If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Phobos Throwback: Doom Reborn Total Conversion

Doom 1 and 2 remade in idTech4

Doom Reborn is a mega-mod, with the sole aim of proving that the shotgun sound effect in Doom is more exciting than the entirety of Doom 3*. To achieve this goal, a team of modders (currently consisting of the contrarily named duo, GameHacKeR and Brent) are reconstructing Doom and Doom 2 in the idTech4 engine. I think they might be on to something. During the hour of footage below, edit: the shotgun can be heard punctuating the action with its signature 'BOOM CH-CHCK' the shotgun sound hasn't been replaced at all**. Some would argue that the shotgun sound was outdone by its own sequel, Doom 2's super shotgun, which went 'BOOOM CA-KLUNK-CA'. If memory serves, the Doom 3 shotgun went 'PFFFFFFFFT' and the pistol simply uttered quiet apologies whenever the trigger was pulled.

Doom Reborn is pre-beta is available now.

Perhaps you'd care to argue that the superior level design and pacing in the original Doom games are more important than the weapon sound effects? That's all here too, of course. As well as the music, which has a holiday home in my memory, popping in on bank holidays when my brain falls idle.

Personally, I'm not convinced that the idTech4 engine will add a great deal to the games. It's fun to watch imps ragdoll about the place a little bit when a rocket hits them, sure, and I guess there will be pretty lighting effects. But I'll miss the death animations, repetitive as they become, and the few parts of the games that managed to trick me into thinking the lighting was far more technically advanced than it really was. Best lighting example I can think of is the dark maze secret area on E1M2, which seemed almost exactly like something out of a top notch horror movie when presented to my young imagination.

I don't want to seem like one of these cool kids who thinks Doom 3 is the worst thing ever. I played it all the way through, which is more than can be said for 90% of FPS games that I start, and there were elements that I enjoyed. The guns really did feel like peashooters though and I demand a greater quantity of monsters to maul.

Doom Reborn isn't finished, either in terms of the quality or the content, but remarkable progress has been made on the path to this latest release. Here are some instructions for those who want to play. You will need a full install of Doom 3.

- Setup
Using our new installer simply just select your Doom 3 folder and click next

Example "C:\Program files\Doom 3"

After the install has finished you'll have the option to place a shortcut to the "DoomReborn.exe" on your desktop

- Launching the Mod
Brent has made many code fixes and changes that will only work with the new DoomReborn.exe
and gamex86.dll
Like last time this is the new method to launching the mod and for now on
You should always been using the DoomReborn.exe found in the Doom 3 folder
Example "C:\Program Files\Doom 3\"

*May not be the actual aim of the mod.

**errr...I was listening to the sound files on the website linked at the beginning of the post and forgot to distinguish between them and the sounds in the video. I have berated myself.

Rock Paper Shotgun is the home of PC gaming

Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.

In this article

Doom

Xbox 360, Nintendo GBA, PC, Nintendo Switch

Doom 3

Xbox, PC, Nintendo Switch

See 1 more

Doom II: Hell on Earth

Nintendo Switch

Related topics
About the Author

Adam Smith

Former Deputy Editor

Adam wrote for Rock Paper Shotgun between 2011-2018, rising through the ranks to become its Deputy Editor. He now works at Larian Studios on Baldur's Gate 3.

Comments