Steam Community — Quake II RTX, Photorealistic Screenshots by Rroff

"Those are all Quake 2 textures with a bit of messing about to fit the theme - since doing this I've figured out how Quake 2 RTX materials work and modded it to load higher resolution models in maps so could improve on this a lot. There are a few free photorealistic texture packs out there that include stuff like that but would need some adjustment (roughness/specular, normal and metal/chrome maps) to make them materials in Quake 2 RTX." -Rroff

Quake II Magazine Archive: July 1997

"Enhanced graphics. Hexen-style hub levels. New lighting FX. And things to blow up! Sketched in for release in December 1997, Quake II looks like it may yet steal the thunder of this year's flotilla of 3D action games, including Jedi Knight, Daikaitana, Unreal, and Hexen II. Featuring a raft of new graphical enhancements, new monsters, new weapons and new environments, id Software are claiming, somewhat confusingly, that Quake II 'will be more of a sequel to Quake than Doom II was to Doom.' Despite losing several core members such as John 'Doom' Romero, Michael 'Network Code' Abrash, and Jay 'Biz Guy' Wilbur, id have been beavering away for over seven months on the game. As a policy, id have claimed that 'nothing' from Quake will be carried over to its sequel — bar the engine. CodeSmith John Carmack has substantially souped it up, adding real-time shadows and exotic lighting effects which are said to rival Unreal's PUV (Pulsating-Undulating-Vomiting) technology."

Quake II Magazine Archive: May 1997

"The other newcomer in this pack is the Gremlin, whilst bearing no resemblance to the creatures from the Steven Spielberg film, are an excellent addition... Midway through an intense conflict a message appears: 'Gremlin stole your rocket launcher'. Suddenly you are rudely disarmed to the shotgun, as you see the Gremlin in question hobbling away with a distinctive Quake soldier's gun in it's wiry little arms. Taking offense, you charge out of the fray, pinning the munchkin angrily with the feeble spray from your recreational bird shooter. The Gremlin whips about, and you gasp in horror as a hail of rockets blows you and the surrounding monsters into cyber-chunks."

Quake II Magazine Archive: February 1997

"QuakeWorld Giblets: Quake truly is one of the most important video games ever. Not only is a brilliant one-player game, a magnificent multi-player game, and completely customizable, but it's also the first to have such an impact on world-wide internet gaming. QuakeWorld is the new free upgrade which shows us the true future of video games. You can look however you want, you can call yourself whatever you want, you can travel the world from your bedroom, and you can conquer QuakeWorld with your clan of killers! In QuakeWorld, you get to be what you always wanted to be – in real life you may be a 10-year-old in a wheelchair, but in QuakeWorld you can be Baron Rocketdeath – one of the most feared warriors in the world, taking on anyone who dares challenge you, while looking like the hardest person anyone's ever met. Soon, all video games will be like this."