Is Doom Still Playable in 2021?

I'm Not Talking About Doom 2016 or Doom Eternal

Let's face it, not everything from the 90's stands the test of time, heck, even some people born in the 90's aren't worth their salt, a worrying revelation considering the waning stability of the US dollar and possibility that we'll all be returning to non-fiat salt based salaries. This isn't far fetched, it worked for the ancient Romans after all. Some things from the 90's are worth their salt though, and Doom is one of those things. The game has been the object of both salty, anti-videogame sentiment and massive fandom, yet just where it sits today in the rankings of playable fps games is the question here. You could say that Doom is still going strong due to sourceports and official re-releases over the years, but a game's availability isn't the only factor in it's success, there's something special packed into those little wadfiles, there's also a lack of elements in there. From an abstract viewpoint, the combination of elements both present and missing are what makes Doom a gameplay-first piece of software. It's depressing to admit, but a lot of modern games shortchange buyers in the gameplay department, not Doom, it's a rampaging Dinosaur from the 90's with an energydrink fueled hardon that's been raging for over four hours. This is all about action. 

The previous mentioned sourceports of Doom bring me a decision that's only getting harder over time. There's a growing number of Doom sourceports, contrasted by the shrinking number of Dr. Seuss books in print. From what I've seen, there's two main camps of modern Doom players. One group wants the most vanilla, retro experience that can be achieved without an off-white microwave shaped pc; the other group is more open to changes, even adding modernized elements or full-conversion mods. My own choice of Doom sourceports is the most mod-friendly GZDoom, a sourceport that's not only popular but dead-simple to use, it's literally drag-and-drop, so I got it right on the second try. Choosing GZDoom means it's up to the player just how wild things are going to get. For the most vanilla experience, I dragged the wadfiles and activated the autosave, pretty much the only tinkering that I bothered to do. This isn't a review right out of 1993, but it's not like I'm playing this thing on a pregnancy test either. 

From high gas prices to the global pandemic, there's always something keeping people from getting around. It won't get easier as time goes on, with automated vehicles crashing into wildlife in some sort of artificial dystopian road-rage. These obstacles run opposite to mans inherent desire to go fast, a need for speed if you will. As the famous blue hedgehog says "gotta go fast", a sentiment clearly shared by Doomguy, who could probably outrun the blue furball. He's not bogged down in the trappings of triple-a titles that charge top dollar for cover mechanics, stamina bars and collision enabled objects that slow gameplay to a frustrating crawl while hitscanning enemies take potshots at a cheated gamer. In 1993 the formula was already perfected in Doom. It's like every surface of the game has been coated in bacon grease, giving it just the right amount of inertia and slide to match the blinding fast sprinting speed, and that's not the best part. Not only is Doomguy fast, but he's got the lungs to keep going, that means no stamina bar to deplete. the choice is yours; go fast or don't. 

There's not much variety in Doom's gameplay and that's where it shines. No stealth missions or vehicle sections, it's just the same handful of elements remixed and repeated across dozens of maps, and that's the game's strength. Sure it can get repetitive, but so can eating Oreo cookies, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop, no matter how fat I get. Sprinting through the demon-filled maps and collecting all manner of pickups never gets old. It's kind of like an arcade game in a way, replaying it with prior knowledge always makes makes running through the bite-sized levels even more smooth and satisfying, complimented by that ultra-fast running speed and lack of game-halting bullshit that makes games today so gross. Doom is great to come back to and it shows, just look at the dedicated speedrunning community that it has, a testament to it's design.

Speedrunners typically avoid killing demons to break those hard earned records, but for the non-speedrunner avoiding Doom's combat is like avoiding the frosting on a cake. This is an fps after all, so the "s" still stands for shooting. Usual suspects in the fps gun lineup appear, with the exception of the super shotgun that sadly doesn't make an appearance until Doom II. What's missing from both games is the kind of useless filler that clogs the inventories in lesser games. There's no crossbow or gluon gun to jam into those already populated weapon slots, just the basics here. You've got the BFG that makes it's videogame debut, and it's more of the bomb function you'd find in a shmup game. The BFG is really for clearing out hordes of demons or tough bosses, a get out-of-hell free card. The gunplay was too visceral for the 90's public, a spectacle to gawk at, but in todays more gruesome shooters it's a passable, though nailing two demons with a single shotgun blast never gets old, Doom never gets old. 

Running Doom through the GZDoom sourceport has it's perks, like the wealth of free mods or "Wad files" that have accumulated throughout the decades. There's some serious talent in the Doom modding community, some creators even going pro with the software license change of the GZDoom engine. What better proof that this long-standing fps game has stood the test of time when it's modding community is full of active players. If you were to buy Doom 1 and 2, even at full price, you'd be buying into a game that not only revolutionized the fps genre but has aged better than games from 2010. It's all proof that gameplay matters and Doom delivers it, even in 2021. Stay tuned for more more videogames, some of them being Doom Wads. 

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