Doomhas always been considered one of the most influential FPS games in gaming history, perhaps eventhe grandfather of FPS, or at leastthe game thatpopularized the genre.
The franchise has evolved from shooting pixelated denizens of hell toripping and tearing demons in a gory fashion while accompanied by high-intensity metal.
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Your modern sensibilities aren’t welcome here.
With the anticipated release of the nextDoomon the horizon, let’s examinethe franchise’s more than three-decade-long demon-slaying historyas we follow"too-angry-to-die" Doomguy/The Doom Slayeron his crusade against an unholy army.
We’ll be ranking each Doom game that’s released since the firstDoomgame in 1993, all the way toDoom Eternal.
We won’t be looking at DLCs, expansions, or unofficial episodes.
12Mighty Doom
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Mighty Doom
Remember those Mini Slayer figurine collectibles you could find throughoutDoom 2016andDoom Eternal?
Well, inMighty Doom,you get to play the Mini Slayer,who must traverse through a cartoonish version of the Doom universe to rescue his pet rabbit Daisy from the demonic horde once again.
If you’re familiar with Habby’s mobile gameArchero, thenMighty Doommight seem familiar, as they are bothsingle-stick shooters where you progress through levels while shooting demons with upgradesthat can dramatically change the way your guns shoot.
LikeArchero,Mighty Doomseems like a genuinely fun way to kill time on your phone.With satisfying gameplay and progression that allows for some creative build-crafting, it is also unfortunately marred by a difficulty spike that bullies you into caving to predatorymicrotransactions that have long plagued the mobile gaming scene.
Unfortunately,Mighty Doomwas pulled from the App Store, as Bethesda closed Alpha Dog Games in May 2024. From August 2024,Mighty Doomis no longer available to download for new players.
RIPMighty Doom, you could’ve been a darling of theDoomfranchise.
11Doom Resurrection
Do People Still Play Rail Shooters?
DOOM Resurrection
Doom Resurrectionis arail shootermobile game that was released in 2009 for the iPhone. It uses the same engine, same assets, and the same art asDoom 3,with a plot that sets itself up as a prequel to the game.
You play an unnamed marine trying to make his way through a demonic invasion of Mars while working with a surviving scientist to shut down portals the demons are using before escaping.
Similar to most classic rail shooters likeHouse of the Dead 2,the gameplay takes you through eight rail shooter levels that you might have experienced in the arcade,where instead of wielding a plastic gun prop to shoot at the screen, you’ll be tilting your phone to aim and tapping the screen to fire and reload.
As a mobile game,Doom Resurrection’slackluster reception was par for the course and felt more like a cash grab capitalizing onDoom 3’spopularity.It might stand on its own as a mobile game, but not very well as aDoomgame.
10Final Doom
Difficult As Hell
Final Doom
Unlike what its title suggests,Final Doomis of course not the lastDoomgame to release, and is instead a successor toDoomandDoom 2, releasing on personal computers in 1996 and then the PlayStation 1 later on.
Despite being the franchise’s third entry, there’s a reason whyFinal Doomisn’t calledDoom 3(that’s for a later entry). It wasoriginally a level pack designed by hobbyist group TeamTNTbeforethe devs were contacted byDoomcreator John Romero with an offer to acquire and sellFinal Doomas an official product.
WhileFinal Doomplays identically to its predecessors with the same weapons and demons,it’s set apart by significantly more difficult levelsand a different ambient soundtrack composed by Aubrey Hodges in the PlayStation version, who would later compose music for Doom 64.
By definition,Final Doomis one of the main games of the franchise. It’s touted as one of the hardestDoomgames, mostly becauseit struggled with lower frame rates, less precise control, and borderline sadistic level designs that many players struggled with.
It’s Actually… Not Bad?
Remember those old mobile games before smartphones? Those games that ran on the Nokia or Motorola slider phones? Turns out that those phones could runDoom–well,Doom RPG.
When I learned aboutDoom RPG, I was incredulous, thinking that there was no way it would be any good. I mean, how do you even translate the fast-paced shooter mechanics ofDoomonto an old Nokia phone in 2005?
Simple:turn-based RPG mechanicswhere movement revolves around making 90-degree turns and making a certain number of attacks per turn.
ResearchingDoom RPGhas piqued my interest in this game, though unfortunately, like most olderDoomgames,it’s lost to time unless you dig really deep into media conservation projects.
8DOOM II RPG
A Direct Upgrade
Doom II RPG
Thanks toDoom RPG’ssuccess, id Software decided to create and publish a sequel. Released in 2009 for mobile phones and then the iPhone later that year,Doom II RPGwas a direct upgrade of the originalDoom RPG, retaining its RPG elements and even adding some technical improvements.
Using the same engine that theWolfenstein RPGran on,Doom II RPGnow had 3D-generated environments while still retaining the 2D sprites that theDoomfranchise was still best known for.
The art and gameplay also seem much smoother, with NPCs helping and talking to you throughout your adventures, and combat that felt a lot more intense than its predecessor.
Doom II RPGdoesn’t take itself too seriously, and also recycles assets fromDoom 3andWolfenstein 3D.It also shares the same story asDoom 3, as Doomguy arrives at a space station to help some UAC scientists.
One of the most hilarious parts of the game is thatyou can make combat a lot easier by using a water gun that sprays holy water, which terrifies demons and deals extra damage than most other guns.
Darker, Grittier
While mostDoomgames were developed for personal computers,Doom 64was released for the Nintendo 64 and remained an exclusive until 2020,when it finallyreceived ports to other systems.
While it was competing with other 64 shooter games like the ever-classicGoldenEye 007andDuke Nukem 64,Doom 64was able to stand on its own by setting itself apart from its predecessors with a different tone,complete with darker aesthetics, a gloomier ambience, and completely new artwork.
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Like most other old-schoolDoomgames,Doom 64plays the same as any other, as it runs on the same engine asDoom II.
Most weapons, while artistically different, function the same -except the Unmaker, which is a new addition to the Doomguy’s arsenal and was later reintroduced as the Unmaykr inDoom Eternal.
Doom 64is generally considereda highly underrated game, as it didn’t receive the same amount of attention from fans despite it improving upon its predecessors.
A Noticeable Shift Into Horror
Doom 3was rather divisive because of its noticeable shift from the classic shooter to a moresurvival horror shooteraesthetic it was going for,and slows down the pace of gameplay and forces you to take your time and sit with the feeling of an impending doomthat survival horror games are best at.
Doom 3completely ignores the events of the previous games and is also barely acknowledged by the later games,becoming its own entity within the main franchise.
However, the premise remains the same, with the Doomguy fighting demons on Mars in a story that is negligible if you’re only here to kill demons.
Doom 3does away with the chaotic shootouts and leans more into thehorror elements.The game environment is more claustrophobic, with tight and dark corridors, a gloomier ambience,and enemies that pop out at you in the corner of your eye.
While it’s not the best-received game, it has a special place in manyDoomfans' hearts because ofits different approach compared to the rest of the franchise.
Can It Run Doom?
Doom (1993)
The first time I got to playDoomwasn’t on theoriginal platforms like the PS1or the Macintosh,buta port that was withinDoom Eternalthat you’re able to access in the Doomslayer’s base,the Fortress of Doom.
I can’t exactly speak about the experience of playing the originalDoomwhen it first came out (Doomis five years older than me), but I can say that the originalDoom,as it is inDoom Eternal,plays exceedingly well for a game that is almost 30 years old.It can also be run on just about any platform.
Doomis such a simple game that the source code can be run on just about any electronic device,sparking an Internet meme of “It Runs Doom” where people just start portingDoomonto unlikely devices, from graphing calculators to electronic pregnancy tests.
Doom’ssimple yet intense combatset a new industry standard for first-person shooters, and continues to beone of the best classics to ever come out of the video game industry.
It Can’t Get Better Than This, Right?
My experience withDoom 2was essentially the same as its predecessor, asI was able to play it on the Doomslayer’s computer in his man cave inDoom Eternal.
Still, I had a blast playing through this classic and found it much more enjoyable than the first game. While it functions essentially the same,Doom 2had a lot of direct upgrades to the first game, including more metal music and much faster-paced and more intense combat.
One of the best parts ofDoom 2was theintroduction of the Super Shotgun,which has since become almost synonymous with Doomguy himself.Besides the BFG9000, the Super Shotgun is themost recognizable weapon in the entire franchise,nay, in all gaming history.
3DOOM: The Dark Ages
Going Medieval
DOOM: The Dark Ages
Update (May 17th, 2025): AddedDOOM: The Dark Agesafter its release on May 15th, 2025.
As the newest entry to theDOOMfranchise,The Dark Ageshas a lot going for it, as the developers have been trying out new ways tofreshen up the combat while retaining the essential aspectsof the modernDOOMformula.
As creative director Hugo Martin puts it,if you were a F22 fighter inEternal, then you’d be an Abrams tank inThe Dark Ages.The core combat loop revolves around facing your enemies head-on.Instead of zipping around the arena with blindingly fast dodges and constant weapon swaps,The Dark Agesencourages you to stand your ground, and really makes you feel like an immovable,unkillable killing machine.
With such a huge focus on parrying, it’s also the perfect game for pros likeOngbalandEsoterickkto show off their skills in “No Damage” runs.
DOOM: The Dark Agesis much more visually distinct from the other modern DOOM games. It places the Slayer in a more epic setting while paying more attention to the lore and background characters. While I commend its innovative and ambitious changes, it’s not the perfect modernDOOMgame.
Granted,some chapters are a hit or miss;certain weapons feel redundant; the new (and badass) sections with the Atlan and dragon didn’t have as deep mechanics as the core gameplay, and sometimes veered towards being repetitively boring. Still, they never really overstayed their welcome for me, as those sections are still satisfying to complete.
Much of the experience playing any DOOM game has always been the soundtrack, and there is a clear lack of Mick Gordon’s iconic work due toa messy falling out with id Software. I don’t want to disparage Finishing Move Inc.’s work for this game,butThe Dark Agessuffers heavily from the music department,as the unnoticeable soundtrack feels more like regular metal instead of the iconic Argent metal we’ve grown to love.
