DOOM + DOOM II: Why Choose If You Can Have Both?

I’ve always considered 1994’s DOOM II to be more of an expansion to 1993’s DOOM—a very necessary one, that is: who would want to play DOOM without the double barrel shotgun? I can live without that chainsaw, but the super shotgun, no way. It’s not only packing a punch, rapidly becoming my favourite weapon to put holes though Pinkies, but also inspiring future (retro) shooters to have keyboard slot 3 reserved for that double buckshot machine. From Project Warlock to DUSK, any decent game that calls itself (retro) shooter simply has to come with a super shotgun. That’s DOOM II’s true legacy.

The DOOM II levels themselves are a bit of a mixed bag (see also: Virtual Moose’s thoughts on DOOM II). The increased availability of megabytes in 1994’s IBM PC RAM slots resulted in much bigger levels compared to 1993’s DOOM, where most levels feel rather cramped. But perhaps that dark, creepy, and cramped feeling is more fitting for the game? The later DOOM II city-like levels are notorious for being hate-it-or-love-it. My biggest problem with DOOM II’s level design is that even though the levels grew in size, the black and brownness and lack of true set pieces make them feel mundane. I vastly prefer the level flow and brightness of 1994’s Heretic that’s basically a DOOM total conversion.

But wait, is this a DOOM review, a DOOM II review, or both? Well, I don’t really know. What is there left to say about both original games that has not already been said? They’re one of the most influential PC games of all time, and they’re still amazing to play both in terms of look and feel, even 32 years after their initial release. How’s that for an achievement? Their fan base and modding community is still staggeringly huge. They spawned thousands of WAD mods and total conversions, and almost as much source ports and engine variations (FastDoom, GZDoom, Vanilla Doom, Crisp Doom, VoxelDoom, Unity Doom, PrBoom, Heretic Doom, …). How about this Castlevania: Simon’s Destiny total conversion for instance? And that’s just one example of that a modern iteration of the DOOM engine can do.

If you have never experienced DOOM before, what’s the best way to start? That answer is now very easy: with the new DOOM + DOOM II package that Microsoft/Bethesda and Nightdive Studios put together. It’s simply the best way to explore the original DOOM universe, as everything essential is there, wrapped in yet another engine rewrite, this time in Nightdive’s proprietary KEX Engine. The engine faithfully recreates the original 1993 resolutions if you want it to, but can also scale up to 4K and is capable of spawning hundreds of enemies without a single hiccup. I’ll leave the technical differences to this YouTube video that compares this 2024 re-release to the 2019 one created with the Unity engine:

The big improvement in draw distance is a giant boon for near-sighted slow responders like me. Suffice to say that the engine is good. And yes, it has gyro controls on consoles. But… if you’re on PC, I’d still go for GZDoom, as there are more graphical options to fiddle with and you can have your mouse look if you want to.

The engine is not the biggest draw. The biggest draw—besides a musical surprise we’ll get to in a minute—is the presence of all original canon DOOM content: the original two games, Master Levels for DOOM II, TNT: Evilution, The Plutonia Experiment, No Rest for the Living, SIGIL, SIGIL II (thanks to a recent patch), and Legacy of Rust. That’s a huge amount of content! The SIGIL maps are the community and Romero’s creations based on DOOM’s original cramped atmosphere (no super shotgun, what?), while Legacy of Rust is an entirely new creation in collaboration with Machine Games, just like the new episodes in the 2021 remaster of Quake.

And yes, Legacy of Rust is just as amazing as Dimensions of the Past. Well, perhaps a tiny notch less amazing, but still. The two episodes come with sprawling levels that each take up to 40 minutes to complete and feel huge even compared to DOOM II’s bigger maps. They have amazing set piece work with completely new textures. When playing those levels, you truly feel like descending down to the very core of hell—not only because the levels seamlessly flow into each other or because some of the horrifying scenes, but mostly because of the aggravating difficulty, up to the point of being sadistic (The Coiled City map, I’m looking at you). New enemies are out there to kill you, based on sprites that were originally created but never used, such as a shock trooper who’s line of sight is even more deadly than the chain gun trooper, and scary looking black winged demons hurling fire at you from great distances that of course do splash damage. And those guys are everywhere.

You can fight fire with fire though: the plasma gun has been replaced by a flamethrower which is also based on discarded official artwork, browsable at your own leisure in the main menu. While the flamethrower’s stun lock ability is your best bet against a horde of winged demons, it is also your fastest way to hell, as again more often than not splash damage will get you killed. The gigantic crossbow that replaces the BFG is much more fun to play with but can only be found in a few levels.

As for the level design in the new expansion, one the reasons I love the levels is not just because of the amazing set piece work, but because of the sheer colour variation they provide. Where the level design of the original DOOM feels like a cramped disconnected mess (often, but not always, in a good way), and that of DOOM II a bigger but grey-black mundane soup, Rust feels fresh. It might as well be an entirely different game. A very, very punishing one, that is. The first level of the first episode starts out innocent enough, but once you travel through that gate (literally, really cool!) and enter the second level, all bets are off—even at the lower difficulty settings.

Legacy of Rust’s original MIDI soundtrack done by well-known modder Xaser Acheron is jaw-dropping. It’s one of the best I’ve heard in years—listen for yourself: The Shores of Heaven (E1L2) or Cloudy With a Chance of Spider (E1L6). More good news on sound front: the DOOM + DOOM II collection also comes with a rearranged soundtrack by retro shooter metal master Andrew Hulshult. Only for the original first two games, though, but still: in the sound options, you can choose to hear his remixed metal guitar riffs that will be sure to get your blood pumping—or you can opt for the original MIDI synth by Bobby Prince. But wait, we’re not done yet: an FM synth option is also there, with an OPL2-like patchset (called “original”) or an OPL3-like (called “DMX”), for those like me who experienced the game in the early nineties on original Sound Blaster hardware.

For me, those sound options and that Legacy of Rust inclusion promotes this DOOM iteration to be one of the best re-releases, even though we have seen many of them come and go over the last 20 years. I have yet to try out Romero’s SIGIL map packs but considering they’re canon I’m sure it’ll be good. This collection will keep you happily firing off buckshots for hours and hours.

The discussion whether DOOM II is better than DOOM can be put to rest now. Why choose if you can have both in this neat package, that by the way is offered as a free upgrade if you already bought one of the original ones? I played the games alternating between the Nintendo Switch and PC version, and while I nowadays prefer GZDoom, DOOM + DOOM II is the definitive console version for yet another reason: you can now finally download and play player-made WAD files! Of course no the Switch these are pre-selected, but on other consoles, the floodgates are officially open thanks to BOOM source compatibility.

The game is available on GOG.com and currently on sale for $3.99. Legacy of Rust alone is worth more than $20. Go download that, fire up GZDoom, and happy demon killing! And I didn’t even mention online cross-play multiplayer support—including 16-player co-op!