Does Doom 64 have themes?

[hardcore_gamer]

Does Doom 64 really have themes like the original Doom? I ask because I find it a bit odd how you go straight to hell after only 8 tech base levels. Are there any themes the game goes for other than just tech base and then hell?

[Frisky]

Didn't Doom 64 have some old looking temple maps or something like that? I could just be thinking of something else, but I'm pretty sure it had those weird ancient temple maps.

[Jayextee]

Suppose you could say the 'hell' maps are split into mountainous skies and fire skies. Dunno what this makes one nor the other though.

[Deleted_Account]

Techbase, hell and it's variations --- you've got castles, outdoors, endless voids.

[Koko Ricky]

There are some old magazine scans that depict a very early version of Doom 64 with some Aztec-looking textures and something that architecturally resembles a ziggurat.

It is a bit odd that Doom 64 only has 8 techbase maps, but I would say the rest of the game seems to consist of maps that are themed around castles, temples, altars, dungeons, caverns and general "demonic spaces" that have an alchemic, occult, ritualistic atmosphere to them. I think in this regard Doom 64 handled hell quite a bit better than a lot of D1/D2's attempts. The architecture has a very meaningful, elegant look to it that's hard to describe...there's something about it that elicits a sense of purpose, as though there are intelligent demons, higher-ups that created these spaces, and populated them with the lower, dumber, minion types.

Oh yeah, and Maps like "In the Void" and to an extent "Watch Your Step" and "The Spiral"...those are some pretty twisted, bizarre levels that seemed aimed at being surreal nightmares more than anything else. Highly memorable.

[Face23785]

GoatLord said:

...the rest of the game seems to consist of maps that are themed around castles, temples, altars, dungeons, caverns and general "demonic spaces" that have an alchemic, occult, ritualistic atmosphere to them. I think in this regard Doom 64 handled hell quite a bit better than a lot of D1/D2's attempts. The architecture has a very meaningful, elegant look to it that's hard to describe...there's something about it that elicits a sense of purpose, as though there are intelligent demons, higher-ups that created these spaces, and populated them with the lower, dumber, minion types.

Agreed. The levels have an ancient, built long ago feel to them. Kind of like Hell got all their designs from a Middle Ages architect. Not completely unknown to a modern human but different enough that it feels foreign and menacing.

[PureSlime]

Doom 64 has a few levels that really fall into sort of a "Quake 1" set.

Altar of Pain, Blood Keep, Dark Citadel kind of fall under this.

But yeah unlike Doom 1 and Doom 2, outside of the separated base and hell levels, I don't think there's really distinct texture sets.

[Da Eediot]

GoatLord said:

There are some old magazine scans that depict a very early version of Doom 64 with some Aztec-looking textures and something that architecturally resembles a ziggurat.

It is a bit odd that Doom 64 only has 8 techbase maps, but I would say the rest of the game seems to consist of maps that are themed around castles, temples, altars, dungeons, caverns and general "demonic spaces" that have an alchemic, occult, ritualistic atmosphere to them. I think in this regard Doom 64 handled hell quite a bit better than a lot of D1/D2's attempts. The architecture has a very meaningful, elegant look to it that's hard to describe...there's something about it that elicits a sense of purpose, as though there are intelligent demons, higher-ups that created these spaces, and populated them with the lower, dumber, minion types.

Oh yeah, and Maps like "In the Void" and to an extent "Watch Your Step" and "The Spiral"...those are some pretty twisted, bizarre levels that seemed aimed at being surreal nightmares more than anything else. Highly memorable.

You seem to be pretty passionate about Doom 64.

[Darklordrobert]

I always kinda wished Doom 64 had a Shores of Hell-like episode inside a corrupted base, but I don't really know if that would work well with Doom 64's textures.

[EdwunclerIII]

I think that after the 8 tech-base levels and arriving in Hell you get deeper and deeper in Hell as you progress.

[Wild Dog]

PureSlime said:

Doom 64 has a few levels that really fall into sort of a "Quake 1" set.

Altar of Pain, Blood Keep, Dark Citadel kind of fall under this.

But yeah unlike Doom 1 and Doom 2, outside of the separated base and hell levels, I don't think there's really distinct texture sets.

When Doom 64 took a lot of inspiration from Quake 1, the Shotgun looks like the same from quake 1, the same can be said about the Super Shotgun. After all when they were working on Doom 64, Quake 1 was the Rage...

[jazzmaster9]

Wild Dog said:

When Doom 64 took a lot of inspiration from Quake 1, the Shotgun looks like the same from quake 1, the same can be said about the Super Shotgun. After all when they were working on Doom 64, Quake 1 was the Rage...

The design had Less to do with being influenced by Quake and more of Lack of memory space for the sprites.

If the weapons look like quake then its probably coincidental, they would added animations if they wanted to.

[VGamingJunkie]

To be fair, the Original Doom only had 8 tech levels (9 if you count the secret), the rest taking place in Deimos (In Hell), the surface of Hell, and on Earth.

[Koko Ricky]

A good chunk of E2 is still clearly set in UAC facilities.