So, I Finally Played DOOM (1993) | Review

I'm About 30 Years Late... Does it Hold Up?

I’ve got a relatively complex history with the DOOM franchise, and honestly I’m just as shocked as you are that it’s taken me this long to play it. My first DOOM game I ever owned and played was DOOM 3, which was, coincidentally, the first game I had ever purchased because it looked cool, and quickly abandoned because I hated jump scares. I determined that “no, I’m not going to keep playing this scary game anymore.” I was in my early teens, so cut me some slack!

The DOOM (2016) revival series by ID Software, however, took me by complete surprise. I had an astoundingly good time playing, booming and shooting my way through hordes of demons as a silent war machine of a protagonist. I loved it so much that I bought a copy to play on the Nintendo Switch, so I could play it wherever I went. Topped off my fascination with some merch for the game, which is a rare luxury I afford myself every few years if I REALLY love something.

Fast-forward to DOOM ETERNAL, and boy, I couldn’t get enough of it. One of my greatest gaming accomplishments is playing and beating ETERNAL on nightmare difficulty. It’s so fluid, fast, and everything my untreated ADHD addled mind loves about movement shooters. But then they released the Ancient Gods DLC and… I’m not sure what happened? I still haven’t played it.

DOOM: The Dark Ages released earlier this year, and all throughout its many reveals, I thought it would be my masterful return as the DOOM GUY. All the marketing made it look absolutely bananas. Pacific Rim style mech? A totally metal dragon? Interesting parry system? Medieval theme? It has it all. I side stepped my rule and got merch of the game (though, it was a gift!). But, shockingly, I still haven’t played it. I consider myself a touch too poor and out of time at the moment.

You know what doesn’t cost $70 USD and related to all this? The original DOOM. That I’ve never played. So I picked that up, found the time, and now here I sit, having finished it, reflecting on the experience.

DOOM (1993), has been an awesome ride. I can’t believe how captivated by this ol’ gem I’ve been. I will say, to the detriment of my gamer cred, I save-scummed though the entire experience. As much as I’d like to play it like a rogue-like, my heart wasn’t in it for that. The difficulty was surprisingly tough! I found myself constantly scoring way beyond par, especially in E3 and E4, where I would double, triple, and occasionally quadruple par-time. Much of this was from exploring, and looking for secrets, but I’m sure it’s also because I’m not super great at it!

The game controls tightly! Guns are punchy, and the enemies have good feedback for when they’re getting hit. Moving around is a little wonky, but I did get used to it after a few stages. Perhaps as another detriment to my cred, I did play on the digital Switch version, but I’ve got no notes there because it played great.

The music was also awesome to hear for the first time in its natural habitat. It was really cool to have my ears perk up every once in a while with a melody that would bring me back to something I remember from DOOM (2016) or ETERNAL. By the end of my time with it, I was wishing for some variation in the demon death sounds & gun noises, but that’s a minor nitpick.

There were some areas where I could not figure out what to do to progress (running isn’t exactly explained in the Switch version), and I had some instances where even with save-scumming, I had quite a difficult time. A number of failures in those situations felt like some deaths were not my own fault and due to causes beyond my understanding of the game. More simply said, I felt a few deaths were unfair, and I’m not sure if that was by design or not.

Overall, I recommend you play DOOM (1993). Some of its gameplay systems are dated and even archaic, which makes for some sections to feel a bit grind-y and dry. But even still, it was an awesome experience for me as a DOOM (2016) and DOOM ETERNAL fan to see the roots of the series. Despite the hiccups here and there, I found it to be enjoyable enough—especially with the switch port and the save-scumming—to prove to me, that it’s a surprisingly timeless game that every player should eventually visit.