Doom is a series of first person shooter games created by id Software. It is well known for pioneering the first person shooter (FPS) genre and for probably being the first wildly popular FPS. (Wolfenstein 3D was actually the first FPS made by id Software.) The first Doom game came out in 1993. Although it was originally intended to have a more complex storyline, which was proposed in the Doom Bible aka its initial design document, the writers ended up scrapping it. The reasoning behind this decision can best be explained with a quote from developer John Carmack, "Story in a game is like story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important." So, Doom I does not have much of a story, other than that you are a space marine fighting demons from hell on the moons of Mars. The player themself is meant to assume the role of the space marine, therefore the character has remained nameless for the entire history of the franchise. He is, however, usually referred to as Doomguy.

Doom I was originally released as shareware. It was successful, well, because it's just a good game, but also because of the community it spawned. The way Doom 1 and 2 are designed makes the games very easy to mod. The modding community is a big part of the Doom experience, and it's still going strong to this day. Many players made and still make their own mods, more often called WADs. These WADS can be anything from changing sprites around, to custom maps, to even multi level games. The file that contains all the game data is called a WAD file (it actually stands for Where's All the Data). Doom is also well known for its multiplayer deathmatch community. Doom was so popular that later FPS games were normally called "Doom Clones" until the genre started becoming more defined.

Doom II, which was released in 1994 is arguably just an extension of Doom I. The graphics are the same and the gameplay is the same, but the levels are bigger, crazier, and more fun than ever. There are also new enemies such Arch-viles and Pain Elementals. And notably the addition of the most iconic Doom weapon ever, the double-barrelled Super Shotgun! The story picks off where the first game left off and follows Doomguy after escaping Hell. He returns to Earth and finds it too is overrun with monsters, and its cities lie in ruins. Doom II has some fun little easter eggs like a secret level called "Wolfenstein" which is... just Wolfenstein 3D but in Doom. And who could forget John Romero's Head?

I won't really be focusing on Doom games past Doom II, since I haven't played them yet, and this page is about classic Doom, but here is a little on that. Feel free to message me and correct me if my info is wrong. From what I've heard and researched, Doom 3, released in 2004, takes a weird jump from the first two Doom games. It has updated 3D graphics and this time a more complex story. (Perhaps thanks to games like Half-Life coming along and showed people that the FPS genre can be great for immersive storytelling.) It is considered kind of the odd one out of the Doom series. From what I've heard, Doom III is a good enough game, but it doesn't really give the true Doom experience.

As for other Doom games, in 2016, Doom had a successful and well received reboot. The reboot was given a sequel in 2020 (Doom Eternal). There are quite a few other games in the Doom franchise as well. There are also novels and two very bad movies, including one with Dwayne the Rock Johnson lol!

As of me writing this, the next installment, Doom: the Dark Ages is scheduled to release in 2025! People are excited. Doomguy has a fur cape and a shield that's a saw wheel!

In August of 2024, Doom I + Doom II released. This is a re-release of the first two Doom games along with TNT: Evilution (1996), The Plutonia Experiment (1996), The Master Levels (1995), No Rest for the Living (2010), and Sigil (2019). It has some new features like easier access to and support for mods, deathmatch and co-op support, and achievements. It also includes a whole new episode: Legacy of Rust. This re-release makes classic Doom and many of its most important features more accessible for a modern audience.

Doom is known for its iconic soundtrack, which takes inspiration from metal bands such as Metallica, Pantera, Alice In Chains, and Slayer. You can hear the inspiration pretty well in some of the tracks if you listen closely enough. (If you wanna know more about that interesting little fun fact, this list on the Doom Wiki is pretty cool because it shows possible inspirations for Doom songs.)

Overall, Doom is a legend of a game series. It has left a lasting legacy because of its technological innovations, and the community it spawned. Doom made enormous strides not just for first person shooters, but for the gaming industry as a whole. It is often cited as the most important first person shooter game ever made.