Rip and Tear
Just where did Doom come from?
Doom is one of those games that have established the current era of gaming. Don’t believe me? It has even spawned its own meme: Can it run Doom? The game has been ported from pc to consoles; and even been played on a pregnancy test. The most recent port is on a PDF file. So now you can play Doom even if the servers on your office block most games. So where did this come from and why is it so influential?
Doom is a game that originated back in 1992, when a developer by the name of : John Carmack produced a new game engine: The Doom engine. This spawned the original game and later a sequel with the name: Doom II Eternal Hell. The focus of this sequel was on adding enemies, 20 new levels and the mythical “Super Shotgun”. This marked the beginning of a franchise that was carried by many different studios.
As of 2016, the studio in turn to make new games for the franchise fell back on its original developers: id Software. This new games (published by Bethesda) came back to breathe new life into the games.Bringing back the weapons,iconic enemies they maintained the feeling that was first published in 1992.With updated graphics, gameplay and a soundtrack that makes the adrenaline pump they restored the franchise to its former glory.
Lasting Ages
So a franchise that got a new look and a fresh breath of air came back. What’s the big deal? I’ll sum it up for you “Doom Clones”. In the past not many games were brought out or became as popular as Doom. Quake, Wolfenstein, Duke Nukem, etc. were great games, but wouldn’t exist if the Doom Engine hadn’t been born. So the term was coined to refer to games that had a similar style or borrowed aspects of the game; another name given to this type of games was corridor shooters. So why is Doom so big? Well it built an archetype of games: first person view, guns, shooting down enemies. It became so big the term “Doom Clones” was eventually replaced by the more popular title “First person Shooters” so CoD, Halo and other games that nowadays you enjoy were brought on by this one engine.
Now that I’ve given you a background of the franchise and what it comes with and what you can expect from it. Let’s talk about what makes it great. Unlike other games Doom is known for one thing and only one thing: Violence. Yet the adage of new weapons, different enemies and the reboot in 2016 changed a lot. It restored the uniqueness of the game in the sense of letting you feel all powerful.
The Only Thing they Fear is You
If I had to sum it up in one phrase: Power trip.
Doom has always provided the player with a feeling of being against an entire wave of enemies. There’s no one else but you, a trusty gun and the hordes of hell in this game. Yet, it doesn’t provoke this feeling of helplessness that you would usually feel in games of this type. Enemies will swarm you and attack you from different directions alway outnumbering you and pushing you to the brink of your skill to navigate them. Then where’s the power trip? It’s in the gameplay. You might see yourself outnumbered but each gun gives you the feeling of being unstoppable and it only gets better and better. Then come in the melee weapons, each giving you a sensation of being unstoppable.
Then Doom (2016) came and added something to this formula and made the power trip even more fun,it introduced: “executions”. Once you’ve done enough damage to your enemies they flash a certain orange and with the push of a button you see as the Doomslayer picks them up and delivers a brutal kill. This combined with a soundtrack of heavy metal has you moving through the battlefield feeling unkillable, unstoppable and all powerful. That’s what Doom does best, knowing you’re the final boss for a lot of these demons and hearing a guitar solo while you do makes it that much more enjoyable.
The future of Doom?
Most people believed that Doom: Eternal was the final game in the resurrected franchise. This was brought on by the dlc of the game where you fight the “god” of doom. It made people get the high of the power trip once again. Yet this feeling was swept with the conclusion of the game and the DLC’s knowing this may be the last time playing with these updated mechanics, soundtrack and graphics.
Yet the developers stated they were open to exploring more games with the titular “Doom Slayer”. June 9, 2024 was the day where the trailer for Doom: The Dark ages was revealed and it was received with excitement from the fans. We saw the Doom Slayer in a more “fantastic” or “medieval” setting looking in bulkier armor and with a cape flowing behind him. Clad with a shield and sword, the Doom Slayer is seen ripping and tearing through demons in the same way the trilogy has made us feel.
Now the Doom Slayer seems to have a focus on melee weapons as well as a change to the “executions” that this franchise has given us. The slow motion camera on these executions makes them more brutal and more detailed. The soundtrack stays and sounds heavier, while the level design looks even darker and a tadmore bleak, changing from the bright reds of mars and earth to nature and the absence of electricity making it seem like the world and future are truly lost.
All of this comes together to deliver unto us a certain up close and personal power trip. It’s for certain that Doom is the parent of the FPS (first person shooter) genre and thanks to it we have the games we have today. Yet, none of them have given players the feeling that they’re powerful enough to face the world and come out on the other side unscathed. These are the games that started it all, and it does it better than anyone. Remember the only thing they fear is you.
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