Answer: Trent Reznor

Quake, released in 1996, was the first game in the popular franchise and the successor to the groundbreaking Doom game franchise. Since Doom was no easy act to follow, the folks at id Software took the job seriously by introducing better multiplayer matching, well tested multiplayer maps, and otherwise tapping into the burgeoning multiplayer FPS genre while pushing it forward.

The music and atmosphere of a game can have a huge impact on the user experience, so to ensure that players were fully immersed in the gritty and dark levels, id Software enlisted none other than Trent Reznor (seen here with lead Quake programmer John Carmack) and Nine Inch Nails to create the score. Though not as high-energy as the main body of their work prior to the release of the game, the foreboding and highly atmospheric ambient music still bears the obvious mark of their handiwork. Not only did they lay down the tracks for the entire score, but when you play the single player game in story mode, the protagonist, “Ranger”, is voiced by Trent Reznor himself.

If thinking about the soundtrack hits you with a bit of nostalgia for LAN parties of decades past, you can listen to the soundtrack in a few ways. You can pop the original game disc in your computer and listen to the whole score, you can hit up YouTube to search for uploads of the score, and a vinyl version of the Quake soundtrack was released for those who prefer the retro format.