The first level of Doom 1993—E1M1—is of course legendary for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons is because a whole, whole lot of people have played it over the years. Even more now that that new little collection of Doom and Doom 2 have released.
Now, a modder going by Bloodshot1 has released a cute little remake of E1M1 using Doom Eternal and its Pistol Restoration mod. Here’s a full playthrough by a YouTube channel:
Frankly… E1M1 holds up when you’re playing Doom—but ported into Doom Eternal’s modern graphics and engine and models it just looks kind of barebones and quaint. A very promising game design student’s first project with a boatload of assets from a free store—or something like it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a solid level design… but these days so much more bombast goes into the opening of a big, expensive, generation-defining game, whereas just 30 years ago the design preference was to ease you in with something simple.
The concept might be best-illustrated by how earlier this month Bethesda surprise-dropped that bundle of Doom and Doom 2 as a free update for enhanced edition owners. It had some really great stuff in it, like a beefed up engine, new music, and some really pleasing graphical updates and features.
More than anything was the new expansion, which served to highlight just how far game design has come in the last 30 years purely within the context of Doom.
“This is peak 2024 Doom, and one of this year’s best FPS campaigns to date,” said writer Dominic Tarason. “Where classic Doom could feel downright abstract even in its city or military environments, the maps here feel like they’re coherent places.”
Game design changes over time, but solid fundamentals like those in Doom or Tetris or what have you are going to stay fun no matter how advanced the rest of the field gets. PC Gamer explored the ideas earlier this year in a feature I’d encourage you to check out: Doom is eternal: The immeasurable impact of gaming’s greatest FPS.