Rage is id Software's first major first-person-shooter since Doom 3, and the debut of the id Tech 5 game engine. Tech 5's major feature is use of Megatexture technology, essentially allowing for more efficient use of limited memory. As such, Rage is the first id game created predominately with consoles in mind.

Rage takes place an unspecified time after an asteroid strikes the Earth and obliterates all life. The player is a member of the "Ark Project" - a massive undertaking prior to the meteor's impact that placed valuable personnel into underground pods. The pods were meant to keep these VIPs in stasis until the impact's effects had passed, and then release their crew out to repopulate the world. The player awakens as the sole survivor of their damaged pod, and many decades after society had already started to rebuild. The player thus sets off to assist what settlements they find, and avoid The Authority - a mysterious governing force that wants to capture the player to harvest the nanites placed in their body as part of the Ark Project.

Settlements and similar playable areas are connected by an overworld called The Wasteland. The player gains access to buggy-style vehicles to traverse the wastes, and can also engage in specific races and vehicle combat. Players take missions from job boards and friendly NPCs, drive to the appropriate area, and use traditional FPS skills to dispatch any enemies and/or retrieve necessary trinkets from the enemy's lair. The player's health regenerates when not taking damage, and should the player be knocked out, they have a limited charge of defibrillators (activated through a brief minigame) to revive themselves.