It is, quite frankly, an amazing experience. Utilizing the tech that Nightdive Studios developed to remaster the original game, Dawn of the Machine features architecture that would not have been possible to design in 1996, lest your humble Pentium and 3dfx Voodoo explode. Tying together the three main thematic designs of the original game (Lovecraftian horror; dark fantasy; sci-fi shooter) while greatly expanding the scope of the levels. this is simply the best Quake has to offer. It's hard, too, people, in the way that classic shooters are hard. This expansions throws Shamblers at you like crazy, and you'll often have to manage your ammo to some degree since you'll face much bigger mobs than you did in the original episodes. But the eye candy on display just triggers my nostalgia so hard. Games don't necessarily need cutting-edge graphics when the level designers are so good at creating ambiance with basic dynamic lighting, which is added and heavily featured. Just check out some of these screenshots below. If you have any interest in classic shooters, download the remastered version of Quake (which is free for those who have purchased it in the past) and boot up Dawn of the Machine.
