Doom RPG is an oddball entry in id Software’s Doom series. It was originally released in 2005 for the mobile devices of the day—the pre-iPhone era, remember—and instead of being a straight-up shooter it incorporated a number of basic RPG elements. It did pretty well for itself too, earning high review scores and several mobile game awards, and spawning a sequel, entitled (of course) Doom 2 RPG.
It took 17 years for Doom RPG to finally come to PC by way of an unofficial fan port (opens in new tab), but fortunately the wait for the sequel hasn’t been quite as long—you can pick it up right now courtesy of Gec.Inc, the team that ported the original game.
Doom 2 RPG at last. Yes Doom 2 RPG finally on PC as promised years ago come true today. You can play it now, download link from Doomworld:https://t.co/afPq0BQ2J1 pic.twitter.com/PJXWR5ariBMay 7, 2023
“We really hope you enjoy this and long live Doom,” Gen.Inc tweeted. “Thank you very much and see you next time.”
In the finest tradition of fan-made PC ports, this one takes a little mucking around to get running. Detailed instructions and a download link are posted at Doomworld.com (opens in new tab) but the crash-course version is that you’ll also need to download and install OpenAL 1.1 Windows Installer, which you can get from openal.org (opens in new tab), and you’ll need the Doom 2 RPG.ipa file, that being the game’s original iOS archive. A copy of that file is available on the Internet Archive. Copy the .ipa file wherever you extracted DoomIIRPG.zip, then launch DoomIIRPG.exe, and you’re off to the races.
I took Doom 2 RPG for a quick spin myself, and it works quite well. The touchscreen controls of the original game translate quite smoothly to mouse and keyboard, although it’s a little bit counterintuitive at first: There are demons to be shot but Doom 2 RPG really is an RPG (more of a dungeon-crawler, I think) rather than a shooter. As Rich said about the Doom RPG port last year, it’s more of a curio than an essential gaming experience, but it’s also a wilfully silly and knowing take on a game widely famed for its blood, guts, and gore, and that makes it fun in its own right, too.
Naturally, now that the Doom RPG games are finished, eyes are slowly turning toward Wolfenstein RPG, which, yes, was also a thing (opens in new tab). Gec.Inc hasn’t yet commented on the likelihood of that happening, but the team did share an image of the Wolfenstein RPG menu, alongside the Doom and Doom 2 RPG menus. I’d say it’s a pretty good bet.
