Bethesda’s proprietary id Tech engine is not powering Rage 2.

Rage 2 is a joint development between id Software and Just Cause developers Avalanche.
Studio founder Christofer Sundberg confirmed via Twitter that Rage 2 will run on Apex, Avalanche’s open-world engine. This suggests that the bulk of the work is being done by Avalanche.

The Stockholm studio has an extensive catalogue of open-world games with vast environments. Rage 2 seems far more suited to an engine that powered Mad Max and Just Cause 3 than Doom and Wolfenstein 2.

The original Rage was inseparable from its engine. The title acted as something of a tech demo of id Tech 5, with early versions of the game frequently used to showcase engine features like “megatextures” - a technique for streamlining textures that cut down on optimization across platforms. Since then the developer has evolved this to id Tech 6.

Avalanche themselves recently expanded to a third studio location in Malmö. It’s not clear to what degree this location will be responsible for development on Rage 2.

Rage 2 was announced after a series of leaks earlier this month. The game is set to release in 2019.

It’s Apex - Avalanche Open-World Engine.

— Christofer Sundberg (@CHSundberg) May 15, 2018