Doom
| Developer: id Software | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: id Software | Sound: |
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| Year: 1993 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: First person shooter | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1* | Rating: |
9/10 | |
(*) Multiplayer mode in local network for 2 to 4 people.
The screenshots are from the The Ultimate Doom (1995) version, which contains a fourth episode (9 levels). Don’t mix it up with Final Doom (1996), which was just an expansion of Doom 2 (nowadays conveniently bundled with it).
Ah, the glorious age of first-person shooters (or FPS, or even Doom-likes, if that isn’t self-explanatory enough)!
Doom is one of the genre’s earliest representatives (after Wolfenstein 3D) and, in my opinion, remains the most iconic. It had everything: an oppressively claustrophobic atmosphere, mazelike corridors where you constantly get lost, moments of uneasy calm broken by sudden violent battles, and the hero’s face on-screen going all shades of red as he took hits, eventually ending up looking like a slab of ground beef. And let’s not forget those nightmarish monsters…
Just picture it: you’re alone in a deserted complex littered with body parts. There’s dead silence, well, almost ; something’s making inhuman growls somewhere, behind a wall. You’re tiptoeing down a dark hallway, clutching a tiny pistol, passing by satanic altars where mutilated bodies are on display. Suddenly, the lights go out, a wall panel slides open, and you’re surrounded by oversized jaws on legs… Anyway, I’ll leave it to you now. Good luck!
And the level design, oh, don’t get me started—brilliant and sorely missed in today’s games! You could replay the same level twenty times, discovering new hidden paths, secret passages, maybe even a chainsaw, or a BFG… I spent so much time in those corridors that I still remember the maps by heart.
Back then, I even bought this gigantic book on Doom development, filled with anecdotes and, incidentally, maps of all the levels with every secret passage marked. I devoured it in one sitting!
When I first wrote this page (in 2012), I mentioned the Doomsday engine, which brought graphic improvements and better compatibility for our modern computers (especially for multiplayer), as well as the mod Brutal Doom, more spectacular but less true to the original.
In 2023, thirty years after Doom was released, I am shocked to see that the modding community is still going strong. So much so that Brutal Doom itself has spawned a multitude of derivative mods, each more impressive and/or outlandish than the last. It’s a real jungle out there.
Curious? Here’s what a properly modded level of Doom can look like (based on Brutal Doom: Black Edition). A ready-to-play pack is available in the description. To disable those ghastly “glory kills”: press “ESC”, “Fatum”, then “Veteran: Old-School”.
If you want a more casual experience without investing too much time, I’d recommend the following setup (for Windows):
- Download and install GZDoom, an engine similar to Doomsday.
- Get the Doom.wad and Doom2.wad files, which contain the original levels. They come with versions sold on GOG (Doom and Doom 2)—just dig through the installation folders and copy these two files. You might also find them floating around for free online, but that might, technically, be considered piracy (tsk, tsk).
- Paste these two files into the GZDoom installation folder.
- Download a popular mod called Brutal Doom Platinum and drop the file (after decompressing it) into the GZDoom installation folder.
- With your mouse (left click), drag the “BrutalDoomPlatinumv3.1.1.pk3” file onto “gzdoom.exe”.
For multiplayer, the engine of choice is apparently Zandronum. You’ll have to figure it out yourself. I haven’t tried it.
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