Doom (1993 video game)

Doom is a first-person shooter video game made by id Software in 1993. It is one of the first games to use three-dimensional levels. The game is about killing demons and zombies in order to stop an invasion. Doom has traps, including crushing ceilings, radiation pools, and exploding barrels, that can kill the player. Doom was also the first game with multiplayer deathmatch. This means you can fight with other players instead of the demons and zombies. The game was made with a computer language called C using some new techniques created by John Carmack.

Doom was the third big project for id Software, after Commander Keen (1990) and Wolfenstein 3D (1992). In May 1992, id started developing a darker game about fighting demons, using a new 3D game engine from the lead programmer, John Carmack. The designer Tom Hall at first wrote a science fiction plot, but he and most of the story were removed, with the final game featuring an action-base design by John Romero and Sandy Petersen. Id published Doom three episodes under the shareware model, with the first episode free. A retail version with another episode was published in 1995 by GT Interactive called The Ultimate Doom.

Doom was a massive success, with it being called one of the best and most important video games of all time. It sold an 3.5 million copies by 1999. It has been called the "father" of first-person shooters and is called one of the most important games in the genre. It has been said by video game historians it changed the direction and public thought of video games as a whole. It led to many clones, as well as having multiple mods and and help start the speedrunning community. Its graphic violence led to controversy . Doom has been ported to lots of platforms both officially and unofficially and the series got multiple sequels, including Doom II (1994), Doom 64 (1997), Doom 3 (2004), Doom (2016), Doom Eternal (2020), and Doom: The Dark Ages (2025), as well as some movies being made about Doom, Doom (2005) and Doom: Annihilation (2019).

Doom is a first-person shooter with 3D graphics. While levels are seen in a 3D view, the enemies and objects are instead 2D sprites rendered at fixed angles, this sometimes is referred to as 2.5D graphics or billboarding.^[2] In the single-player campaign mode, the player controls an unnamed space marine—later named "Doomguy"—goes through military bases on the moons of Mars and in hell.^[3] To finish a level, the player must traverse through levels to reach the exit room. Levels are grouped into named episodes, with the final level having a boss fight.^[4]

While playing the levels, the player must fight enemies, including demons and possessed undead humans. Enemies are most the time in large groups. There are five difficulty levels this changes the number of enemies and amount of damage they do, on the hardest difficulty setting enemies moving and attacking faster than normal.^[4] The monsters work by move toward their opponent if they see or hear them, and attack by biting, clawing, or using magic like fireballs.^[5]

The player must use med-kits, for health and armor. The player can find weapons and med-kits throughout the levels or can collect them from dead enemies, including a pistol, a shotgun, a chainsaw, a plasma rifle, and the BFG 9000. The player also finds pits of toxic waste, ceilings that can crush objects, and locked doors requiring a keycard or a remote switch.^[6] Power-ups include health or armor, a mapping computer, partial invisibility, a radiation suit that helps with toxic waste. Cheat codes allow the player to unlock all weapons, walk through walls, or become "god" and can't die.^[7][8]

There are two multiplayer modes that are playable over a network: cooperative, in the mode, two to four players team up to complete the main campaign, and deathmatch, in which two to four players compete to kill the other players.^[9] Multiplayer was at first only playable over local networks, but a online multiplayer mode was made available one year after launch through the service "DWANGO".^[6]