Friday December 10, 1993: That’s the day the FPS genre changed forever as Doom came barreling onto our PCs. The weapon feedback, blood-pumping soundtrack, and unashamed over-the-top violence might seem quaint today, but that’s only because the entire videogame industry learned from the lessons id Software was teaching. That was over 30 years ago, though, and since then every other shooter to grace our screens owes the Doomguy an unpayable debt. This is why the recent Doom re-releases from Bethesda are so important, because not only do they make these classics easier to play than ever, but they’re spruced up for the modern age. There was one thing missing at launch, however, and Bethesda has finally added it to the games.
Last year, Bethesda re-released the first two Doom games. You can now play both with 4K resolution at 120 frames per second, turning these old-school FPS games into modern marvels. The free upgrade even has cross-platform multiplayer and in-game mod support, but it’s still missing something.
When the re-release launched, players noticed the absence of multiplayer mod support. The community has been asking about it ever since, and Bethesda has finally added it to both games out of nowhere. To get multiplayer mods working, the host will need to activate their adventure of choice before entering the online menu, and all players will need to subscribe to the same creation before joining the match. While Bethesda says everything must be “authored with Vanilla Doom, DeHackEd, MBF21 or Boom to be compatible,” this still makes modded multiplayer infinitely easier.
Bethesda’s new update also makes some more general multiplayer changes, too. You can now use a spectator mode if you die during co-op play, items can now be picked up by all players, and the overall networking code has been optimized as well. Bethesda clearly wants to keep supporting these older versions of Doom with enhancements and new features, and I for one love it.
If you’re yet to play the enhanced versions of the two Doom games, there’s an entirely new episode you can experience alongside them. Called Legacy of Rust, it’s built by developers from id Software, Nightdive Studios, and MachineGames and features new weapons, demons, and levels to explore. The 16-map expansion is broken up into two sections, The Vulcan Abyss and Counterfeit Eden, giving you plenty of brand-new opportunities to rip and tear some monstrosities from Hell.
If you can’t wait for more demon-slaying, make sure you brush up on the Doom The Dark Ages release date. My colleague Ed also wrote a truly incredible preview, if you want to read the opinion of someone who has been smashing imp skulls his whole life.
Bethesda has now introduced multiplayer mod support for the Doom + Doom 2 re-releases as part of Update 2. You can read the full patch notes for even more changes.
If you want to play even more classics, we’ve got all the best old games you can still grab on PC. Otherwise, make sure you check out all the best multiplayer games instead.
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