Quake Live similar games & best alternatives

Quake Live - Trailer
Quake Live - quake-live_1.avif
Quake Live - quake-live_2.avif
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Quake Live

PC (Microsoft Windows) • 2014

Should you play it?

Experience the most exciting and fast-paced FPS gameplay while competing with players from around the world in over 100 arenas, a dozen game modes, and with persistent career stats tracking, in this online features-focused successor to Quake III Arena.

What works

  • Pure and skill-based gameplay
  • Active and friendly community
  • Extensive custom maps and mods
  • High skill ceiling and rewarding mastery
  • Affordable price with good content

Things to keep in mind

  • Steep learning curve for newcomers
  • Small and aging player base
  • Some veteran players can be toxic
  • No story or single player campaign
  • Technical setup can be challenging

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Counter-Strike

  • Counter-Strike: Source

  • Warfork

  • Project Sparrow

  • Screencheat

  • Half-Life 2: Deathmatch

More fantastical

Games that feels like Quake Live but with more imaginative fiction

  • Quake

  • Turok 2: Seeds of Evil

  • Dystopia

  • Blood™ Fresh Supply

  • Double Action: Boogaloo

  • Dino D-Day

More story-driven

Games that feels like Quake Live but with deeper narrative immersion

  • STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast™

  • Return to Castle Wolfenstein

  • Sven Co-op

  • STRAFTAT

  • America's Army: Proving Grounds

  • Overload

Choose your own criteria ->

From the same developer

From the same developer, ranked by motivational fit.

  • Quake III Arena

  • Quake Champions

  • DOOM + DOOM II

  • Quake II

  • DOOM

Similarity map

How to compare these games

Compare nearby games

Each card is a nearby game on the similarity map, compared with Quake Live. Swipe sideways to move between games. Titles already listed in What to play next are left out.

  • Cover and title: open that game’s page.
  • What works / keep in mind: the same highlights as the desktop comparison panel.
  • Bars: the main motivational differences versus this game.
How to use the graph

Similarity map

Each dot is a game placed from its motivation profile relative to this page’s game. Direction shows which motivation differs most; distance along that axis shows how large the gap is.

  • Purple star: this page’s game at the centre — everything is relative to it.
  • Direction: each axis is a main motivational difference vs this game (e.g. more / less competitive).
  • Distance on an axis: how large that difference is (ring scales show +/− points).
  • Coloured chips: click to highlight games that mainly differ on that motivation; click again to reset.
  • Dotted line: link between this page’s game and the one selected for comparison.
  • Hover a dot to preview that game in the panel on the right; click to keep that comparison.
  • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom.

How to read the map This is a polar difference map: direction = which motivation differs, and distance = how much (same units as the sidebar deltas).

Swipe to compare nearby games with Quake Live. These titles are not in What to play next.

Quake Live: Broadly representative of its motivational profile, with a few distinct shifts. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Competition, Status, Fellowship, Domination. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Fantasy, Story, Relaxation.

Last update: 21/08/2026