100 Facts About Doom

Doom is one of the most iconic video game franchises ever, so we thought we'd do a list of 100 facts you didn't know about Doom

id Software was founded on February 1st, 1991. Id had four founding members, John Romero, John Carmack, Adrian Carmack, and Tom Hall

Their first commercial success was Commander Keen, a side-scroller about a boy in the sci-fi world

Commander Keen even makes a cameo in Doom 2. You have to kill four of him for some reason

The id Software guys were viewed as noisy young rock stars of the 1990s video game world

due to their wild behavior and hyper-violent games. They were responsible for the Doom, Wolfenstein, and Quake franchises

that set up many of the elements of the first-person shooter video game genre

After the initial release of Doom, it was so successful that the literal name of the FPS genre was Doom Clones

After his family purchased an Apple II Plus in 1982, John Romero, who would go on to be one of the key figures of the id software story

taught himself how to code and program video games. Romero became widely known for both his contributions to the medium of video games

and his hair. Look at that hair, baby! In January of 1993, before commencing work on the game

Romero and the rest of the id software crew issued a press release stating that the upcoming game Doom would be the greatest video game in the world

In the early developmental stages of Doom, it was being considered to release the game with the title The Attack of the Attackers

Doom appears to be a 3D video game, right? Well, it's actually flat 2D planes

The id software team pioneered a way of making it look like 3D

by inventing what is now referred to as raycasting, which involves bouncing light off of a one-dimensional plane

and tricking the camera of the video game into thinking it's 3D

The title Doom comes from a scene in The Color Money where Tom Cruise opens his pool cue box to reveal a billiard stick

A rival then asks him, what's that? And Cruise responds, Doom. The protagonist of the game is an unnamed space marine

Romero has said that the character was purposefully unnamed because the id Software creators wanted the character to serve as a stand-in for the player

The fans eventually dubbed him with the extremely creative nickname of Doom Guy

He would later be renamed Doom Slayer or just The Slayer during the 2016 Bethesda game Doom 2016

His iconic green space armor has appeared in every incarnation of the franchise

The character is a grunt for the fictional organization of the UAC, the Union Aerospace Corporation

The character was named in the novel Knee Deep in the Dead. The character was christened Flynn Fly Taggart

There were four novels released in this series, co-written by Brad Lindweaver and David Abhue

The novels were In Order, Knee Deep in the Dead, Hell on Earth, Internal Sky, and Endgame

The first three of these were obviously named after the first three chapters of the game. Doom 1's development began in earnest at id Software in November of 1992

Just prior to Doom, Id had released Wolfenstein 3D. Reneiro's pitch for the rest of the company after the success of Wolfenstein was

let's make a game that's aliens meets Evil Dead 2, which is how you get Doomguy utilizing the same weapons that are also wielded by our favorite less-than-capable wisecracking protagonist of a zombie movie, Ashley Williams

During the making of the game the animations for when you shoot an antagonist weren originally as visceral but Romero wanted to up the energy of the game and introduce the idea of the dead enemies spinning and blood ejecting from their chests when they were hit by bullets

The music of the game was created by Bobby Prince. The game's soundtrack was supposed to evoke metal bands

like Black Sabbath and Metallica. Prince also designed all the sound effects for the game

many of which were made by distorting animal noises. One of the many iconic things that came out of Doom was the BFG

a.k.a. the Big F*** Gun. It's been referenced in Halo, Ratchet & Clank, and many other games

Doom was originally released as a shareware game, meaning it was completely free

It also had a massive network of online customizers making mods for the game

They created new levels, new villains, and new designs, which the id Software people really liked

So much so, in fact, that many of the game's online modders were hired by id to officially become part of the team

The next hurdle for the fledgling id Software was, how were they going to get Doom into the retail stores

They devised a plan where they would let retailers sell the game and keep all the money

This worked. Doom quickly became a massively popular game and a bestseller

If reports are to be believed, Doom was on more computers in 1995 than Windows 95

In fact, the game was so popular that different retail chains began designing their own packaging

art in an attempt to one-up the competition. There were no fewer than 35 different box arts sold for the original Doom game

Doom 2, Hell on Earth, was released in 1994. Unlike its highly influential predecessor, Doom 2 was available in stores right from the get-go

which shouldn't be a big deal, but, you know, it is. After the release of the game, an expansion pack was released that included over 20 different mod levels from fans and pros alike

The expansion pack was titled Master Levels of Doom 2. In Doom 2, the final demon boss says something in a prayer in a demonic language

which, if you've reversed it, it says, You must kill me, John Romero

If you destroy the demon's brain, behind it is a graphic representation of John Romero's head on a pike

Now that it was selling the game and not giving it away like its older brother, there weren't a ton of unlicensed box art paintings vying for the consumer's hard-earned money

As such, Gerald Brom was brought into to do this super cool painting

In 2017, John Romero revealed that he was the original model for the Doom guy's depiction on the cover art

which, you know, feels dubious at best. Doom 2 sold roughly 2 million copies

In 1996, Doom made its way into the pages of the funny papers, a.k.a. comic books, baby

It was a 16-page comic written by Steve Bailing and Michael Stewart and illustrated by Tom Grinberg

The comic was not remembered well. On June 17, 1996, John Romero made a deal with a collective of Doom modders called Team TNT

to release a highly anticipated custom fan-made expansion called Evil-Lution. It was then released as Final Doom

Next up for the franchise, before Doom 3 was released, Id put out Doom 64 for the Nintendo 64

It wasn't really received that well, either. It's hinted at that the Doom guy in Doom 64 is actually related to William B.J. Blazkowicz

the protagonist of the Wolfenstein games. In one of the games, when Blazkowicz defeats the Harbinger of Doom

the creature says it will return to seek vengeance on one of his descendants. This creature design looks eerily similar to the Cyberdemon

In the Doom 2 RPG you play as the marine named Stan Blazkowicz Doom 3 was released on PC in 2004 The game was produced on a new engine called the IdTech 4 This game was in the planning stages for so long

that the first footage of it was originally shown at Macworld Tokyo in 2001

Doom 3 was a Divergent sequel, opting to go for a darkened horror aesthetic

as opposed to just being a shoot-em-up. Towards the end of the game, if you crouch down and press this brick

that has an Id software logo on it, you're granted access to a brand-spaking new room that has a demonic PDA in it

which has messages from the id software team thanking you for playing the game

and thanking family members for their support. Doom 3 was beloved by fans and critics alike

Particular praise was given to the AI movements and the iconic jump scare

if you know what I'm talking about. Doom 3 had an expansion in April 2005 titled Resurrection of Evil

2005 also saw the release of one of the greatest films of all time

Doom. The film starred Dwayne, I Hate Vin Diesel, The Rock Johnson, and Carl, I Am The Law, Urban

as well as Rosamund, I Escaped That Really Sh**ty Bond Movie, Pike. The film features an extended

first-person fight sequence. 2008 saw a new line of novels being published in the spiritual

succession of Doom 3. The first book, Worlds on Fire, was written by Matthew Costello, the original

writer of Doom 3. The second book in the series, Maelstrom, was released in March of 2009

Unfortunately, there were no other novels published after these two due to the lack of interest from the fanbase

2016 saw the true successor to the Doom mantle released in the simply titled Doom

In the fan community, it's often referred to as Doom 2016. The game has a much more tongue-in-cheek and irreverently self-aware tone

to its gameplay and its story. You wake up as the Doom Slayer. Yes, no longer are you referred to as Doom Guy

Now you are the Doom Slayer. The game was also a deliberately back-to-basics effort

No more horror, suspense, or creeping around that was from Doom 3

Now it was just all action all the time. Bizarrely, we almost didn't get this version of the game, though

Hugo Martin, the game's director, has said in interviews that the game originally had a much more straightforward story

and a tone that was nowhere near its final incarnation. This is evidenced by the fact that the game was originally announced eight years prior in 2008

when the intention was to release a game that would be a Call of Duty-esque game

Obviously, this version of Doom 4 never saw the light of day and was completely abandoned for the Doom 2016 idea

Hugo Martin has talked at length in interviews about the influence on the storytelling within the game

He really wanted to elevate Doomguy into a mythic character. You start the game as Doomguy, but you end the game as the Doom Slayer

One of the key creative influences is Robocop. From the tone, the hyperviolence, and the world design, you can see it everywhere

However, Martin took the scene where the OCP doctors are rebuilding Alex Murphy specifically to work as the opening to the game

Another creative influence in the making of Doom 2016 was Jaws. Martin has talked at length about how the structure of Jaws works

and how it builds up and mythologizes the shark, and how that was a creative inspiration behind the building of the Doom Slayer

The next game that was released in the Doom franchise was Doom VFR

It was released for PS4 in 2017. The game centers on Abraham Peters, who, you know, does Doom guy stuff

but without the added pressure of being the Doom guy 2019 saw the release of Doom Annihilation a direct reboot of the Doom theatrical franchise intended to coast off the success of 2016 reboots Goodwill The film

stars a character that is decidedly not the Doom Guy named Joan Dark. Get it? Joan Dark. Joan of

Ark. She's supposed to be Joan of Ark. Surprisingly, the film's setup is close to the game. It centers

on a team of space marines who go to a moon where a portal to hell has been discovered. The portal

starts causing mischief and turning people into zombies and monsters. For a direct-to-DVD schlock

fest, the visual effects are actually kind of awesome. Ultimately, the film pissed off a bunch

of fans because no Doom guy, and it's unlikely to spawn any sequels. 2020 sees the release of the

highly anticipated Doom Eternal, the sequel to Doom 2016. The game centers around the idea that

the portals to hell you've been fighting for all these years have finally gotten back to Earth

So what does the freshly minted Doom Slayer have to do? Suit up and defeat the Hellbringers, baby

Originally, the game was to be released 11-22-19. However, that date came and went

It was released March 20th, 2020. One of the many upgrades and improvements that the game sees this time around is the grappling hook

which allows a player to literally zip around blasting demons and zombies from midair

During the development of the game, the grappling hook was so overpowered that they debated removing it entirely

This then caused the whole team to reevaluate how they had constructed the game

They wanted to make a game that focused on making the player play correctly, meaning moving, weapon changing, and problem solving

Warren's main critique of Doom 2016 was that while they nailed the tone and made some of the more important improvements to gameplay

the game ultimately let you play with the shotgun for the whole time if you really wanted to

Doom Eternal demanded that you play the game correctly in order to succeed. Ultimately, after retooling the game, that's exactly what they accomplished

Many beloved demons return for Doom Eternal, including remixed and improved versions of

The Pain Elemental, Arachnetron, Archvile, and Hellified Soldiers. The game is also going to introduce a bevy of new villains for you to combat

Whiplash, a sneak-like female demon, tentacles, which are obviously tentacles that appear everywhere

and the franchise's first attempt at creating an iconic Darth Maul-esque villain, the Marauders

Marauders are corrupted members of an ancient order of demon slayers, who sold their souls and betrayed the Sentinel Knights in a bargain with the Hellpriests

Demonic laser hacks, anyone? One of the interesting divergences about Doom Eternal is that the game won't feature snap maps

and won't support mods at launch. When asked if the game would eventually feature the Doom Eternal versions of the grand tradition of Doom modding

the answer was basically, maybe. Mick Gordon created the soundtrack for Doom Eternal, but did not mix the final score, which many fans have noticed

When asked about the mixing, he tweeted, I didn't mix those. I wouldn't have done that. You'll be able to spot the handful of tracks that

I actually did mix. Meat hook, command, and control. Doom Eternal features a hub for the

Doom Slayer, which has been named the Fortress of Doom. It's not here yet, but Doom Eternal will

feature a new gameplay mode called Invasion Mode. If you choose to play with the mode engaged

your friends can join in on your single-player campaign. However, they won't be working in

tandem with you to defeat the demons. They'll be playing as the demons trying to kill you

The director of the game has stated that Doom Eternal is a $60 game

It's a complete unit. They wanted to make a movie with scale and size befitting the price tag

And it definitely looks like they succeeded in their goal