VanillaExtract

I honestly have to say Quake Champions Doomguy in a sense. After seeing multiple images awkwardly trying to portray Doomguy's head in 3d over the years, I had all but lost hope anyone could do it properly. QC, however, surprised and delighted me by presenting the perfect model to bring Doomguy's classic mug into the polygonal age, even adding a few aging details that seemed earned in light of Doom's extensive history. I honestly buy that he's the same Doomguy from 1 and 2 and will be completely disappointed if this model, or one very similar, isn't what's used for whatever face reveal may be planned for Eternal. The Doomguy HUD image will always be classic, but the model made for QC brought it to life.

It's probably not worth the bump, but this thread got me thinking. One of the mechanics I've felt Doom was lacking in was its melee. Having to clear a room with berserk is exhilarating and the chainsaw is fun for its true use of anti-pinky. Much like the other weapons in the game, the balance of melee is the fist's one-shot design and the chainsaw is like a rapid fire melee weapon. As per Doom's pattern of giving you a weak one-shot and rapid-fire, then a powerful one-shot and rapid-fire, I think the pistol may be better used for a 3rd melee slot, as a more powerful one-shot evolution of the fist. This is partially demonstrated in Rekkr, as the axe is more powerful than the fists, but berserk is still better than the axe, so nothing would be made obsolete, except, of course, the pistol. Giving the player something like a sledgehammer that could perhaps hit multiple enemies at once and knock them back, similarly to the shotgun or SSG, could make managing ammo more interesting.

First Edward Carnby gets put into Carmageddon, now he's venturing into Doom? This is an odd new trend.

Doom is at a sweet spot between simple and complex. On top of that it runs on anything. Yeah, that too.

There's a bit of a two-way split in terms of Doomguy's backstory in my head. One version I imagine revolves around in-universe concepts and one is more meta. The in-universe Doomguy always struck me as a more everyman archetype than the beefy, square-jawed mugshot would suggest. He always seemed like someone who got through training perfectly fine, but never really fit in as one of "the boys." Simultaneously, he never struck me as a nice guy, either. He seemed like a completely boring grunt who got to the start of E1M1 via pure luck rather than finesse and wit. Perhaps he had a small habitat for Daisy on Phobos, but I never put much thought into it. Another part of my mind thinks about Doomguy as a game character. I think of him growing through the pre-release versions of Doom and ultimately becoming an immortal software warrior who is destined to bounce between the original 32 Doom maps and advanced source port sorcery forever. This seems to be a prominent unmnetioned theme in the Doom community, as we collectively drop hints that we think Doomguy is getting more and more grizzled over time and that each new WAD he ventures through is canon to some extent. All the changes in tone and setting throughout the years of modding have almost given Doom a Dr. Who-ish vibe to me because of this.

I've only ever found two secret levels in the original Doom games. I really hate the last few levels of Scythe.

Of course. Hence why the three frames demonstrated above struck me as odd for the longest time.

It was only recently that I realized Doomguy's pupils are drawn in these frames. I had always thought maybe he was a weird spectre a la Scorpion when I was younger and later thought that there simply was not enough room to render them. I see them now, but fortunately I have to squint.

It wasn't the gameplay scenario so much as how it was revealed. For the most part the WAD had been composed of tombs and jungles up to this point. This hellish, evil room occurs near the end of a tomb-themed map (which, in turn, is near the end of the WAD) with a predominantly grey and brown color scheme: only Egyptian murals and fountains decorate the walls and floor. However, when you find the final key, you open a door which uncovers a room composed entirely of flesh. Upon getting to its far wall, you are dropped down a pit and end up staring this bleeding pharaoh zombie in the face with all the revenants dancing around it. The drop also only lasts about a frame, so it functions as a very muted jump scare. Other WADs and games have climaxed with fire and flesh, of course, but it was especially impactful here.

Still catching up on the must-play WADs in Doom's history. This moment in Epic2 had me chuckling for a minute.

A misunderstanding from my childhood has left me permanently calling Cacodemons "Tacodemons". I keep my Doom bestiary pretty vanilla, otherwise, aside from calling Archviles "Sorry Fucking Asshole Fire-Spawning Shitty Dickhead Motherfuckers," of course.

It's worth noting that DeHacked has a unique position because of the desire for vanilla modding. Part of what makes Doom so great to some of us is the fact that it can run on pretty much anything with ease. That aspect of Doom comes into question when the shiny new mods for advanced ports like GZDoom become so prominent. My old laptop couldn't render the environments in GZDoom for shit because of how dated it was, but I could run Epic 2, or the nightmare that is All Hell is Breaking Loose no problem. If modders like you can continue to push DeHacked limits in this way, more people may be able to appreciate what is achievable with the Doom engine. Of course, I'm more than likely in the minority.

This may be the single most innocent post on Doom World.

In a college library. I put Crispy Doom on a thumb drive and officially began Operation SneakyDoom, so let's hope the places get weirder.