Microsoft has turned Quake 2 into a generative AI tech demo, and people do not like it. Using the company’s new videogame gen AI model Muse, which can make game visuals and assign controller actions, id’s classic FPS has been turned into a brief, in-browser experience anyone can try. Despite its status as a tech demo, however, many aren’t pleased with this version of Quake.
Back in February, Microsoft announced Muse. This World and Human Action Model (WHAM) is a generative AI tool for videogames, which the company hopes can “revive nostalgic games” and help preserve these experiences in the long term. Now, to show off the tech, Microsoft has released a short AI rendition of Quake 2, which anyone can play.
Microsoft assures that it does “not intend for this to fully replicate the actual experience of playing the original Quake 2 game,” adding that the generative model is meant to be a “research exploration” instead. The experience itself only contains a single part of one of the FPS game’s levels.
Even as a tech demo, this version of Quake 2 doesn’t play like the original. It’s much slower, textures aren’t clear, and it has very little object permanence. Enemies completely disappear when they go out of sight and turning back to look at the level can generate entirely new environments, taking away any deliberate design you’ve come to expect.
Microsoft is aware of these limitations, though. For example, it says that the current model’s context length is only 0.9 seconds, and that this means it can forget objects that are out of view. “This can also be a source of fun,” Microsoft explains, “whereby you can defeat or spawn enemies by looking at the floor for a second and then looking back up. Or it can let you teleport around the map by looking up at the sky and then back down. These are some examples of playing the model.”
Over on the Quake subreddit, however, user ‘Synthfreak1224’ calls Quake 2’s AI tech demo “garbage,” while ‘CrimFandago’ has more to say. “AI has its uses but I’m simply not interested in gaming companies using it as a quick, easy and ultimately lazy method for creativity. We’ve already seen its use, and so far it’s butchered textures rather than improving them, bringing into question why anyone would genuinely wish to hand over money for what’s essentially an even more soulless product than usual.”
The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley also tweeted about the tech demo, which garnered a similar response in the comments. There are some AI defenders, but the majority of the response isn’t positive.
If you want to read Microsoft’s report on the technology and see the AI version of Quake 2 for yourself, you can do so here. If you want to take a human-made version of Quake 2 for a spin, there was a recent remaster that you can check out.
Otherwise, make sure you check out all the best old games and best single-player games you can try today.
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