The Doom3 Timeline Fits Well with Doom'16

I’m playing through Doom3 again after completing Doom’16, and being a huge worldbuilding nerd, I went to the Doom wiki and read through the timelines again, and I noticed they line up better than I originally thought. At first, it seemed like a stretch, but it looks like Id either intentionally or accidentally kept things somewhat consistent.
Some key points:

1) Some things make more sense in Doom3 and Doom’16 when read in reference to each other. I’ll explain this with notes in the timeline.

2) Despite what I remembered, Mars in Doom3 is shown as partially terraformed. In Doom3 the Marine is shown walking around in the Martian atmosphere with little more than an O2 mask. This is only possible if the planet is terraformed. In Doom’16, there seems to be more oxygen based on all the fires, but the differences between the Mars of Doom3 and Doom’16 aren’t as great as I thought.

3) The Argent Tower complex could be very far away from Mars City, so the invasion and destruction of Mars City wouldn’t necessarily impact the Argent facility. Moreover, the events of Doom3 help explain the lack of other large population centers on Mars during the events of Doom’16.

4) The differences in creature design is a non-issue, since Doom’16 implies there are a variety of different types of imps (reg. imps, summoners etc.), and classes of Hell Knights (Hell Barons etc.), with pinkies being “animals” of Hell. Some of the designs are the same anyway (e.g Hell Knights).


THE TIMELINE

-Unknown Time in the Universe’s Past

Malevolent beings capable of stealing and exploiting the souls of sentient creatures are imprisoned in a parallel universe that will later come to be known as Hell.

2 Million B.C.

An advanced race of beings the Demons refer to as the Seraphim uplift a human civilization that later colonizes Mars. Little is known about them today except they had advanced technology and social stratification of some kind.

(Here, I’m assuming the Seraphim were actually aliens/Martians. This is an attempt to explain why the Doom Slayer, the Night Sentinels, and the Martians are basically human in appearance.)

~200,000 B.C.

Anatomically modern humans evolve in Africa


<40,000 B.C. - The First Age of Ascension

(The following is a combination of the backstory presented in Doom3 and Doom’16. They line up well. This is based on the fact that the first age involves a great battle, an Armageddon, the defeat of a Great Serpent by the “Guardian” etc. This sounds very similar to the history of the Martians in Doom3. There is also mention of the Doom Slayer absorbing the souls of his enemies, which sounds like the Soul Cube.)

The Martians begin experimenting with wormhole technology that allows them to travel instantly between worlds. They use the portals to freely travel between Mars, Argent (a major energy source), and Earth. The technology inadvertently opens a gateway to Hell, resulting in a demonic invasion of Mars. A war between the Martians and Hell begins

The martians greatest warrior, the Guardian, who the Demons would come to know as the Doom Slayer, leads the battle against the Demons. Equipped with the Soul Cube, which allows him to absorb the souls of fallen demons, and the Praetor suit, a virtually indestructible armor plated with adamantine materials forged in the fires of Hell, the Guardian decimates the demonic forces.

The Guardian defeats the Great Serpent and destroys the greatest demon beast, a gigantic Titan, and routes the armies of Hell. Unsatiated with the destruction of the Great Serpent and the Titan, the Doom Slayer assaults the Blood Keep, where the Demon Priests ambush him, toppling the tower onto him. The priests then sealed the Doom Slayer in a stone sarcophagus where he would remain forever unless freed.

To honor him, the Martian survivors build a tomb on Mars, filling it with warnings of Hell, and erect statues of the Doom Slayer on Mars and Argent.

(Doom3 never explains exactly how the “Hero” persished. Here I’m assuming the tomb is symbolic and he was actually lost in Hell. See notes about the statues later in the timeline.)

With most of the Martians having been sacrificed to power the Soul Cube, their civilization was destroyed and Mars is once again rendered inhospitable. Some of the survivors travel to Earth, where they influence human language and mythology. Others survive on Argent D’Nur, a distant colony world once connected to Mars via a portal.

(The Doom’16 Codex plainly states that the people of Argent colonized their world, they weren’t native. The native “race” was the Wraiths, a rather monstrous species shown on their backs, chests cut open, at the end of Doom’16. Moreover, this explains why The Well connects to a "fracture" on the Martian surface. It may be a remnant of a portal between Mars and Argent D'Nur.)

On Argent, the monstrous “elemental” race of alien creatures known as the Wraiths, which were native to the world, are harnessed for their energy. Unfortunately, the energy of the Wraiths attracts the forces of Hell, as it has the power to create dimensional fractures in space and time. The Night Sentinels, empowered by the Wraiths, are able to defeat Hell’s attempts at invasion.

Deag Grav and the other demon priests devise a plan to overthrow the Argent D’Nur. Deag Grav tricks a Night Sentinel, grieving over loss of his son who was lost in battle, into betraying the Wraiths. Led to their lair by the Betrayer, the demons ambush the Wraiths. The demons pull the Wraith’s hearts from their bodies to form The Well, which produces a fracture in spacetime between Argent D’Nur and the ancestral homes of the Night Sentinel’s: Mars and Earth.

Middle Ages

A war is waged between Argent and Hell. At one point during the War, a portal is opened that connects Iron Age Europe to the Titan Realm of Hell. The Night Sentinels succeed in closing it but not before an Earth city is pulled into Hell. The interaction with the people of Earth influences myths of Hell and angels.
(This is based on three things: The Titan Realm level shows the skeletons and armor of medieval warriors in Hell (as well as medieval architecture), the armor of the Night Sentinels looks like medieval armor, and the codex states that some of the architecture in Hell looks similar to ancient architecture on Earth.)
As a final blow to Argent, Deag Grav resurrects the fallen son of the Betrayer as the Icon of Sin, the Demon Spitter. Faced with an endless wave of demons, the Night Sentinels are finally defeated, the people of Argent are turned into the Unwilling, and the world of Argent is fractured and assimilated into the Inferno.
21st Century

2019

Samuel Hayden is born.

2095

The Argent Fracture is discovered in a trench on Mars by an expedition from the SS Amundsen.

October 29 - Construction of Phase One, Alpha Labs and terraforming stations begin on Mars

(It’s interesting that both games have the first Martian outposts established at basically the same time.)

2096

The Union Aerospace Corporation establishes an outpost on Mars to extract plasma from the Argent Fracture.

2104

The explorations of the caverns in 2104 leads to the discovery of ancient artifact code-named U1, the Soul Cube, along with stone tablets written by the ancient Martian civilization depicting a humanoid warrior using the cube in battle against monsters.

(The Praetor suit sculpture is code-named U9, as if it were taken from the same site, and resembles the warrior on one of the tomb's tablets.)

2115

Martian Civilization is first discovered

2120

Construction of Mars City begins.

2122

March 10 - A statue of the Praetor Suit, codenamed U9, is excavated.

2124

November 16 - Two Ancient Sentinel statues are excavated (Artifact J46).

(The dates under these statues are before the first explorations of Hell in Doom’16 and before the first portals are built in Doom3. Moreover, the Soul Cube code is U1, and the Praetor suit code is U9. This could just be a mistake on Id’s part, or the writing team could have been imply some connection.)

2127 - The Argent Tower is completed. 6 months later, Samuel Hayden transfers his mind over to a cyborg to continue his existence, after his body breaks down due to Stage 4 Cancer.

2130

July 17 - The Alpha Labs are completed

2136

The Advanced Research Complex is completed.

2139

Project Mercury, is built in Delta Labs, and became operational.

2143

During one of the first teleporter explorations, the Corrax tablets are retrieved from Hell in a UAC Automated Survey.
(The Advanced Research Complex of Doom’16 and the portal experiments of Doom3 take place within 3 years of each other. Artifacts and demon remains are retrieved shortly after in both timelines)

2144

January 1 - Research on a partial Imp remains.
February 5 - Hellknight (partial) research.

July 28

Series 3 Plasma Gun information video is released.
November 2 - Research on the Living Dead.

2145

The first Project Lazarus Manned Expedition is sent to Hell. The expedition ends with complete loss of human life, but achieved its mission. The sarcophagus of the Doom Marine is recovered from Kadingir Sanctum.

July 12 - Research on the Imp

September 27 - Revenant research

October 5 - Specimen Stasis Museum video is produced, Soul Cube video is produced. Tablets video is produced.

October 10 - BFG 9000 Briefing video is produced.

October 13 - The first incident occurred on October 13th, 2145 at the Exis surface tunnel. One of the construction workers, Bill Sanders, was unloading a shipment of steel supports when a procurement manager stopped him. In the heated conversation that followed, Sanders grabbed a nearby pickaxe and lunged at the manager. Luckily the argument beforehand generated a sizable crowd, and when Sanders attacked the manager, a number of men were able to subdue him.

Jenny Lin broke into a supply cabinet containing emergency weaponry supplied to the local security teams. For reasons unknown she then became hostile and killed two security officers. Another security officer was injured while bravely putting himself in harms way. Technician Lin was also killed.

November 15 - A marine corporal arrives on Mars on Transport 4409 at 6:18 MC, he was transferred as punishment for assaulting a superior officer for ordering his soldiers to fire upon civilians, and to replace another soldier. The commanding officer and his body cast were shipped to Pearl Harbor, while the Marine were transferred to Mars, home of the Union Aerospace Corporation. .

+6 hours post invasion: An experiment in the Delta Labs triggers an unknown event, resulting in a demonic invasion of the entire facility. Marine forces are deployed to hotspots around the facility, with many teams encountering heavy resistance. Bravo Team was ambushed in EnPro facility while searching for survivors. There was only one survivor of the team.

November 20, 2145 - The Recon Zulu marine team found only one survivor, a Marine Corporal. Important UAC personnel such the company's lawyer and counselor Elliot Swann and his bodyguard Jack Campbell, who arrived hours before the outbreak to make an assessment of the whole Mars operation and enact damage control if necessary, were found dead. Master Sergeant Thomas Kelly and other Delta Labs scientists were also found dead. The marine team had no information regarding the fate of Dr. Malcolm Betruger, the chief scientist of Delta Labs who - unknown to them - had become the demon Maledict.

(This would be the first portal opening. Note this follows a similar pattern to what happened to Olivia Pierce: Betruger, a brilliant scientists, was assimilated as a demon and became one of their leaders.)

2146

May 1 - An orbital probe detects a faint unidentified signal broadcast from the abandoned Site 1 Complex.

August 6 - Mars mission Goals & Safety video is produced.

August 8 - The UAC announces the renewal of its Mars research program. Dr. Elizabeth McNeil is chosen to lead the primary assessment team.

(This shows that the UAC didn’t abandon its research even after the destruction of Mars City. In events of Doom’16, they become a cult.)

Industrial accident related deaths in the Foundry drop significantly thanks to new UAC safety protocols where employees exposed to dangerous materials are sent to the Lazarus Labs. The first Project Lazarus Tethering Operation is conducted. Pinkies are discovered for the first time.

September 12 - Elizabeth McNeil welcomes personnel to the Site 1 Expedition.

2147

A Marine Combat Engineer is sent to investigate Martian ruins, where he discovers an ancient artifact that reopens the original Martial Hell Portal. He fights his way to the Delta Labs where he enters Hell to combat the Maledict. He succeeds in his mission and the Martian portal is sealed once again.
(This would be the secoind portal opening.)

2148

The second Project Lazarus Tethering Operation is on the Great Steppe. The expedition ends in a confrontation with the Hell Guard, resulting in similar losses to the first expedition. The petrified remains of a Baalgar demon is recovered.

2149

Olivia Pierce and her cult trigger a hell wave and releases captive demons into the Argent outpost facilities, killing virtually all staff. The wave awakens the Doom Slayer, who battles his way through the demonic forces. Using an argent Accumulator, Olivia Pierce opens a massive portal to Hell over the Argent Tower, allowing for the mass invasion of Mars. The Doom Slayer fights his way through Hell back to his homeland, Argent D’Nur, now assimilated into Hell, where he frees the Wraiths, destroying the Well. Afterwards, he finds Olivia who is absorbed by a spider demon, which the Doom Slayer quickly destroys. Samuel Hayden uses to the tether to pull the Doom Slayer from Hell, but takes the Crucible Sword from him and leaves him trapped in the Vega facility on the Martian ice cap.

This would be the third and largest portal opening.)

Timeline Source: http://doomwiki.org/wiki/Doom_Timeline

Q: How does Africa come into all this?

Anyways, it seems any timeline (Final Doom, Doom 64, Doom 3, Classic Doom etc) can be shaped into Doom 2016's timeline and still make some sense. The lack very personal, precise and right-to-the-point information seems to contribute this, like Classic Doom's story.

I think it's simply a matter of what we believe to be canon. Some say the Doomslayer is Doomguy from Doom 64, which in turn was a sequel of the sorts to Doom 2. Some say he's unrelated to Doomguy, serving as that Martian who used the Soul Cube a long time ago. Everything's too cloudy to come to a standstill. Heck, I'm sure some even believe that Doomslayer is a descendant of B.J. Blazckowitz, given how similar his face looks (of course different people may not see any similarity).

I still believe that Doomslayer is the Doomguy after having spent eons in an unknown world (simultaneously kicking Hell's ass) after the ending of Doom 64. Those eons could be the Ages.

IDK, it's my opinion.

"Q: How does Africa come into all this?"

It's where our species, H. sapiens, evolved. The Night Sentinels and the Martian "Hero" on the tablet, who may be the same basic character as the Doom Slayer, is clearly human in appearance. So the Night Sentinels, who were colonists on Argent, must have emerged less than 200 to 100 thousand years ago. It's analogous to the first civilization in the Halo universe which existed over 100 thousand years ago.

I also noticed ammo pouches on the belts of the Night Sentinels, both the statues and their "ghosts" that appear after fighting the guardians. Furthermore, the end credits show them with high-tech armor. Conclusion: They used guns and high tech swords, which explains why the Doom Slayer was called the "Doom Marine" by researchers, and why he had an "affinity", as Hayden put it, for guns.

Other armor related issues: It looks like the UAC was trying to reverse engineer his suit, using it as a prototype of sorts, which explains all the logos and numbers. Maybe they were trying to make it look like they developed it themselves, for their shareholders? It also explains why the elite guards have "praetor chips".

If the Doom Slayer's suit were UAC in origin, it raises the question as to why the UAC didn't realize it was something they made in the past. You're also left wondering how everyone forgot about an invasion of Earth that killed billions of people. The only way I could see the events of the original games fitting into what I have in the OP is if Recon Zulu Team went to Phobos immediately after the events of Doom3, with the Marine coming out of Hell five years in the future on Earth after the events of Doom'16. But he would still be a different character than the Doom Slayer.

No, it doesn't. Id software itself claimed the new Doom game would have a story based on Classic Dooms (1993-1997) and Doom 3.

My point was they don't blatantly contradict each other, either by accident or design. They line up so well, right down to when Mars is first colonized and Hell is first explored, the fact that the Praetor suit's code is U9 and the Soul Cube is U1, and several other details, I have to conclude they were clearly referencing the world established in Doom3, albeit loosely.

One of my favorite examples is that in Doom3, there are two companies, Mixom and Moxim, who were engaged in a lawsuit. You can see their logos on various objects in the background. 4 years later in Doom'16, it's Mixxom, as if the companies merged following the lawsuit. You don't get details like that unless the art team is paying attention to what they did in the previous game.

And of course, the image of the Doom Slayer on the parchment in Hayden's office is very similar to the image of the Martian Hero on the tablet of Doom3.

These are some interesting connections. Thanks for the detailed summary!

@SimKoning, I did notice that before about mixom, U9 and the other stuff, someone correct me if I am wrong but I think I was the first who thought Doom Slayer was inspired from the Doom 3's tablet and that he belonged to an ancient Martian civilization, but now I don't mind who was the first. You have many points that seems make sense but the Doom 3's event weren't mentioned in this new game. A question, why the hell does Elliot Swann tell us that the Demons had taken over Earth in the dawn of time?

Doom 3 and Doom 2016 have nothing to do with each other. Doom 3's visual design is completely different for starters. In Doom 3 hell actually looks and behaves like you would expect hell to, while in Doom 2016 the demons look more like wacky aliens.

Doom 2016 is a reboot period.

I agree

One thing to note is the similarity between the names of the Praetor suit and (according to the Doom Wiki) the Soul Cube refering to "we" as the "Praeleanthor".

hardcore_gamer said:

Doom 3 and Doom 2016 have nothing to do with each other. Doom 3's visual design is completely different for starters. In Doom 3 hell actually looks and behaves like you would expect hell to, while in Doom 2016 the demons look more like wacky aliens.

Doom 2016 is a reboot period.

Well, like OP said, nothing is directly contradictory, meaning most "connection" theories are actually pretty valid. ID isn't going to come out and say "There are 2/3 different universes and they aren't connected" most likely, so it's just in good fun to try and make sense of the whole plot.

My thoughts? Simple:

• Doom 1, 2, and 64 involve the Doom Slayer/Doom Guy fighting demons tens of thousands of years in the past, finally ending up in Hell, fighting demons for thousands of years. Meanwhile, everyone else in DG's world is dead, and prehistoric life on Earth takes over. Either he kills most of the demons, or is somehow captured and takes a nap in a box.
  
• Time passes, people evolve on Earth, and later Doom 3 takes place in our (as in, me and you guys on the forums and such) future, while the Doom Slayer is either napping in his coffin or kicking demon ass somewhere else in Hell that we don't get to see. The Soul Cube is from Doom Guy's time and society. Yes, the UAC having the same name is a coincidence.
  
• Doom 4 takes place a couple more thousand years in our future, and DG/DS wakes up from his nap to kill more demons. That's why technology is insanely ridiculous, and people are down with the devil.
  

@SimKoning: Thank you very much for your work! Thats a really impressive summary.

I don't think the connections between Doom 3 and Doom 2016 are a coincidence. Why? Although Doom 2016 has been described as a reboot it's the project after the cancelled Doom 4 which was the "Doom 2: Hell on Earth" for Doom 3.

I suppose the development team reused as much work as possible, including assets, animations and the lore. Thanks to the recent noclip documentary we've seen the reuse of Doom 4 content already in various cases, e. g. glory kills, demon design, weapons, animations. Since Doom 4s lore was based on Doom 3s it's likely Doom 2016 still has many connections. I'm not sure whether these connections intentional or not but they exist.

It was said in Doom RPG page: "you reprise the role of the Doom marine made famous by the groundbreaking games Doom 1, Doom 2 and Doom 3" there is an article about this in Wolfenstein and Doom wikia.

It blows my mind how stubborn people are to accept that Doom 4 is just a reboot and has nothing to do with the earlier games. There are loads of blatant problems with claiming Doom 4 is a sequel:

-The fact that the cyberdemons and revenants in Doom 4 are claimed by the lore to have been created by the UAC. Obviously this makes it impossible for Doom 4 to be a sequel since these monsters also existed in the earlier games.

-Ditto when it comes to the plasma rifle and BFG. Both weapons are treated as new inventions in the game even though they appeared in the earlier games. The lore in regards to how these weapons were created is different as well.

-Hell is NOTHING like the one from Doom 3. In Doom 3 hell is this super dark place that is pretty much made out of nightmare fuel, where as in Doom 4 it's basically just a slightly disturbing alien desert. The demons also aren't very scary either compared to Doom 3. This isn't possible to explain by shouting "variety". It's not just that the demons in Doom 4 look different from the ones in Doom 3, it's that literally everything about hell has a completely different feel to it. The soulcube is just an easter egg.

-The fact that Doom 3 is officially a remake of Doom 1.

-The fact that the marine from Doom 4 is connected with these ancient alien warriors even though they are never mentioned even once in Doom 64.

You said it, this new game is just a reboot and that's all. The second reboot to be exact.

On the subject of Doom 2016 being a (second) reboot:

http://venturebeat.com/2016/07/02/how-doom-tells-players-part-of-the-story-and-leaves-them-guessing/

Various details of Doom2016guy were left deliberately vague for good reason, mainly to leave everything open to interpretation. If Doom 2016 were strictly a reboot and nothing else, everything would have been told to the player from the get-go, and you would have a complete picture of who the Doomslayer is by the end of the game. If anything, this is pretty much a similar situation as The Force Awakens: where some things are introduced, most of the true story is shrouded in mystique, possibly for a future installment.

On the subject of Doom 3 and Doom 2016 sharing a timeline:

While some of the years and events taking place between them do add up, I can't help but feel this argument ultimately doesn't seem to hold any weight. This is mainly because Doom 3 and Doom 2016 have extremely different art styles and demon origins. Doom 3 has more of an organic look to it in terms of art style, and the demons are designed to be as scary as possible, whereas Doom 2016 has more of a comic book look to its art style, and the demons are designed to look as badass as possible.

That being said, I noticed that the OP has posted this exact same theory on Reddit, with this to add just before the proposed timeline. He even quotes the article I just posted above.

This article got me back to thinking about the competing theories about the origin of the Marine in Doom’16. A while back, I posted something that - I think - shows that the timelines of Doom3 and Doom’16 line up suspiciously well. That timeline did not show the original Doomguy as being the Doom Slayer… but many fans love that idea, and Martin’s comments in the linked article now have me wondering.

So what if he is the original Doomguy? If so, then why are there ruined statues of him on Argent D’Nur? The Icon of Sin destroyed Argent D’Nur in the distant past, but the original Doomguy destroyed the Icon of Sin in the 22nd Century. In Doom64 he entered and stayed in Hell after he destroyed Baphomet (the Icon of Sin).

Those serial numbers, codes, the Doom Marine’s familiarity with modern computer interfaces, security systems etc. still bug me. How does an alien immediately know to pump a shotgun and pull a cord on a chainsaw? If those UAC logos and serial numbers were added after he was excavated, why are some of them partially worn off? Why would the UAC put the the same sort of serial codes on his armor that can be seen on mass-produced weapons and items in the background? He has the same markings as UAC assault rifles! Even if they were passing it off as a prototype they made, why did they try to make it look like it came off an assembly line?

Why the hell is the original Doom Marine on Mars, fighting for Martian aliens, thousands of years ago? This is literally the exact image of the original Doomguy:



Well, there is a somewhat crazy but oddly “plausible” solution built into the game’s universe: faster-than-light teleportation. Those of you with a basic understanding of physics already know that FTL of the sort shown in Doom is equivalent to time travel. A portal like the one used by the UAC could allow for travel between two points in space and time. The fourth dimension is time, and in the game, Hell is described as residing in higher-dimensional space.

Plus, you have to keep in mind that in every Doom game (especially Doom 3), Hell is often described and depicted as not just another planet, but another dimension entirely. This argument is strengthened with Doom 2016, where the Unwilling zombies are explicitly stated to be from other civilizations only to be zombified in Hell, and of course you have the big red flashing target that is Argent D'Nur, which has been absorbed into Hell, showing that Hell is not just any dimension, but a truly infinite dimension consisting of pure chaos that will engulf any world it comes across.

Again, specific details of Doom 2016's story have been left deliberately vague and open to interpretation, which heavily implies that there is much more to the story than just "it's a 100% reboot, now shut up."

To further defend my points, "history repeats itself". Hence the reuse of the UAC, cyberdemon, PG, etc.

They're reinvented or redone each time because the doom games work in cycles I guess. Why not? It's a fun theory.

Fuck it, all the Doom games exist in a different universe, linked by Hell and the Doomguy lol.

Also, about Hell in Doom 3; it's the only horror themed game, except for some of D64. Of course they're going to make Hell scarier. Not a hard concept to grasp, it even had different art styles altogether.

Let people have their goofy theories. A lack of explanation isn't evidence of no connection. These games were made decades apart, of course there will be discrepancies.

Well, the Doom wiki claims this is a reboot. I know that about leaving everything to open interpretation, so Doom 2 is the direct sequel to Doom 3. Doom 3's timeline simply doesn't fit in Doom 2016 but I think SimKoning and somebody else can have its own theory. The soul cube, the Martian tablets, the discovering of Hell, whatever, is just a refence, why? because we were there once, as the true Doom Marine and the sarcophagus where we start is our resurrection.
Kind of contradicting myself, classic Doomguy is William J. Blazkowicz to me, even I don't want to think Wolfentein events have something to do with Doom events though.

Sick Bow said:

To further defend my points, "history repeats itself". Hence the reuse of the UAC, cyberdemon, PG, etc.

They're reinvented or redone each time because the doom games work in cycles I guess. Why not? It's a fun theory.

Fuck it, all the Doom games exist in a different universe, linked by Hell and the Doomguy lol.

Also, about Hell in Doom 3; it's the only horror themed game, except for some of D64. Of course they're going to make Hell scarier. Not a hard concept to grasp, it even had different art styles altogether.

Let people have their goofy theories. A lack of explanation isn't evidence of no connection. These games were made decades apart, of course there will be discrepancies.

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/731/143/3e3.jpg

I completely agree. Your own theories aren't far off from my own, and I also previously noticed some of the things you brought up, like the same artifact classification system being in use between the Doom 3 and Doom 2016 UACs.

Before I continue, everyone on here should keep in mind that the developers themselves say there is no right answer right now, that they don't want to say what's really going on, and that they love what the fans are coming up with. I'm working on my own science fiction project, but this is a fun break from what I usually work on, which is hard science fiction devoid of supernatural elements. The idea that they could incorporate some of these ideas makes this surprisingly fun.

Regarding the the "reboot" comments, there are different types of reboots: soft reboots and hard reboots. The first iteration of Doom4 was a soft reboot, a game that isn't obviously connected to Doom3 but is still set in the same universe. Doom'16 was said to be a reboot, but the developers are also leaving the origins of the protagonist vague and are not confirming or denying connections to the other games. I think it would be absolutely brilliant if they pulled their entire intellectual property together into a single, cohesive universe. It would elevate their IP to something comparable to Aliens or Mass Effect in terms of depth.

@Hardcore_Gamer:

1) The portal research in Doom3 and Doom'16 start at about the same time, and both games have a lead scientist working directly with the Demons. It's implied or directly stated in all the games that Hell acquired the technology for its cyberdemons from the UAC (they otherwise live in a "Medieval" style world - just look around in Hell.)

2) http://doomwiki.org/wiki/Codex/Weapons The actual codex entries say there were other BFG prototypes. Only the "final" version of the weapon was housed at the ARC facility. The only potential problem is the suffix "9000", but the one in Doom3 works very similarly and may be a slightly older prototype of the same model. The situation is basically the same with the plasma rifle, which is described as being based on technology that goes back to the early 21st Century.

Weapon and other design differences could be explained by the fact that the Elite UAC Guards at the Argent facility had access to more advanced equipment, whereas the marines at Mars City had standard issue Marine equipment and armor.

3) I think you're overstating the differences between the depictions of Hell. More importantly, the "realms" shown in Doom'16 are assimilated worlds, like what happened to the Deimos base and parts of Earth in the original games. The final level is actually Argent D'Nur - You can even see a moon in the sky, as if an entire planet was assimilated. Doom3 seems to be somewhere "deeper" ... and worse.

I don't really get your point about the monsters; some of the designs are identical, and some, like the Summoner, are just as disturbing, if not more so, than many of the Doom3 designs. The Hell Knights are the same design, and the Hell Razers look like beefed-up, armored Imps from Doom3 (the codex even suggests they're related to Imps, along with the Summoners).

-Where I do agree is that the events of Doom1, Doom2, and Doom64 would have to take place *after* the events of Doom3 and Doom'16 if Id were to throw them in as part of the same continuity. For the Doom Slayer to be the original Doomguy, time travel would have to be involved, which is something I played around with in the other timeline I worked out on Reddit - that one was different than the one in the OP because it incorporates all the games like some fans want. It was an attempt to do so without blatant contradictions.

For people who don't want to read it - the Tl;DR is:

Doom Marine fights the demons with the Soul Cube for the Martians and gets trapped in Hell.

Doom Marine later becomes the leader of the Night Sentinels, who were uplifted by the Martians (which is why Argent is connected to Mars through Hell). Another war is fought and eventually lost. The Doom Slayer is trapped in the Blood Keep.

The UAC establishes a base on Mars and begins experimenting with portal technology.

2145 The Doom Marine is recovered from Hell in a stone sarcophagus, where he remains until 2149.

2145: The events of Doom3 take place and Mars City is destroyed. A Marine Cpl. is the soul survivor and is rescued by Recon Zulu.

A distress signal is received from Phobos and Recon Zulu responds along with the Marine Cpl who is left guarding the perimeter o fthe facility.. Recon Zulu is wiped out. The events of Doom1 take place.

[It's worth noting that Doom1 takes place on Phobos, Deimos, and in Hell, but the Doom2 manual says he stopped an invasion on Mars. This is a continuity error unless we assume Doom3 was a prequel to Doom1.]

2149 - the Doom Slayer wakes up - the events of Doom'16 take place.

2150's - Due to events likely involving the Crucible, a portal is opened on Earth.

The Marine Cpl. arrives on Earth five years in the future to find it in ruins, billions are dead. The events of Doom II take place

The events of Final Doom take place.

The events of Doom64 take place. The Doom Marine remains in Hell forever to fight the demon hoards.

Prehistory. The Marine exits through a portal on Mars and encounters an alien civilization engaged in war with Hell. He stops the invasion and eventually becomes known as the Doom slayer

The idea here being he really did choose the path of perpetual torment and is looping through time.

This could be used to explain why his armor looks, and is marked like, armor made by the UAC in the future relative to Doom3 and Doom'16 - he's wearing Marine armor from the 2150's or 2160's... head explodes.

See the Reddit post for a more detailed explanation: https://www.reddit.com/r/Doom/comments/5nl7oo/perpetual_torment_doomguy_timeloop/

Averagewalrus24 said:

The devs also had called this game a "reboot" in some of those pre-release interviews. But in something that was linked here (I'm too lazy to go look for it) the dev(s) were talking about how they love reading theories about all the games, and that there is no correct answer as of now. So can we leave it at you have your idea, and we have ours. :P

I agree you now! I read that article a little bit, and noticed that the devs said what Man of Doom and you posted on here. Man I didn't know this article existed, maybe I missed it. I had shared some theories in other threads.

I revised the section on the origin and nature of the Martians. I played through Doom3 again and was reminded that the Martians, like the Night Sentinels, were basically human.

Touchdown said:

I don't think anyone has mentioned this, Martian hero from DOOM3 battles demons with a Soul Cube, carved on the stone block at the start of the final level:

http://i.imgur.com/WKv2qBmh.jpg

Where did you find that? well, that's possibly a connection as I was thinking before.

SimKoning said:

I revised the section on the origin and nature of the Martians. I played through Doom3 again and was reminded that the Martians, like the Night Sentinels, were basically human.

There's a scientist in Site 3 level that confirmed this in an audio log.

Yeah, I haven't played it in a long time, and may have missed it the first time through. The soul cube looks like it has four, closed eyes, but underneath that pattern, is a clearly humanoid face. It looks like a human face in the mouth of something more alien - not sure if the artist who designed it was trying the communicate something with that, but at least the bulk of the Martian population consisted of humans, much like Argent D'Nur.

Piper Maru said:

Holy crap... I'm starting to think I'm actually right here, and Id has a stronger connection between Doom3 and Doom16 than fans realize.

Some people here have considered the fourth episode as another/alternate dimension. What if Argent D'Nur was based off from the fourth episode of The Ultimate Doom? Have a look at it.