Rather than play Quake 2, Microsoft wants you to play AI slop “inspired” by it

"I don't know what this sh*t is but it ain't Quake."

Microsoft is back with its new AI tool Muse, this time proclaiming that players can engage with a playable demo “inspired” by Quake 2.

You know, rather than just asking players to engage with Quake 2, an actual game made by actual people.

The demo is a “Copilot Gaming Experience” that Microsoft is calling “a World and Human Action Model (WHAM), our groundbreaking generative AI model that can dynamically create gameplay visuals and simulate player behavior in real time.” Playable here (but literally just go play Quake 2 instead), Microsoft says the demo “dynamically generates gameplay sequences inspired by the classic game Quake 2“, while “[e]very input you make triggers the next AI-generated moment in the game, almost as if you were playing the original Quake 2 running on a traditional game engine.”

You know, instead of just having someone play Quake 2 without a bunch of AI processes churning in the background to “make” your game.

At any rate, the results are pretty dismal. In a research blog, Microsoft states that “[i]n our current model the context length is 0.9 seconds of gameplay (9 frames at 10fps),” meaning that if you look down at the ground for long enough, and then back up, whatever was once in front of you before will likely have changed. I ran into a box, looked up at the sky and then back down, and my path was magically cleared. Thanks, AI!

The Game Awards’ Geoff Keighley took to Twitter with a post about the “demo”, and was met with severe backlash.

“This feels extremely disconnected from what you said just 4 months ago about the insane and devastating developer layoffs,” wrote kalaelizabeth.

“Same vibe as watching an AI generated video,” added TheKingerdYT. “I feel nothing. Zero connection between the artist and the audience.”

“I don’t know what this shit is but it ain’t Quake,” said mylesblasonato.

“I see no possible downsides to taking a game that can run on a potato and making a worse version of it that requires an entire server farm,” wrote esselfortium on Bluesky.

Quake 2 — the real Quake 2 — is available on Windows PC via Steam, Windows PC via Epic Games Store, Windows PC via GOG, Xbox One and Xbox Series S & X, PS4, PS5, and Switch.