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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One of the best things about Doom is that there’s a version of it for everybody. If you like your weapons a little more old-school and your Westerns thoroughly Weird, then High Noon Drifter might just be what you’re looking for in a retro FPS.

It’s High Noon (or was when I was writing this), so dust off your hat and slip into the well-worn cowboy boots of ghostly drifter Corzo for your regularly scheduled fix of demon-slaughter across a thousand worlds with an arsenal of chunky revolvers, lever-action shotguns and a vicious whip.

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Skeleton Appreciation Month has been, gone and shuffled back off to its grave, but I figure we can afford to extend the spooky festivities just a little> while longer, especially with gems like this having snuck out in the final hours of October.

Castlevania: Simon’s Destiny was released on Halloween day, and is a genuinely impressive fan-game, remaking the entirety of the original NES game in first-person perspective, all built on the open-source (and increasingly flexible) GZDoom engine. Well worth a play, if you feel you could do with a little more Dracula in your life.

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Brutal Doom in a nutshell: Doom 2‘s familiar (iconic?) Icon Of Sin battle re-purposed into the very image of heavy metal excess; No longer just a wall texture, the monster bobs and sways, protruding out from a wall of giant intestines surrounded by torrents of blood pouring into the arena, all whilst the player gracefully extends a middle finger on each hand.

It’s been nearly two years since this juggernaut of Doom modding saw a major release, with its creator taking some time off to remake Doom 64 in the interim. Missing Halloween by just one day, this week saw the release of version 21 (albeit in beta form) and it feels like a milestone in its transformation into something almost entirely new, and distinct from both Doom of 1993, and Doom of 2016.

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