Play the Classic ’90s Quake Shooter Via CSS

Everyone knows you use CSS to create and style beautiful websites. But did you know that you can also use it to play classic video games? That’s precisely what LayoutIt! have achieved with cssQuake, a port of id Software’s 1996 first-person shooter that uses the PolyCSS library to render 3D visuals as an actual inspectable website.

cssQuake is built around the PolyCSS 3D DOM rendering engine. This turns Quake geometry into real HTML elements: world faces are positioned with CSS matrix3d(...) transforms, textured with pixelated CSS backgrounds, and grouped into meshes instead of being drawn on a <canvas>.

That may seem really technical, but all you really need to know is that you can play a mid-’90s video game in your browser without needing to download or install any plugins or extensions. cssQuake runs completely native in-browser, which is pretty impressive, as is the fact that creator Agustin Capeletto is continually adding new features and updates. Also, to really set the mood, be sure to listen to Nine Inch Nails’ original soundtrack, which can be found on Apple Music and other platforms.