| “ | The Strogg use these poor bastards for food, and for creating their horrible soldiers. They've been driven insane by the Strogg and can no longer defend themselves, or do much of anything but accept their fate. | ” |
—iD Vault | ||
Prisoners are found in Quake II. They are human marines that have been captured by the Strogg.
They are in a state of complete mental breakdown due to the torture inflicted upon them by the Strogg. They will either stand in place and rock back and forth, mindlessly bang their fists against a nearby wall or floor, crawl, or stagger about in a daze, uttering choking cries or pleads to stop the pain or for the player to kill them.
Sometimes they are found fixed to the wall, writhing repeatedly but unable to get free from, only to be silenced if the player kills them.
They'll often moan and groan in anguish, or speak phrases such as 'help', 'it hurts', 'let me out', 'make it stop', 'the horror', and 'kill me now' and make strange sounds until death.
They are commonly found detained inside prison cells, but even if the player releases them by deactivating a forcefield, the prisoner seems oblivious to what is happening around them, therefore are unable to fight alongside the player.
They are frequently found throughout Unit 3 - the Prison Hub, and notably also in the Processing Plant and Research Lab. They appear in The Reckoning and Ground Zero as well, although less frequently; there is a "live food" processing facility in the Hangars, and several prisoners are found in holding cells in the Strogg Freighter. Only a single prisoner is found in Ground Zero, in the Research Hangar - it is possible that this prisoner is Zor.
In Call of the Machine, two insane marines are found in Echoes of the Past, while Brickslayer is searching for survivors on Earth.
Prisoners sometimes drop ammunition if they are killed, and one prisoner in the Torture Chambers has a grenade launcher. Additionally, there is a bound prisoner in the Torture Chambers who has the Security Pass on his person, and he must be killed so Bitterman can retrieve the passcard and progress with his mission. He is encountered inside a crushing machine, and when Bitterman enters the room a nearby Guard will attempt to activate the crushing mechanism; however, if the Guard is killed before he can do so, then Bitterman will have no choice but to kill the prisoner himself.
The Trap and the Tesla Mine both recognise prisoners as targets. A tactic in The Reckoning - perhaps a morally dubious one if this were reality and not a computer game - is to use the Trap to kill a prisoner, creating a health cube that confers 30 health to the player who collects it. There are three prisoners still alive in the Strogg Freighter, so if the player has three Traps available then a potential 90 health can be gained this way. This tactic becomes more effective with the 2023 remaster, since the health boost will carry over to subsequent levels.
Prisoners don't count as kills as far as the help computer and the final kill tally are concerned. A player can jump onto the heads of prisoners and use them as stepping stones to jump higher, although there isn't really anywhere in the single-player campaigns where this helps.
Sounds
| Sounds | |
|---|---|
| It hurts | |
| It hurts | |
| Let me out | |
| Make it stop | |
| Make it stop | |
| The prisoner's moan | |
| Kill me now | |
| Aaargh | |
| Help | |
| The horror | |
| The prisoner pounds the floor | |
Gallery
