DOOM (1993) and the Series — The Father of the FPS

Doom is a first-person shooter made and self-published for MS-DOS by American studio id Software in 1993. It tells the story of a lone space marine left on a base on a moon of Mars, who fights through demons and zombified humans and eventually ventures into Hell itself. The plot is simple, but the game set the direction of the genre so firmly that it's called "the father of the first-person shooter (FPS)."

Doom's legacy goes beyond a single game. The word "deathmatch," the modding culture of players making their own maps, and the beginnings of the speedrunning community are all connected to Doom. In this post, focusing on the 1993 original, we cover its origins, gameplay, why it's considered a classic, the series that followed, and how to play it today.

At a Glance

Origins

Doom was id Software's third major independent title, following Commander Keen (1990–1991) and Wolfenstein 3D (1992). In May 1992, the team began making a darker game about "fighting demons with technology," using a new 3D engine built by lead programmer John Carmack.

Designer Tom Hall initially wrote a sci-fi storyline, but most of the story was dropped from the project along with Hall. The final game became an action-focused design by John Romero and Sandy Petersen. Their levels had different characters; within the team, Petersen's maps were seen as technically varied and Romero's as aesthetically superior. Multiplayer was added by Carmack about a month before release.

Its distribution was unusual too. Jay Wilbur, who handled business, believed direct sales would be most profitable and made full use of the shareware model. The first of the three episodes was released for free, and players bought the rest directly from id. The company ran just one magazine ad and let retailers sell the first episode at whatever price they liked. Carmack estimated in 2004 that the total development cost was under $1 million.

How It Plays

Doom's visuals look 3D, but movement actually takes place only on a flat plane, and enemies and objects are 2D images drawn from fixed angles. This approach is often called "2.5D."

• Structure: The original consists of three episodes — "Knee-Deep in the Dead," "The Shores of Hell," and "Inferno" — with eight levels each. A fourth episode was added in 1995's The Ultimate Doom.
• Goal: Make your way through maze-like levels to the exit. You open doors with colored keycards, and finding hidden areas is part of the fun. In the final level of each episode, you fight a boss.
• Resource management: You have to conserve ammo, health, and armor. Switching between weapons such as the pistol, shotgun, chainsaw, plasma rifle, and BFG 9000 to suit the situation is key.
• Hazards and items: There are pools of toxic waste and crushing ceilings, along with items such as the computer map, partial invisibility, radiation suit, invulnerability, and Berserk, which powers up your fists.
• Multiplayer: There's a co-op mode where 2 to 4 players play the campaign together, and deathmatch, where players compete over how many times they take each other down. At first it was only possible over local networks, and a year after release the DWANGO service opened online four-player matches.

Why It's a Classic

It created a genre. After Doom's success, dozens of similar games poured out, and for several years "Doom clone" was used like a genre name instead of "first-person shooter." In 1998, PC Gamer called Doom "probably the most imitated game in history."

It popularized deathmatch. Doom was the first game to use the term "deathmatch," and it introduced fast-paced multiplayer gunfights to many people for the first time.

It opened up modding culture. Doom separated its level and graphics data from the engine and stored them in WAD files. Carmack and Romero pushed for mod support despite concerns within the company, and thousands of user-made levels appeared in the years after release. The source code was released under a non-commercial license in 1997 and under the GPL in 1999. Thanks to this, Doom has been ported to unlikely devices such as smart thermostats and pianos, spawning the long-running meme "Can it run Doom?"

It laid the foundation for speedrunning culture. Doom had a "demo" feature for recording and replaying gameplay. The files were small and easy to share on the early internet, which played a big role in the growth of the speedrunning community.

It was a commercial hit, too. It turned a profit within a day of release, and by late 1995 it was estimated to be installed on more computers than Windows 95. In 2007, it was one of the first 10 games selected for the "game canon" by the US Library of Congress for preservation. Criticism from various groups over its high level of violence is also part of the game's history.

Series and Influence

id Software licensed the Doom engine to other companies, resulting in games such as Heretic and Hexen. Doom became the benchmark for countless later FPS games, and Valve's Half-Life, released in 1998, was also inspired by Doom and Quake.

The series has stayed active since the reboot. The 2016 game was praised for its fast melee combat and music, and Doom Eternal earned $450 million in its first year. Doom: The Dark Ages was released on May 15, 2025, for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and its expansion "Revelations" came out on July 7, 2026. The franchise has also been adapted into the films Doom (2005) and Doom: Annihilation (2019), as well as novels and comics.

How to Play Today

• Doom + Doom II (2024): A re-release from id Software together with Nightdive Studios and MachineGames, launched in August 2024. It includes the pre-Doom 64 games, Romero's expansion "Sigil," and a new episode, "Legacy of Rust." It's available on PC, Switch, PS4/PS5, and Xbox One/Series X|S.
• Latest entries: If you want modern Doom, playing the 2016 game, Doom Eternal, and Doom: The Dark Ages in that order lets you follow how the series changed after the reboot.
• Community mods: Using the original data files and source ports, you can enjoy user-made levels that are still being created today.

References

• Doom (1993 video game) — Wikipedia
• Doom (franchise) — Wikipedia
• Doom: The Dark Ages — Wikipedia
• DOOM Official Page (Bethesda)