Doom At 30: The developers of your favourite boomer shooters share their favourite things about Doom

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Doom At 30: The developers of your favourite boomer shooters share their favourite things about DoomDevs from Ultrakill, Turbo Overkill, Prodeus and more weigh in on why the shotgun is cool

Devs from Ultrakill, Turbo Overkill, Prodeus and more weigh in on why the shotgun is cool

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bethesda Softworks

The player fires a shotgun at two zombiemen in Doom (1993)

To celebrateDoom’s 30th birthday we had a discussion about the (understandably) vauntedFPS’s influence, and what games would look like without it. It seems particularly interesting today in light of the recent resurgence of Doom-style shooters, often known as “boomer shooters” because of their deliberately retro style and singular focus on shootin' stuff and bein' cool, much like Doom. And then the obvious solution was to just ask the devs making these games about what they think of Doom and its impact on their work.

I reached out to developers who’ve worked onTurbo Overkill,Prodeus,Forgive Me Father(andForgive Me Father 2) and almost the whole stable working atNew Blood Interactiveto ask them some annoyingly specific questions about Doom in the hope of getting the sort of idiosyncratic answers you get from interesting devs - and they delivered! In fact, they delivered in such quantity and quality that I’ve elected to just present their answers to you, rather than try to weave them together as if we were all sitting together at dinner exchanging bon mots, both for clarity and to include as much as possible in their own words. It’s a fascinating and entertaining collection of thoughts.

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What is yourfavourite enemy in Doom, and why?

Prodeus |Image credit:Bounding Box Software

Prodeus - The player points a minigun at a room with three enemies

What would you change about Doom?

Forgive Me Father 2 |Image credit:Fulqrum Publishing

A screenshot of Forgive Me Father 2, showing the player menacing a big tentacle beast with a shotgun in some kind of church.

What’s the best noise in Doom?

L: Ultrakill; R: Amid Evil |Image credit:New Blood Interactive

Extremely cool murders in an Ultrakill screenshot.

An image from Amid Evil which shows the player wielding a battle axe and stood toe-to-toe with a giant armoured enemy holding a staff.

What’s something from Doom you wish you’d come up with?

Or, if you prefer, what’s something from Doom you just sort of stole?

Dusk |Image credit:New Blood Interactive

Skulls fly at the player inside a hellscape in DUSK.

How would gaming today be different without Doom? Are there other games, design approaches, or types of technology that might have become more popular if Doom hadn’t existed?