Quake was id Software's leap from the pseudo-3D of Doom into fully polygonal environments and true 3D gameplay. Released in 1996, it featured Trent Reznor's industrial soundtrack, dark Lovecraftian aesthetics, and movement mechanics that players would spend decades mastering. Rocket jumping, strafe jumping, and bunny hopping turned basic traversal into an art form. But Quake's biggest contribution was its multiplayer. QuakeWorld added client-side prediction for smoother online play, and the competitive scene that emerged around it (with players like Thresh and Fatal1ty) essentially invented professional FPS gaming.