I've played through Doom (and more specifically, Knee-Deep in the Dead- the other two chapters are a lot more varied in quality) more times than I can even count, and every time the timelessness and slickness of it surprises me. The movement is great, the level design is mostly excellent and the soundtrack is phenomenal. Suspense, Sign of Evil, I Sawed the Demons, Nobody Told Me about ID- the list of great Doom tracks is pretty much just an OST list. It's an all-timer.

Early, influential games don't always hold up. I LOVE the first Resident Evil, but the door animations and fixed camera angles haven't aged great- I don't mind them personally but they're a huge turn-off for most people, which is fair. The first Zelda game, the first Metroid game, the first Devil May Cry, all were very influential for their respective genres but none of them hold up all that well. Doom does. It's timeless in a way that even other all-time greats like Ocarina of Time aren't. Just phenomenal all-round, and I can't wait to play it for the thousandth time in a couple of days.

How cheerful and fun it still feels! I'm really surprised how id Software in 1994 not only literally created the genre, but also immediately gave it just a reference lesson in level design, which is the first chapter. In the second and third they start to experiment and the results vary, but it is still very high quality, very easy to understand at first and quite difficult towards the end. Small details like the swinging of weapons when walking, the face of the main character at the bottom of the screen, secrets in levels that often trick you at the same time, or interesting design solutions so easily raise the cult status of this game years later. Did Carmack, Romero and company know that they were creating such a cult project then? I don’t know if there is an exact answer to this question, but I think that they definitely knew that dynamically destroying demons with a lot of blood and a cheerful soundtrack would be a fun experience. And in this they were absolutely right.

Can't believe I was even allowed to make an account on this website having never completed even the first episode of this until today smh.

1/3rds of this game being given away completely free on launch AND id making the game completely open source just 4 years after launch is an act of kindness that the games industry has never repeated on this scale ever again.

Like the weirdo mishmash of painted textures, stock art, fun stop motion dudes and G.I. Joe figures that people thought was Mussolini's corpse.

I played Doom again. And I think every time I play it, I enjoy it more.

From a more analytical perspective, the maps are awesome on the first and second episode. The third episode is great, but I didn't enjoy the fourth one at the same level.

That said, Doom is one of my favorite games ever. And I'm always surprised how well it grows older and older.

Slightly exposing my age here, but Doom 1 is the first game I’m reviewing that out-ages me. I knew going in it had a reputation of being the first person shooter in a pre-Half Life world & that intrigued me whether this reputation was overstated looking through a current day lens or it has aged like wine.

To probably not many people’s shock - this game definitely is on “Age like wine” side of things. For somebody who grew up with fully 3D shooters, Doom 1 is without a doubt a more primitive presentation compared to later games in the same genre, but during my playtime I didn’t feel its simplification was much of a hindrance. You cannot aim directly where you want, but the hitbox still is quite generous to make up for this.

…And that’s really my only thing that took me a bit of time to get used to, but otherwise Doom 1 holds up fantastically & there’s a ton to like. The levels are sprawling & generally really well designed - filled with lots of hidden secrets that generally are worth trying to find if you’re willing to go for some extra challenge. Gameplay is superb, it just feels punchy/intense & does a great job supporting wanting to dive head first into your enemies instead of being overly cautious. Guns are varied, enemy variety is solid, etc.

Heck I’ll also mention another thing that really caught me off guard in a positive way. I had never heard before going into Doom 1 that enemy infighting was a thing, so that really surprised me! It makes the game feel alive that enemies also react/take eachother out on occasion. Even if it wasn't a super common occurrence it really put a smile on my face the odd times it happened.

If I had to give 1 complaint though it probably would be later levels become a bit too infested with enemies. Not to an outrageous degree, but for me it was just slightly noticeable where I started questioning if it was becoming excessive. Though otherwise I can definitely wholeheartedly recommend Doom 1. Might be a 31 year old game by now, but damn is it a great time even nowadays.