John Romero to Release Free New Levels for Original DOOM

John Romero announced that his new Ireland-based firm will release a set of free new single-player and multiplayer maps for the original version of DOOM, the hit video game that kicked off the shooter craze that has continued unabated ever since.

“SIGIL is a free megawad for the original 1993 DOOM created by John Romero,” the Romero Games website notes, over-emphasizing his role in the game. “It contains nine single-player and nine deathmatch levels. The free megawad will be released in mid-February 2019 and requires players own the original 1993 registered version of DOOM in order to play. SIGIL is the spiritual successor to the fourth episode of DOOM, and picks up where the original left off.”

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Exciting news? You bet. It’s too bad that Romero couldn’t have made this in time for this past year’s 25th anniversary of the game. But if you’re feeling nostalgic, and don’t mind how badly Bethesda has screwed up DOOM’s legacy with the most recent remake, then you might also enjoy this retrospective video.

I also wish Romero wasn’t so ego bruised to not mention the other major contributor to the original DOOM, and the only reason that game was even possible, John Carmack. As I wrote a couple of years back

“Thanks to the programming genius of John Carmack and the stylized level design of John Romero (and others), Id’s games weren’t just impressive, they were amazing … Id followed up Wolf 3D with a succession of excellent games, but none were as influential as DOOM, which shipped in 1993 as a shareware title where you could literally send Id a check and they’d mail you the floppy disks of the full game. DOOM and its sequel DOOM II, and games like Heretic, Rise of the Triads, and Duke Nukem 3D dominated my free time in the mid-to-late 1990s. I used to gather with friends at work on nights and weekends so we could play DOOM (and later other games) in multiplayer mode. And then of course the Internet took off, Quake happened, and on we went.”

Ah well. I’m still looking forward to this.

 

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Conversation 14 comments

  • docpaul

    10 December, 2018 - 4:40 pm

    <p>I'm amazed how well that game has held up. Even now it's dang fun.</p>

  • dcdevito

    10 December, 2018 - 4:45 pm

    <p>1993 was my first year on a PC (my first computer was a Commodore 128), and I distinctly remember playing Doom and Wolfenstein nonstop ('94 realistically I believe). This is fantastic. Wow. </p>

  • JVarde

    10 December, 2018 - 5:16 pm

    <p>How am I supposed to prove that I bought Doom in 1993? Do i have to find a 25 year-old computer to use the new maps?</p>

    • spacein_vader

      Premium Member
      11 December, 2018 - 1:16 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#380630">In reply to JVarde:</a></em></blockquote><p>If you can't then many places still sell it for about the price of a beer. Both GOG and Are will sell you a copy for example.</p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      11 December, 2018 - 9:47 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#380630">In reply to JVarde:</a></em></blockquote><p>Use Doomsday, previously known as jdoom.</p>

  • fbman

    11 December, 2018 - 12:00 am

    <p>Wolfenstien 3D was the original shooter, it came out a year before Doom.</p><p><br></p><p>Doom just took it to the next level</p>

    • waethorn

      11 December, 2018 - 1:14 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#380682">In reply to fbman:</a></em></blockquote><p>Catacomb 3D was first.</p>

  • siv

    11 December, 2018 - 4:32 am

    <p>I remember the floppy thing. I also got the level editors and started building my own levels, never as good as the ID ones but kept me quiet for a few hours. I found the constant wandering along the walls pressing space to try and find the hidden doors very tedious.</p>

  • madthinus

    Premium Member
    11 December, 2018 - 9:04 am

    <p>I love Doom and I celebrated it last night with an hour on the Xbox One X running Doom arcade. Found a new secret for me as well 😉 </p><p><br></p><p>I know Paul hated Doom (2016), but I really liked it. It reminded me alot about Quake 3 Arena and I played that game to pieces in the single payer mode with bots. I am terrible at it online, but I had hours of fun with it. Doom 2016 brings that type of arena style shooting to Doom, it is fast and dumb, but it ticks my boxes for a shooter, it lets me move and shoot. I am not stitting through a script, not listing to endless dialogs, it pulls no punches and the story is as thin as the original. I love that about it. Also, is there another company that makes weapons so great as id? Anyway, my two best games for 2016 was Titanfall 2, great single player game, fun shooter, and then Doom 2016. Because you know what, shooting demons and not having to worry about stupid story is great. Better if you can do it with a chainsaw. </p>

  • jules75

    11 December, 2018 - 9:14 am

    <p>No chance this will become available on the Xbox version of original Doom! I loved playing the original Doom 1 and 2 on Xbox – a game that still get your heart racing even after all this time.</p>

  • Patrick3D

    11 December, 2018 - 11:52 am

    <p>I tried playing Doom (2016) on an Xbox One X over the Thanksgiving holiday, it looks and runs great but it controls terribly. The analog sticks on the Xbox One controller are too loose for this game. When it first came out I played through it on PS4 without issue. I have yet to try it on PC, but with an Xbox 360 controller I would expect it to be excellent there as well. </p><p><br></p><p>For some background on Romero, check out the NoClip interview of him on Youtube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&amp;v=AJqWA3UPsPg&quot; target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&amp;v=AJqWA3UPsPg</a></p&gt;

    • prjman

      11 December, 2018 - 10:41 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#380825">In reply to Patrick3D:</a></em></blockquote><p>Try it on a computer. Some games are meant to play on PC, and twitch shooters like the recent Doom are one of them.</p><p><br></p>

  • ianhead

    11 December, 2018 - 5:45 pm

    <p>'“SIGIL is a free megawad for the original 1993 DOOM created by John Romero,” the Romero Games website notes, over-emphasizing his role in the game.'</p><p><br></p><p>I think John is referring to the fact that he created the megawad, not that he created Doom.</p>

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