Doom (1993)
Doom is a 1993 first-person shooter game developed and published by id Software for MS-DOS. It is the first installment in the Doom franchise. The player assumes the role of a space marine, later unofficially referred to as Doomguy, fighting through hordes of undead humans and invading demons. The game begins on the moons of Mars and finishes in hell, with the player traversing each level to find its exit or defeat its final boss. It is an early example of 3D graphics in video games, and has enemies and objects as 2D images, a technique sometimes referred to as 2.5D graphics.
Doom was a critical and commercial success, earning a reputation as one of the best and most influential video games of all time. It sold an estimated 3.5 million copies by 1999, and up to 20 million people are estimated to have played it within two years of launch. It has been termed the "father" of first-person shooters and is regarded as one of the most important games in the genre. It has been cited by video game historians as shifting the direction and public perception of the medium as a whole, as well as sparking the rise of online games and communities. It led to an array of imitators and clones, as well as a robust modding scene and the birth of speedrunning as a community. Its high level of graphic violence led to controversy from a range of groups. Doom has been ported to a variety of platforms both officially and unofficially and has been followed by several games in the series, including Doom II (1994), Doom 64 (1997), Doom 3 (2004), Doom (2016) (2016), Doom Eternal (2020), and Doom: The Dark Ages (2025), as well as the films Doom (2005) and Doom: Annihilation (2019).
Episodes
Knee-Deep in the Dead
The Shores of Hell
Inferno
Thy Flesh Consumed
Controversies
Doom was notorious for its high levels of graphic violence and satanic imagery, which generated controversy from a broad range of groups.[citation needed] Doom for the 32X was one of the first video games to be given a Mature 17+ rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board due to its violent gore and nature, while Doom II was the first.[citation needed] In Germany, shortly after its publication, Doom was classified as "harmful to minors" by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons and could not be sold to children or displayed where they could see it, which was only rescinded in 2011.[citation needed]
Nowadays, it's considered to be rather mundane.