Playstation (1995)

PC (1993)

SNES (1995)

It's just your typical vacation to the moons of Mars: a few shots, followed by a quick detour through Hell.

Many moons ago, I recall spotting the shareware floppy disks for Doom by the front counter at the Virgin Megastore in London when it first came out. As you can imagine, it didn't take too long after that until the game was installed on my computer.

Doom featured three distinct episodes, each comprising roughly nine levels. The shareware release included the first episode, "Knee Deep in the Dead," while the full game added "The Shores of Hell" and "Inferno."

I must have poured countless hours into this game, tackling level after level, and it's no wonder that even now, I can remember many of the secret areas without too much trouble.

In addition to its brilliantly crafted single-player levels, Doom introduced the thrill of Deathmatches: multiplayer games connecting players via serial cable or LAN. These connections were notoriously hit-or-miss, often plagued by instability - though I suspect some of that could be chalked up to user error. But when everything worked, battling friends across the maps was an absolute blast.

Doom was incredibly atmospheric, with its shadowy corridors and the spine-chilling sounds of nearby demons and possessed soldiers creating constant tension. Jump-scares were all too common, and the bravest players would take it to the next level: lights off, earphones in, fully immersing themselves in the game's relentless terror!