Why has Doom remained so relevant +30 years in?

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I didn't play Doom until Spring of 2004, more than a full decade after its original release... And the game was still very much a phenomenon, with TWO (!) gigantic multiplayer communities, thousands of mods, add-ons and total conversions and everything else you can name/imagine.

I honestly thought it was so good, I went full psycho and pulled an all-nighter as soon as the five-megabyte download had finished murdering my 56K connection, eager to try a game so famous that everyone around me seemed to know about it and being so hooked that I'm convinced I did some sort of damage to my left Control key by hammering it so much.

But I could never quite put my finger on why that was.

So, my question to you all is exactly that: Why?

Why such an outdated, throughly outdone game could spark older and newer players alike like that? I was never able to answer it myself, just knowing that, deep down in my dumb brain, a simple message was being etched in stone as soon as I cleared that iconic entry level for the first time: "Doom = Fun".

I have played this one on DOS, Windows, PlayStation, SNES, N64 and even Android, basically going through the exact same thing each and every time and not really tiring of it in a way that other classics (even those personally important to me) never managed to achieve -- I know I haven't played a single level of the original Super Mario Bros in years, for example, yet I'm always seem to be in the mood for some demon-slaying... Or, perhaps more accurately, Doom's brand of demon-slaying.

I'll probably jump right back in after hitting "post', too, because talking about it made me want to get some hell spawn full of led.

In the meantime, though, please share your thoughts on the topic at-hand.

 

[Lod 10]

Eu só joguei Doom na primavera de 2004, mais de uma década inteira após seu lançamento original... E o jogo ainda era um grande fenômeno, com DUAS (!) comunidades multiplayer gigantescas, milhares de mods, complementos e conversões totais e tudo mais que você possa nomear/imaginar.

Sinceramente, achei tão bom que fiquei completamente obcecado e virei a noite assim que o download de cinco megabytes terminou de consumir minha conexão de 56K, ansioso para experimentar um jogo tão famoso que todos ao meu redor pareciam conhecê-lo, e tão viciado que estou convencido de que causei algum tipo de dano à minha tecla Control esquerda de tanto apertá-la.

Mas eu nunca consegui entender exatamente por quê.

Então, a minha pergunta para vocês é exatamente essa: Por quê?

Por que um jogo tão antiquado e completamente ultrapassado poderia cativar jogadores veteranos e novatos dessa forma? Eu nunca consegui responder a essa pergunta, apenas sabia que, lá no fundo do meu cérebro limitado, uma mensagem simples estava sendo gravada em pedra assim que eu completei aquela icônica fase inicial pela primeira vez: "Doom = Diversão".

Joguei este jogo no DOS, Windows, PlayStation, SNES, N64 e até no Android, basicamente repetindo exatamente a mesma coisa todas as vezes e sem nunca me cansar, algo que outros clássicos (mesmo aqueles que são importantes para mim) nunca conseguiram — sei que não jogo uma única fase do Super Mario Bros. original há anos, por exemplo, mas sempre me dá vontade de caçar demônios... Ou, talvez mais precisamente, de caçar demônios ao estilo Doom.

Provavelmente, depois de clicar em "publicar", também voltarei a falar sobre isso, porque só de pensar nisso já me deu vontade de pegar umas criaturas infernais cheias de chumbo.

Entretanto, por favor, compartilhe suas opiniões sobre o assunto em questão.

Well, first of all, have a great day. I find this game so interesting because it still lacks content, and so many people are transforming it in various ways, making it a very revolutionary game.For the season, have a great day, I find it very interesting.

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

There's a number of reasons. The big one being both the massive amount of fan-made WADs, both mapsets and gameplay, combined with the ease of modding Doom relative to other games. Doom's also noteworthy for having a remarkably well designed enemy and weapon roster that heavily compliment one another, which allows for a near infinite number of possible combat encounter combinations. The flexibility of GZDoom/UZDoom also makes it very viable for indie commercial releases, as we've been seeing with games like Hedon and Selaco.

Another big one is accessibility. Doom is on nearly everything, with a large number of sourceports for individual player need. Is your PC not very good? It can probably still run Doom just fine. Don't even own a copy of Doom? Snag yourself a copy of Freedoom then.

Also, it's just fun too. Doom's a 10 out of 10 that get's lifted to a 12 out of 10 with the endless work of the fandom.

 

[Kamako]

If I had to narrow it down to just three things it would be:

1. Varied enemy attack patterns
2. The arsenal of weapons
3. The endless creativity of the player base thanks to ID releasing the source code.

+ Eviscerating demons to heavy metal is soul food.

 

[Don Patch]

It's fun.
Pure, plain, and simple.
Fun.

That and it's openness with regards to WADS and the engine.
Players have, for decades at this point, capitalized on that fun factor and it just can't be beat.

 

[ZombieFish]

John Carmack put literal arcane magic in it.

 

[Tosta_Pane]

For the same reason why Super Mario World is still relevant to this day. Simple and fun gameplay loop + dedicated modding/hacking community.

A shame Duke Nukem 3D (together with the other Build engine games) didn't stay as relevant, i kind of prefer it to Doom

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

John Carmack put literal arcane magic in it.

Benevolent hyper-intelligent architect of the post singularity simulation we all live in John Carmack

 

[Blocky_Cube]

It feels like Doom was engineered in a lab to produce as much dopamine as possible in the mind. I'll also add that stylistically its aged pretty well too, along with its gameplay. A guy from 1993 and 2025 would probably enjoy the game similarly.

 

[Lokgamer]

Cause even today, is really fun to play.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

It feels like Doom was engineered in a lab to produce as much dopamine as possible in the mind. I'll also add that stylistically its aged pretty well too, along with its gameplay. A guy from 1993 and 2025 would probably enjoy the game similarly.

Honestly? Taking Wolfenstein 3D, but removing the maze-like level design and making it even more abstract was a genius gambit.

 

[MasterEn]

I didn't play Doom until Spring of 2004, more than a full decade after its original release... And the game was still very much a phenomenon, with TWO (!) gigantic multiplayer communities, thousands of mods, add-ons and total conversions and everything else you can name/imagine.

I honestly thought it was so good, I went full psycho and pulled an all-nighter as soon as the five-megabyte download had finished murdering my 56K connection, eager to try a game so famous that everyone around me seemed to know about it and being so hooked that I'm convinced I did some sort of damage to my left Control key by hammering it so much.

But I could never quite put my finger on why that was.

So, my question to you all is exactly that: Why?

Why such an outdated, throughly outdone game could spark older and newer players alike like that? I was never able to answer it myself, just knowing that, deep down in my dumb brain, a simple message was being etched in stone as soon as I cleared that iconic entry level for the first time: "Doom = Fun".

I have played this one on DOS, Windows, PlayStation, SNES, N64 and even Android, basically going through the exact same thing each and every time and not really tiring of it in a way that other classics (even those personally important to me) never managed to achieve -- I know I haven't played a single level of the original Super Mario Bros in years, for example, yet I'm always seem to be in the mood for some demon-slaying... Or, perhaps more accurately, Doom's brand of demon-slaying.

I'll probably jump right back in after hitting "post', too, because talking about it made me want to get some hell spawn full of led.

In the meantime, though, please share your thoughts on the topic at-hand.

it's probably the same reason that people play super mario bros 1 and the first couple of sonic games. it is fun. you have one simple objective in these kind of games.
mario - run to the right and jump on things.
sonic - run to the right really fast and jump on things.
doom - if it moves, blow it the FUCK UP!!!!!!!!
not very hard objectives, and the devs can have fun coming up with different ways of achieving those goals. simple goals end up being more enjoyable to complete than overly complicated ones.

 

[AkiraSO4]

As someone who played classic Doom in the past, but only got to beat all classic games post 2020 (as hard to believe as it is), it's a very simple answer.

It's just really fun.

Yeah, some Final Doom campaigns are harder than others but overall it's a really fun game, very well designed, enemies are varied, there's fanmods out there TO THIS DAY, and that's just mentioning surface level stuff like the NIghtdive Remaster, if you go out there for stuff like GZDoom, there's a whole another world of stuff to experiment on.

I even had some fun with Doom 3 which is always regarded as the red-headed stepchild of Doom 3 (and it's not hard to see why), but it still carries over some of the things that made Doom fun.

 

[Blocky_Cube]

Honestly? Taking Wolfenstein 3D, but removing the maze-like level design and making it even more abstract was a genius gambit.

Yep. There's a reason why Doom has an active community and dozens of mods and source ports while classic Wolfenstein doesn't have much. It also helps that Doom was just more technologically advanced. Wolfenstein 3D was just the bridge needed to make Doom imo, considering fps games were a new development at the time.

 

[diet_orange]

John Carmack put literal arcane magic in it.

"HEY KIDS, WANT SOME SCALING ROUTINES?!"

But, I think you can chalk up Doom still being so popular for just being good, simple fun. Though the modding community for it still churning out amazing stuff has helped it a lot

 

[Ezri_Muldoon]

That's deceptively easy to explain.

Doom is good. And I mean that Objectively.

When Doom (And later Doom 2) released it was not only revolutionary, it was objectively, undeniably, extrordinarily good.
So good that 80% of the proceeding FPS games couldn't compete.
Even when Half-Life dropped, which laid the foundation of modern western narrative gaming.
The proceeding games still paled in comparisons to Dooms gameplay, level design and fun factor.

Doom is a rare example of something that is both objectively good and is foundational to its genre.
There was barely any evolutionary build up to Doom, no decades long legacy of mechanical iteration as seen with CRPG's or simulators throughout the 80's & 90's.
We went from maze exploration to corridor shooting to an unprecedented freedom of movement in barely three years.

When Doom dropped, and it was an biblical revolution in gaming. You can't re-capture such an experience. Just ask the thousands of developers who's games are sadly which are inferior to Doom.
1996, 2001, 2013, 2020, 2025? It doesn't matter. Doom is still the high bar of quality for 3D gaming.

That's insane.

 

[zacharinolongpants]

The levels are kinda like mini-Zelda dungeons and full of fun environmental puzzles and obstacles, and there are a trillion levels lol. On top of that, the game is basically a hack n slash with guns instead of short range. It's kind of like playing Diablo in first person mode, to me, at least. That loop of mowing down a bunch of enemies and then exploring and finding keys and pushing switches and stumbling into secret areas is just so well paced for the most part.

 

[Ikagura]

I didn't play Doom until Spring of 2004

It took me May 2013 to appreciate it.

Well, I tried on emulators SNES Doom and Doom 64 but it didn't click on me.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 9:11 PM

A shame Duke Nukem 3D (together with the other Build engine games) didn't stay as relevant, i kind of prefer it to Doom

I do like Blood but the Build Engine has some "shenanigans" (like getting crushed by doors) and it being more complex leads to more wonky stuff whereas Doom is simple yet more effective.

 

[pinetreeneedle56]

I think the community it spawned, and in return, cherished and built around the game is a very important factor, too.

 

[Morgan Katarn]

Honestly beats me I prefer Duke 3D or Blood or even Shadow warriors. Don´t mean that Doom is bad they are good games but at least the 2 OG games was fun once but became very very repetive in a way that was not fun. Sure Duke or blood is repetvie but in some ways as well but still more fun.

Mind you the 2016 Doom and Eternal to me was more fun than the orginal hell I even dare to say I like Doom 3 more than the 2 first.

But if I wanna play a good FPS I always Return to Duke or Blood or Shadow warrior.

 

[CocaFeca]

it's timeless, simple as is, it dosen't matter the age of the game, if it still holds up 30 years later and still gets in new fans is for a reason + unlike half life wich has a story heavy focus or duke nukem wich had a clear male model as protagonist, doom just assumes you (the demon slayer) are the actual protagonist, that in the first 2 and the new ones, doom 3 is a weird case.

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

Honestly beats me I prefer Duke 3D or Blood or even Shadow warriors. Don´t mean that Doom is bad they are good games but at least the 2 OG games was fun once but became very very repetive in a way that was not fun. Sure Duke or blood is repetvie but in some ways as well but still more fun.

Mind you the 2016 Doom and Eternal to me was more fun than the orginal hell I even dare to say I like Doom 3 more than the 2 first.

But if I wanna play a good FPS I always Return to Duke or Blood or Shadow warrior.

In Blood's case, the source code never being released had a negative impact on it's mod scene, with sourceports needing to be reverse engineered from the source code of the Blood Alpha. The Build engine is also in general a bit less user friendly then the Doom engine in terms of fan-made content until more recently, and those franchises have less representation in the modern gaming zeitgeist to attract as many new players/modders.

Which is a shame, I love Duke, Blood, and SW a great deal too and would love for their mod scenes to be as active as Doom's.

 

[KenaiPhoenix]

As someone that regularly plays online and offline since like 2004

Doom design was and is perfect: enemy roster is good, levels have enough action, exploration and even puzzles (some times)

But the community is what makes this game eternal (no pun intended): it was designed to be as moddable as possible and thanks to its simple 3D (technically 2.5D on it original, but that other topic) it has the power to create really good looking maps, while also not overwhelm the new modders.

Add the fact that they release the source files, and now you have a community that keeps growing and making the game even better, with always something good and different in the horizon, so you never get bored.