Doom was announced asDoom 4 in 2008, and that version underwent an extensive development cycle with different builds and designs before the game was restarted in 2011 and re-revealed as simplyDoom in 2014. It was tested by customers who pre-ordered the 2014MachineGames gameWolfenstein: The New Order and the general public.Mick Gordon composed the music, with contributions byRichard Devine. The game also has an online multiplayer component and a level editor known as "SnapMap", co-developed withCertain Affinity andEscalation Studios respectively.
Doom was well received by critics and players. The single-player campaign,graphics, soundtrack, and gameplay received considerable praise, whereas the multiplayer mode drew significant criticism. It was the second best-selling video game in North America and the United Kingdom in the week of its release and sold over 500,000 copies for PCs by the end of May 2016. A sequel,Doom Eternal, was released in March 2020. A prequel,Doom: The Dark Ages, was released in May 2025.
TheDoom Slayer fighting against a Baron of Hell with the Super Shotgun
Doom is afirst-person shooter.[5] Gameplay consists of fast movement and frenetic combat against aggressive and mobile opponents, as well as exploration of the game's environments via double-jumps and ledge climbing.[6][7] To progress through the game, the player wields an arsenal of weapons influenced by those ofthe firstDoom game and its sequel,Doom II, such as a chainsaw andBFG 9000, against undead and demonic opponents also influenced by the originalDoom games. Weapons do not need to be reloaded and can be augmented with various mods obtained during the campaign.[8][9][10]
To replenish their resources, the player mustpick up items or kill enemies.[11] Players may recoverhealth by using the "Glory Kill" mechanic, in which sufficiently damaged enemies enter a stunned state and may be killed by the player in a shortmelee animation.[12][13]Ammunition can be replenished by using the chainsaw on an enemy, which instantly kills them if there is enoughfuel in the chainsaw.[9][14]
The single-player campaign has 13 levels,[15] which typically have multiple pathways and open areas for players to explore and find collectibles, secrets, and upgrades to their equipment.[10] Other pickups include Doomguy figurines and data files that expand on the setting and story.[16] Throughout the campaign areEaster egg references toCommander Keen,The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,Fallout 4,Terminator 2, and the precedingDoom games.[17] Each level contains a hidden lever which opens an area extracted from a classic level in the original games.[18] An arcade mode in which all upgrades in the single-player campaign are unlocked from the beginning of the game was added on October 20, 2016.[19][20]
Doom supports an online multiplayer mode.[21] Gamemodes include a basicTeam Deathmatch and variations thereof called Freeze Tag, in which defeated players are frozen in ice and may be revived by teammates,[22] and Soul Harvest, in which players must pick up "souls" dropped by slain opponents;[23] Warpath, a variation ofKing of the Hill in which the hill moves around the map;[24] Clan Arena, a team-basedlast man standing mode;[25] and Domination, in which teams must capture and hold three locations.[23] Players use a loadout consisting of two weapons chosen from an arsenal of weapons that may include weapons unique to the multiplayer mode.[26][27] During matches, players may obtain "hack modules", one-usepower-ups that convey information to the player, such as the time until other power-ups respawn. They may also obtain "runes" that temporarily transform them into demons.[22][28] Playable demons include the Revenant, Baron of Hell, and Mancubus, also featured in the single-player campaign,[29] and the Prowler and Harvester, which are not.[19][30]
Doom includes alevel creation tool called SnapMap which allows players to create and edit maps.[31] Using in-game assets,[32] players can create single-player levels and co-operative or competitive multiplayer maps. Players can place enemies into their maps, with the exception of the campaign'sbosses, and modify theirartificial intelligence and stats. Alternatively, SnapMap can automatically generate enemies for player-made maps with the AI conductor feature.[33] Players can share their completed maps with other players, who can rate and make derivatives of their map.[4]
Doom takes place on Mars in 2149, where the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) operates a facility to exploit an energy seeping fromHell, an alternate dimension populated by hostile lifeforms known as demons. To solve an energy crisis onEarth, the UAC constructed the Argent Tower to extract and refine raw Hell energy into Argent energy, which deteriorates the physical and mental health of the facility's staff,[34] and allowed transit to and from Hell. After discovering that Argent energy had properties that defied their understanding of physics, the UAC began occult research into Argent energy and Hell, and the demons, who its staff began to worship and cybernetically modify.
The facility is run by Samuel Hayden, a UAC scientist who transferred his consciousness to an android body after being afflicted with terminal brain cancer during the construction of the Argent Tower. In addition to directing the energy extraction and refining process, Hayden organizes expeditions into Hell to retrieve captive demons and artifacts for study. Among them is asarcophagus containing the player character, a being they call theDoom Slayer and fear immensely, along with his armor, the Praetor Suit. Assisting Hayden is VEGA, a self-aware artificial intelligence that controls and monitors the facility. Leading the UAC's research into biomechanics is Olivia Pierce, a protege of Hayden's who developed cripplingscoliosis while working on Mars and makes a pact with the demons to open a portal between Mars and Hell and allow the demons to conquer humanity.
At an undetermined time, Pierce opens the portal for the demons, who overrun the facility and kill almost all of its staff. To repel them, Hayden awakens the Slayer, who recovers his armor and initially ignores Hayden's entreaties. Denied information unless he agrees to help Hayden, the Slayer acquiesces and begins to be guided by VEGA. After clearing out the facility core and preventing a meltdown in its foundry, the Slayer pursues Pierce up the tower, along the way destroying infrastructure critical to the refinement of Argent energy despite Hayden's protests. At the top of the tower, Pierce opens an explosive rift into Hell using a device called an Argent accumulator, destroying the Tower and sending the Slayer back to Hell.
In Hell, the Slayer fights his way to the tomb in which he was imprisoned and a teleporter back to Mars. The Slayer makes his way to Hayden's office, where Hayden installs a teleporting device in the Praetor Suit for more reliable teleportation. Hayden also tells the Slayer of the Helix Stone, an artifact used to study and harness Argent energy being housed in Pierce's office in the Lazarus Labs. Entering the Lazarus Labs, the Slayer observes the Helix Stone and learns of the Well, where the portal is powered, and of the Crucible, a magical blade. To reach the Well, he makes another excursion into Hell with the Argent accumulator within the Cyberdemon, a massive and cybernetically modified demon. After killing the Cyberdemon, the Slayer fights through a labyrinthine gauntlet and two more powerful demons to recover the Crucible.
Hayden teleports the Slayer to a facility in the frozen north of Mars that houses VEGA's core, which he plans to use to trigger an explosion powerful enough to send the Slayer to the Well. The Slayer triggers a meltdown of the core, but makes a backup copy of VEGA before the explosion. Entering the Well, the Slayer uses the Crucible to destroy the portal's power source and confronts Pierce, who is betrayed and transformed by the demons into the Spider Mastermind. Upon killing the Spider Mastermind, the Slayer is teleported back to Mars by Hayden, who tells the Slayer he has won and stopped the invasion. Hayden confiscates the Crucible to continue his research into Argent energy. To keep the Slayer from interfering with his plans, Hayden teleports him to an undisclosed location.
After releasingDoom 3 in 2004,id Software began working on a newintellectual property,Rage, and unsuccessfully sought to license theDoom franchise to another developer as it had withWolfenstein. In 2007, however, id began development ofDoom 4. The studio, which had 19 employees at the time ofDoom 3's release,[35] struggled to simultaneously developRage andDoom 4.[35][36] Development ofDoom was first revealed via job listings on id's website on May 7, 2008, for a project titledDoom 4.[37] On June 23, 2009,ZeniMax Media, parent company ofBethesda Softworks, acquired id and announced that Bethesda would publish its future games.[38] According to id creative directorTim Willits, the partnership allowed the company to have two teams, each having a project in parallel development.[39] Asked in April 2009 about whetherDoom 4 would be a sequel toDoom 3 or areboot, id CEOTodd Hollenshead stated that it was neither.[40]
Doom 4 was intended to feature a story written by British science fiction writerGraham Joyce.[1] The game was going to be set on Earth and was described as a "new take"[41] onDoom II (subtitledHell on Earth).[35] In a 2016 video documentary byNoclip about the game's development,Doom creative director Hugo Martin describedDoom 4 as being "about the global impact of a Hellish invasion"[42] and compared it to the 1997 filmContact. The game was influenced by theCall of Duty series of first-person shooters, featuring passive health regeneration, an emphasis on using cover to protect the player character,[41] andscripted cinematics; developers and fans derided the project as "Call of Doom".[43] In 2011,Rage was released to mixed reception.[35][41] id and Bethesda, feeling thatDoom 4 was out of touch with the original games, decided to restart development.[36][44][45]
On April 3, 2013,Kotaku published anexposé that describedDoom 4 as being trapped in "development hell" and allegedly mismanaged.[46] Bethesda's vice president of marketing, Pete Hines, acknowledged difficulty in the development ofDoom 4 that same day.[47] In an August 2013 interview withIGN, Willits said that the pre-2011Doom 4 "had a bit ofschizophrenia, a little bit of an identity crisis."[48] Marty Stratton,Doom's director, described the period between 2011 and 2013 as a "rolling reboot".[49] This period contained numerous departures from id such as Hollenshead and company co-founderJohn Carmack.[50][51] In an interview by Nathan Grayson ofRock, Paper, Shotgun on August 6, 2013, Willits stated that there was no publicly available timeline for updates onDoom 4.[52]
Various developers atQuakeCon 2016. From left to right: Marty Stratton, Tiago Sousa, Billy Khan, Shale Williams, and Robert Duffy.
On June 10, 2014, Bethesda presented ateaser trailer atE3 2014,[53] followed by another at id's yearly convention,QuakeCon, on July 17, 2014, that revealedDoom 4 had been renamed toDoom and would be a series reboot.[54] id selected Stratton to be game director and hired Hugo Martin as creative director in August 2013.[12][55] Tiago Sousa, head R&D graphics engineer atCrytek, led development of theid Tech 6 engine forDoom.[56] Stratton, Martin, and id used the originalDoom games as their template forDoom's artwork and gameplay, and abandoned the slower pace andsurvival horror themes ofDoom 3.[12][35] Stratton highlighted id's desire to "[be] faithful to the legacy of [the original]Doom"[57] and the replication of its tone.[35] Willits explained thatDoom was "built on the emotional core of the original game".[58]
Development ofDoom focused primarily on refining its combat, dubbed "push forward combat".[12] The Glory Kill mechanic, which began as a "sync melee" system to be used inDoom 4,[59][b] was developed early and became crucial to the design ofDoom's combat. To incentivize player aggression, id rewarded use of the Glory Kill mechanic and chainsaw by replenishing resources and built the game's levels to encourage movement during combat.[12][60] Enemies were also designed to visually resemble those of the originalDoom games and encourage the player to be mobile.[61][62]
Id placed less emphasis onDoom's story,[63] which was written by Adam Gascoine.[1] Speaking to Noclip, Martin said that the story was one of the last elements of the game to be implemented,[64] and that he and Gascoine aimed for a lighter, self-aware narrative;[65] the game begins with a quotation of the1996Doom comic book.[1][62] In his direction forDoom's story, Martin was inspired byaction movies such asRoboCop (1987),Evil Dead 2 (1987),[65] andThe Last Boy Scout (1991),[66] and paintings by American artistFrank Frazetta.[67]
Doom's multiplayer was co-developed withCertain Affinity,[1] though id parted ways with them after launch to work on the Windows-version multiplayer and introduce new features such as private matches, custom game settings, and an enhanced cheat detection system.[2][68]BattleCry Studios assisted id with post-release multiplayer updates.[3] SnapMap was developed withEscalation Studios.[4][69]Patches forDoom after its release introduced a new photo mode, a new game option for holding weapons in the center of the screen as in the original games,[70] and support for theVulkan API.[71] The Vulkan patch was expected to enable playable frame rates on older hardware. Subsequent benchmarks show up to a 66% improvement in the frame rates onAMD graphics cards, with minor changes in the performance ofNvidia cards.[72]
Doom's soundtrack was composed by Australian musician and composerMick Gordon,[73] with contributions by American electronic musician and sound designerRichard Devine.[74] Gordon met with id at theirDallas headquarters in mid-2014 to discuss composing music forDoom.[75][76] At their meeting, id instructed Gordon not to use guitars or write ametal score,[77][78] despite the originalDoom having anambient,thrash metal soundtrack byBobby Prince,[76][79] as id felt that the genre had grown "corny".[76] Gordon was encouraged to usesynthesizers,[80] and used them to create the sound Argent energy might make.[81] He designed several chains ofeffects units through which he passedsub-basssine waves,[80][82] layered withwhite noise to make them audible on widely available speaker equipment.[83] According to Gordon, after "six to nine months [of] doing just synthesisers",[76] he convinced id to allow the use of guitars and began experimenting with augmenting their sound.[84] For the mainriff of the main menu track, Gordon combined anine-string guitar with asample of the chainsaw from the originalDoom.[85]
Gordon devised different soundscapes for Mars and for Hell, saying in an interview withRevolver magazine, "As the [Mars] environments were created by humans ... the music needed to sound like humans created it, too. ... That lead to Hell being more atonal, dissonant and weird."[86] Some tracks, such as "At Doom's Gate", contain homages to Prince's work for the originalDoom.[84] Gordon also included Easter eggs in the soundtrack; shortly after the game's release in May 2016, players discoveredpentagrams and thenumber "666" hidden in the track "Cyberdemon" viaspectrogram.[87][88] Speaking to theGame Development Conference about composingDoom's soundtrack in 2017, Gordon revealed the presence of areversed message, "Jesus loves you", in an unidentified track.[89] On February 7, 2019, Gordon confirmed the discovery of the final Easter egg onTwitter.[90]
The alternate cover that was picked via a poll onTwitter[115]
Initial reception of the QuakeCon 2014 trailer accumulated considerable acclaim among fans.[116] AtE3 2015, on June 14, Bethesda showed gameplay from the singleplayer campaign and multiplayer,[117] which was simultaneously applauded and criticized for its graphic violence.[118] Hines responded by saying, "if you're not intoviolent, bloody games...Doom's probably not a game for you."[119] A live-action trailer directed by American filmmakerJoe Kosinski was released on March 31, 2016.[120]
On February 4, 2016, Bethesda revealedDoom's officialbox art, which was immediately criticized as "painfully boring and dull."[121] From March 3, to March 7, 2016, Bethesda held a poll onTwitter to decide an alternate cover that would be printed on the obverse of the official box art.[115][122] The winner, with 68% of the votes cast, was a cover inspired by the originalDoom's, showing the Doom Slayer battling demons in Hell.[123]
Bethesda announced on February 19, 2014, that abeta version ofDoom, then still calledDoom 4, would be made available to those who pre-orderedWolfenstein: The New Order (2014),[124][125] a reboot ofWolfenstein developed byMachineGames and published by Bethesda.[126] These players were also given exclusive access to an alpha test ofDoom's multiplayer,[127] which ran from October 23 to 25, 2015.[128] A second alpha test of the multiplayer was held from December 3 to 6, 2015.[129] Adatamine of the content in the alphas revealed aspects of the singleplayer campaign such as the existence of the Spider Mastermind.[130]
A closed beta test of the multiplayer began on March 31, 2016, and ended on April 3,[131] and was followed by an open beta that ran from April 15 to April 18, 2016.[132]PC Games criticized the weapons and weapon loadouts following the closed beta but praised the mobility.[133][134] Nathan Lawrence ofIGN and Adam Smith ofRock, Paper, Shotgun also criticized the weapon loadouts and unfavorably compared the open beta to other shooters such asHalo,Quake 3,Unreal Tournament, andCall of Duty.[135][136] The beta was also negatively received by players onSteam.[137]
Doom supporteddownloadable content (DLC) packs, three of which had to be purchased, and added three new maps and a demon.[138] These multiplayer DLCs wereUnto the Evil, released on August 4, 2016;[139]Hell Followed, released on October 27, 2016;[140] andBloodfall, released December 14, 2016.[141] On July 19, 2017, Bethesda made the three paid DLCs free to all players.[142]
Upon release,Doom was positively received, with scores of 85/100 for PC and PlayStation 4, 87/100 for the Xbox One, and 79/100 on Nintendo Switch onMetacritic.[161] The final PC version of the game received very positive reviews from users on Steam.[162] The Nintendo Switch port was also praised in a review byNintendo Life.[15]
The game's single-player elements received critical acclaim and were favorably compared to contemporary shooter games.[163][164][165] Mike Henriquez ofGameRevolution described the visual and artistic design as "top-notch".[146] Sam White inThe Daily Telegraph laudedDoom for its performance on all platforms, weapon design, and score.[156] Peter Brown ofGameSpot praised single-player because he thought that the reboot captured the spirits of the older games, while refining them with modern elements. Brown also drew attention toward the soundtrack, calling it "impactful".[147] Jordan Pearson ofVice also singled out the score for praise.[166] James Davenport, writing forPC Gamer in December 2016, calledDoom's soundtrack "one of the best" of 2016.[167]
Polygon's Arthur Gies remarked positively upon the exploration for collectables and secrets, and their relevance to the new upgrade feature, but he was critical of instances where the game would lock away sections of a level without warning.[152] Zack Furniss ofDestructoid, originally skeptical about the "Glory Kill" mechanic, ultimately considered it to fit well in the flow of gameplay.[143]Giant Bomb's Brad Shoemaker felt that the mechanic was "an essential part of the give-and-take ofDoom's super fast combat".[149] Conversely, Kyle Orland ofArs Technica felt that the mechanic briefly taking control away from the player can easily disorient players or misposition them.[168]
SnapMap was also positively received, with critics praising its simplicity and ease-of-use,[169][170] but also expressing disappointment at only being able to use in-game assets.[32][151][171] Matt Bertz ofGame Informer commented upon the accessibility but criticized the lack of diverse settings and possible limitations when compared to a traditional community-basedmod.[145]
The multiplayer mode received mixed reception from critics.IGN's Joab Gilory describedDoom as "a tale of two very different shooters", stating that multiplayer did not live up to the standard set by the single-player components and would not satisfy players.[150] Matt Buchholtz ofElectronic Gaming Monthly criticized what he felt was the network's poor handling of latency.[144] Edwin Evans-Thirlwell ofEurogamer singled out the "Warpath" multiplayer mode as the most interesting of the match type, describing it as "memorable", and regarded the other multiplayer modes as underdeveloped and underwhelming.[172] Julian Benson fromKotaku wrote thatDoom's multiplayer was very similar to other contemporary games.[173] David Houghton ofGamesRadar+ called the multiplayer "endlessly playable, smart, brutal fun."[148] Jon Denton, writing forEurogamer, also praised the multiplayer.[22]
Doom was the second best-selling retail game in its week of release in the US and UK behindUncharted 4: A Thief's End,[174][175] By late June 2016, the game rose to number one in the UK charts, overtakingUncharted 4 and the later-releasedOverwatch,[176] and remained number one for a second week.[177] Sales forDoom on PC reached 500,000 copies in May 2016,[178] 1,000,000 copies in August 2016,[179] and 2,000,000 copies by July 2017.[180] WhenDoom released for the Switch, it was the fourth-best selling title of its debut week in the United Kingdom.[181]
A sequel toDoom,Doom Eternal, was released on March 20, 2020, and is set years after, showcasing the Slayer's combat against demonic forces on Earth.[204] The development ofDoom influencedDoom Eternal's in several ways. Post-release analysis by id and theDoom playerbase showed a reliance on the Super Shotgun to the exclusion of all other weapons by a large segment of the game's players. To encourage players to use other weapons, id reduced the amount of ammo the player could carry inDoom Eternal and reworked the other weapons, weapon mods, and enemies in the game, and added weaknesses to specific weapons to specific enemies.[205] id also abandoned team deathmatch forDoom Eternal's multiplayer and instead created a gamemode called Battlemode, in which AI and player-controlled demons battle a player-controlled Doom Slayer.[206] SnapMap was not retained forDoom Eternal.[207]
^Chatziioannou, Alexander; Handlen, Zack; Agnello, Anthony John; Barsanti, Sam; Hughes, William; Gerardi, Matt (December 21, 2016)."Our favorite games of 2016, part 1".The A.V. Club. Archived fromthe original on October 31, 2023. RetrievedDecember 29, 2016.
Aristopoulos, Marios (2023).The Game Music Toolbox: Composition Techniques and Production Tools from 20 Iconic Game Soundtracks.Routledge.ISBN9781003146872.
Smith, Barnabas (October 22, 2017). "Rip & Tear: Deconstructing the Technological and Musical Composition of Mick Gordon's Score for DOOM (2016)".Proceedings of the Australian Music Conference.University of Adelaide.doi:10.4225/55/59ed513f8b470.ISSN1448-7780.
.jpg)
