What's something about Doom you absolutely love?

[Individualised]

On 1/11/2023 at 11:20 PM, Individualised said:

I love how Doom 1, Doom 2, and Final Doom manage to create an atmosphere out of assets that aren't necessarily atmospheric. For example, E1M8's great lead-up to the Baron Twins boss fight, starting you off in a confined space with "Sign of Evil" playing, and hearing the Barons roar when you reach them, it sounds simplistic but really gives a sense of atmosphere you just don't get even in modern games. When I was younger and could barely even beat the first episode, reaching E1M8 was always a treat because it felt so rewarding, and beating the fight, seeing the "Doomguy gets mauled to death" cutscene, and hearing the story screen music was as equally rewarding. E2M4's scrolling skull wall also genuinely kinda freaked me out the first time I saw it, especially combined with the music for that level. It communicates well that "this is when the game starts to get serious". Doom 2 doesn't do stuff like this as much, though I feel it's levels with a large amount of vertical space give an atmosphere that was missing in Doom 1. Final Doom, especially TNT Evilution also gives a similar sense of atmosphere that Doom 1 did, but even better. TNT levels, and in some cases Plutonia levels too, feel like they are real, alive places with backstories, and that I'm going on an adventure. And I don't mean when levels try to realistically recreate stuff like chairs and tables (I think there's a word for that), but just the overall structure of TNT levels feels "real" and I can't quite pinpoint why. I know Final Doom is considered a low point in Doom games and Evilution is especially not that well liked, but I will always love it and hold it in the same regard as the first 2 Doom games because of stuff like this.

 

Doom 64, which uses traditionally atmospheric assets, is also great in its own right and I love that game too, but it's a very different feeling I get from playing it compared to the first 3 games.

 

After thinking about it, I think part of what makes classic Doom's atmosphere so great is the concept known as "liminal spaces". I've known of liminal spaces for a while and noticed them in other games but never really put two and two together with Doom. This section of TNT Map 19 I think is a great example:It's a sort of deja vu sensation, like I feel like I've been here in real life. I think that explains why I find TNT "realistic", not because of trying to recreate realistic objects but the structures of the levels themselves.