The greatest, best, first and final word in video games. Every single game either links to or links back to Doom. There are games Before Doom and After Doom - the entire catalogue of previous games ever made that prophesied its coming, and those that followed. Not just influential beyond words, but a playable manual in the field of game design. It is the absolute total gold standard in how a game should feel even today: smooth, easy to control, easy to understand and with an extremely high skill ceiling once you get into it as a hobby instead of a game. Lock the door. Turn the lights out. Put on a headset with directional sound. Turn the volume up. Click play. Mash enter five times.

If you haven't beaten the first episode of Doom 1 on at least Hurt Me Plenty, then I borderline don't consider you a gamer tbqh. You need it for your full gaming license even if you don't play FPS games. Every single post-1994-ish game aside from perhaps those in the puzzle and sports genres owe Doom for their existence, but even that can be argued, especially in the case of sports racing games. Gaming is still catching up to Doom in many areas. The PC as a real gaming platform wouldn't exist on a conceptual level without Doom. Even consoles and the type of games we play would be different. This single game advanced technology forward about 5 years, as gaming hardware started to be created with Doom (and Quake's technology) in mind, because if your new console didn't have a decent port of Doom then it was going nowhere.

Doom I and II have been considered to be one single game since launch really, so it's excellent to see that reflected in this new Steam listing, although I would say that the two have very different vibes. It is the greatest game ever made, and it gets better with each day that passes due to the mod scene and how easy it is for almost anyone to mod, even for very young children. If you can use Paint, then you can mod Doom, and that has been the launchpad for many game development careers.

Mods are incredible and have given me literally 30 years worth of content and counting. Once you feel like you've got the basics down, have beaten base Doom I and II and perhaps some of the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ expansions, install a source port of your choice such as GZDoom for near-infinite possibilities and customisation options, although this new ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ port has reduced the need for that somewhat. I recommend Scythe as a good first unofficial Doom II megaWAD, which can be found in the in-game WAD/mod "browser", and shows what Doom II levels can be like when the designer isn't literally inventing FPS genre conventions as they go along. (Although said browser has almost zero quality control at the moment, so many joke/meme levels are getting voted up.)

When I think of what the gaming landscape was in 1993, and how this masterpiece appeared *for free* on the proto-internet (digital distribution), all I can say is "Wow. What the ♥♥♥♥ were you guys taking and can I have some?"

If you have any interest in games as an artistic medium, then I almost implore you to put 3.5h aside to watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38zduHkwGcc
"Doom is the vortex nexus nucleus at the centre of the idea of video games themselves."

Further reading:
Masters of Doom - David Kushner
Life in First Person - John Romero

The greatest, best, first and final word in video games. Every single game either links to or links back to Doom. There are games Before Doom and After Doom - the entire catalogue of previous games ever made that prophesied its coming, and those that followed. Not just influential beyond words, but a playable manual in the field of game design. It is the absolute total gold standard in how a game should feel even today: smooth, easy to control, easy to understand and with an extremely high skill ceiling once you get into it as a hobby instead of a game. Lock the door. Turn the lights out. Put on a headset with directional sound. Turn the volume up. Click play. Mash enter five times. If you haven't beaten the first episode of Doom 1 on at least Hurt Me Plenty, then I borderline don't consider you a gamer tbqh. You need it for your full gaming license even if you don't play FPS games. Every single post-1994-ish game aside from perhaps those in the puzzle and sports genres owe Doom for their existence, but even that can be argued, especially in the case of sports racing games. Gaming is still catching up to Doom in many areas. The PC as a real gaming platform wouldn't exist on a conceptual level without Doom. Even consoles and the type of games we play would be different. This single game advanced technology forward about 5 years, as gaming hardware started to be created with Doom (and Quake's technology) in mind, because if your new console didn't have a decent port of Doom then it was going nowhere. Doom I and II have been considered to be one single game since launch really, so it's excellent to see that reflected in this new Steam listing, although I would say that the two have very different vibes. It is the greatest game ever made, and it gets better with each day that passes due to the mod scene and how easy it is for almost anyone to mod, even for very young children. If you can use Paint, then you can mod Doom, and that has been the launchpad for many game development careers. Mods are incredible and have given me literally 30 years worth of content and counting. Once you feel like you've got the basics down, have beaten base Doom I and II and perhaps some of the official expansions, install a source port of your choice such as GZDoom for near-infinite possibilities and customisation options, although this new official port has reduced the need for that somewhat. I recommend Scythe as a good first unofficial Doom II megaWAD, which can be found in the in-game WAD/mod "browser", and shows what Doom II levels can be like when the designer isn't literally inventing FPS genre conventions as they go along. (Although said browser has almost zero quality control at the moment, so many joke/meme levels are getting voted up.) When I think of what the gaming landscape was in 1993, and how this masterpiece appeared *for free* on the proto-internet (digital distribution), all I can say is "Wow. What the fuck were you guys taking and can I have some?" If you have any interest in games as an artistic medium, then I almost implore you to put 3.5h aside to watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38zduHkwGcc "Doom is the vortex nexus nucleus at the centre of the idea of video games themselves." Further reading: Masters of Doom - David Kushner Life in First Person - John Romero