It’s Doom‘s 25th birthday, and Id’s classic FPS has grown up along with me. While I’ve enjoyed modern iterations such as 2016’s reboot, the original’s ever-mutating open source foundation and lively mod scene just won’t let me go. When John Romero announced he was releasing a nine-level Doom episode built to 1993 spec, I shrugged, because that pales in comparison to what the Doom community have built this year. Let’s dig into the winners of the 2018 Cacowards, Doomworld’s annual mod ceremony, including some standalone, freeware games – no Doom mod experience needed.

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We’re just shy of Halloween here and the stars are aligning, allowing unholy powers to warp Doom into strange, near-unrecognisable forms through the powerfully dark act of modding>. Out tonight is Total Chaos, a survival horror mod so grand in its ambition that it leaves almost nothing recognisable as ‘Doom’, with detailed 3D environments and modern horror style. More traditional but still impressive is an early demo of The Crimson Deed, a vampire-themed dungeon crawl. Check out trailers for both below, plus some Quake-related surprises from 3D Realms. (more…)

October is Skeleton Appreciation Month, and few people appreciate skeletons quite as much as Doom modder Marphy Black. Through his mastery of Agitating Skeletons, he has posed deep philosophical problems, made us contemplate infinity and sometimes just punch a whole lot of skellingtons. His latest is the most fiendish by far – he’s probably going to make some poor Twitch streamer hate Doom, because this is basically Desert Bus, but more evil. You probably shouldn’t play Revenant Bus, but you’re not going to listen to me, are you? Below, a warning in trailer form.

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Leather-clad raiders with neon green mohawks roam irradiated monuments to capitalism, their acid-spitting lizard-dogs in tow. Ashes 2063, by modder Vostyok is about as 80s an apocalypse can get, even after filtering it through a 2018 iteration of a 90s game engine. It’s a free post-apocalyptic FPS (or total conversion mod, if you’re old-school) built on the ever-popular GZDoom engine. Its first episode launched yesterday.

While 98% new, Ashes 2063 still requires some manner of Doom data file to fill the gaps. Fortunately, the (free) Freedoom will suffice, if you don’t own Doom 2. Below, a launch trailer.

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John Romero has just congratulated Doom guru Zero Master on discovering the last hidden secret of Doom II, some 24 years after it was released. A secret that had previously been thought impossible to actually find.

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When it comes to mods for old games, I love seeing just how far their structure can be pushed with modern engines, but there’s still some wisdom in the old ways. Viking-themed Doom mod Rekkr takes it all the way to the old school and back again, uphill both ways in freezing snow.

Built to authentic retro specs (making it compatible with even the original DOS version, should you so wish), there’s no vertical aim, crouching or jumping here, just 25+ levels of weird techno-magical viking violence, with new enemies, weapons and art.

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Doom 2 mega-mod Doom: The Golden Souls 2 is the sugary treat we all deserve today. Take one part Doom, one part Super Mario World, put them in a blender until smooth and brightly coloured then garnish with fresh gibs and candy sprinkles. It’s a full game in its own right, with lots of bouncy platforming across dozens of levels with new weapons and enemies from prolific modder Andrea ‘Batandy’ Gori, who previously brought us the excellent Castlevania: Simon’s Destiny.

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Quake Champions: So nice, they made it twice. We all know about Bethesda/Id’s revival of the arena shooter franchise, but don’t go overlooking the Doom community’s impressive QC:DE project, adapting the formula of the game to a more old-school engine with its own fresh collection of playable characters. This week, both got significant updates.

On Bethesda’s side of the fence, the game now lets you be a Strogg Infiltrator from Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and wield the classic Quake 3 Plasma Gun, plus hop around a new map. On the Doom mod’s side: For the first time in any kind of playable/voiced incarnation, it’s evil AI Durandal from Marathon, plus a new set of expendable monsters for him to chew through offline. Within, character trailers and gameplay footage of both in action.

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It should almost go without saying now that Doom 2 is all things to all people, in the most literal sense. Thanks to 25 years of evolution in modding tools, it’s Donkey Kong, Resident Evil and even Heroes of Might & Magic now, among other things.

The latest game to be swallowed by the all-consuming vortex of creativity that is the GZDoom-powered mod scene is Quake Champions. The arena FPS reboot may still be in public testing, but it’s already been systematically disassembled, stripped for parts, and launched today as Quake Champions: Doom Edition (or QC:DE for short), a mod for possibly the most enduring game in PC history.

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A classic Doom 2 combat scenario: A Revenant (its chaotic nature making it one of the most agitating skeletal foes in gaming history) runs headlong down a track. If it reaches its destination, it will inadvertently kill five Imps. If you choose to divert it, it will only kill one. What do you decide?

Okay, it’s not much of a question – more Imp-murder is always good – but this and several dozen increasingly complex philosophical conundrums (plus a few surprises) await a baffled Doomguy in The Revenant Problem, a very silly Doom mod to cap off the venerable FPS’s 24th year.

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