GamingPickz
Game vs game · side by side

DUSK vs Quake II

DUSK is an FPS horror game from David Szymanski (2018) while Quake II is an FPS horror game (1997).

DUSK

2018 · David Szymanski

8.4GamingPickz Score

$19.99

Steam: Overwhelmingly Positive

Quake II

1997 · Studio not listed

7.9GamingPickz Score

$9.99

Steam: Overwhelmingly Positive

What each one is

Steam files DUSK under FPS and Horror. In contrast, it files Quake II under FPS and Horror.

DUSK

Battle through an onslaught of mystical backwater cultists, possessed militants & even darker forces as you attempt to discover just what lurks beneath the Earth in this retro FPS inspired by the '90s legends.

Description from its Steam store page

Quake II

You are humanity’s last hope to stop the Strogg, a hostile alien race waging war against Earth. Play this military sci-fi FPS, now upgraded for modern platforms with improved visuals, new campaign content, online multiplayer/co-op, and more.

Description from its Steam store page

At a glance

DUSKQuake II
GamingPickz Score8.4/107.9/10
Steam ratingOverwhelmingly Positive (97%, 25,473)Overwhelmingly Positive (95%, 10,370)
Critic aggregate88/100No aggregate
Price$19.99$9.99
Install size2 GB
Steam Deckverifiedverified
Released20181997
DeveloperDavid Szymanski

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

DUSK vs Quake II, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    DUSKFPS horror game
    Quake IIFPS horror game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    DUSKBoomer Shooter, FPS, Retro
    Quake IIFPS, Classic, Action

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    DUSKScore 8.4 · 97% on Steam · 88 critic
    Quake IIScore 7.9 · 95% on Steam

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    DUSK25,473 reviews · 3 add-ons · 2 GB
    Quake II10,370 reviews

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    DUSK$19.99
    Quake II$9.99

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    DUSKVerified
    Quake IIVerified

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

Across the rounds a number can settle, it is level at 1 each. Which one is "better" is the part no figure decides, so we leave it to what you want from the two.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

DUSK and Quake II on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100PlayersPopularity

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • Multi-platform
  • PC

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

See the whole grid

How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The higher-rated of the two: DUSK (GamingPickz Score 8.4)
  • The cheaper right now: Quake II ($9.99)
  • The safer bet by weight of reviews: DUSK (25,473 reviews)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

Boomer ShooterFPSRetroShooterFast-PacedOld SchoolHorrorFirst-Person

Where they differ

DUSK is also

LovecraftianDark HumorBloodLevel EditorPvP

Quake II is also

Sci-fiMultiplayerGoreModdableCo-op

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, DUSK is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Quake II is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for DUSK and 6 for Quake II. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are DUSK and Quake II in scope?

DUSK has drawn 25,473 Steam reviews, ships 3 add-ons and installs in 2 GB. Quake II has drawn 10,370 Steam reviews.

Is DUSK or Quake II better?

By the GamingPickz Score, DUSK rates higher (8.4 to 7.9). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, DUSK or Quake II?

Quake II is cheaper right now at $9.99, against $19.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

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