Doom turns 21: a celebration of Doom mods

Yesterday, Doom celebrated its 21st anniversary. Creator id Software certainly acknowledged this monumental date and today, Shacknews would like to do the same. After all, it's the Shacknews Chatty Community's #5 PC game of all-time.

For our own tribute to the pioneer first-person shooter, we're offering up a handful of the best Doom mods that are available for your PC right now. Special thanks to Chatty posters EvilDolemite, jet-poop, sigpro, and General Balsaga for their suggestions to this feature.

ZDoom

As a reminder, Doom is indeed 21 years old, so it probably needs a little boost to keep up with today's visual expectations. Creator Randy Heit used various other source engines to create ZDoom, a mod that gives Doom a noticeable polish for all modern versions of Windows.

ZDoom fully supports modern ideas, such as high resolution textures, jumping, crosshairs, gamepad support, and 8-player network games. It's a completely different way to look at the classic shooter, giving it enough of an update to put it alongside modern shooters without overly compromising the game's original vision. There are dozens of other Doom mods out there, but this is the mother of them all. In fact, many of those other mods will require ZDoom to run.

The latest ZDoom release was version 2.7.1, released back in July 2013. That download is available here.

GZDoom

This is one of those mods that will require ZDoom to run. GZDoom is described as a 3D-acceleratd Doom port, created by modder Graf Zahl.

GZDoom adds some interesting new visuals to the game, like dynamic lighting and brighter maps. The addition of brighter maps and textures give Doom another spot of modern polish and one that'll give your PC a run for its money. Zahl is still working diligently to update his code and rendering system, in order to make the most of modern graphics cards.

GZDoom version 2.0.03 released nearly three months ago and is available on the mod forums.

Zandronum

Zandronum gives owners of both the original Doom and Doom II a chance to play along with a whole lot of friends. While it adds a few elements that can be seen across all game modes, like Quake's key bindings and jumping, this is known as one of the definitive multiplayer mods, supporting up to 64 players.

Game modes include Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Last Man Standing, and a few original modes, like Terminator and Skulltag. Those looking to play co-op can also band together for Survival and Invasion modes. Regardless of the type of multiplayer experience you're looking for, this looks to be the mod to own.

The latest version of Zandronum can be found on the mod's website.

Brutal Doom

While the aforementioned mods will make Doom pretty, this will give it a whole new shade of red. Brutal Doom lives up to its name by being one of the most violent mods available, which says a lot given the source material.

Brutal Doom was released in 2012 with a dose of ultraviolence. New gibs, death animations, dismemberments, and executions are all on the table, so much so that players can actually kick around fallen body parts. Also, there are explosions. Lots of explosions.

On top of that, the game gets much harder. While players are granted an upgraded arsenal, the game's enemies are a lot harder to deal with. It's big, it's bloody, and it's brutal. It's Brutal Doom and it's available at ModDB. There's also a re-mod that's available from ModDB, as well.

Classic Doom for Doom 3

We conclude this feature with a bit of a cheat. Yes, this is technically for Doom 3. However, it's a special mod, as one of the creators is Chatty's own CrustaR.

Classic Doom 3 is a faithful re-creation of Doom's first episode, rebuilt with the Doom 3 engine. It's a fine facsimile, using similar enemies, full intro and ending cinematics, and a high-quality soundtrack. It's an interesting take on an old favorite.

Classic Doom 3 is available here.

This, of course, is just scratching the surface of the Doom mods that are out in the wild. If you have your own that you'd like to contribute, join the conversation in Chatty.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?