Doom as a franchise has been around for quite some time, regaining a lot of its relevance with the reboot game that came out in 2016, as well as the upcoming Doom Eternal. The original Doom back from 1993, however, is the one that started it all and is responsible for affecting the FPS game genre for years to come. This is why when people mention the word “doom” when talking about video games, oftentimes the first image that will pop into peoples’ heads are the classic sprites such as the imp.

Let us take a look at the ways Doom from 1993 helped shape the FPS genre through its design choices that eventually caught on and were used in many other games in the future.

10 Popularized The FPS Genre

The masterpiece that is the original Doom by id Software was not their first attempt at a first-person shooter game set in a 3D environment. This belongs to their slightly older game Wolfenstein 3D, which although popular, was not as innovative. With Doom, however, this was a completely different story, as the game was so appealing that it was virtually everywhere - from every game store in town, to references in shows.

Because of this huge success, everyone learned about the FPS genre, making it more appealing for other companies to start making them as well.

9 Solidified FPS In General

It is one thing to make a genre popular, it is a completely different one to pioneer it. Although id Software dabbled in the 3D FPS genre before with the previously mentioned Wolfenstein 3D, it wasn’t completely up to the company’s standards. With Doom, they wanted to make the experience of playing a game through the character’s eyes as immersive as possible by making the atmosphere dark and gloomy.

Because of their hard work, id Software managed to solidify the FPS genre as a legitimate genre and not a niche experiment that people would expect to disappear with time.

8 Technological Innovation

It’s not enough that id Software was already taking huge steps in pioneering the FPS genre by coming up with ideas that were new at the time, they pushed the technological limits by designing Doom in ways that no other 3D game had ever done before. Other 3D games at the time took place on flat planes, so Doom can be considered as the first FPS game that was truly 3D because players could climb stairs or ramps to ascend over enemies and shoot from above.

If it hadn’t been for id Software and their desire to make Doom as immersive as possible, who knows how long it would have taken for someone else to create an FPS game that didn’t take place exclusively on perfectly flat levels.

7 Empowering Modding

When playing a game these days, especially on a computer, we typically take modding communities for granted because we are so used to finding mods for pretty much any game we play. Back in the 1990s, however, modding wasn’t as easy due to the level of technology. What made Doom different, however, was that it was not made within its game engine, but rather on top of it, making one of the first games to have its engine and assets completely separate. This led to modders editing the game, creating their own guns, game modes, and even level editors.

So the next time you load up an FPS game with hundreds of mods installed, make sure to thank the developers of Doom and their unorthodox methods and ideas.

6  Increasing The Arsenal

One of the main trademark traits of the Doom franchise that the original started and then influenced many other games to follow is the ridiculously large arsenal of guns you could carry with you. While other shooter games would restrict the player to the typical limit of having only one or two guns at a time, Doom let the payers go wild by letting them carry and use eight different guns. Although it is not even close to being realistic, it definitely made the game more fast-paced.

This design choice has worked wonders for the Doom franchise, as it made the player feel even more like a badass. And honestly, if we could carry eight heavy guns with ease while fighting demons from hell, we’d probably not even question it.

5 Popularized LAN Gameplay

Back in the early 1990s, the idea of playing a game with friends on separate computers would have sounded alien to most people, as local-area networks were not something that was utilized in games often. Id Software, however, saw LAN as an opportunity to connect people, as well as make the game more popular. Although playing co-op and killing demons with friends was fun, it was the deathmatch game mode that got peoples’ attention. People were so enthralled by the possibility of playing together, that it became the reason why the first-ever LAN party was held.

Before Doom people couldn’t even imagine a game that would require players to pack up their computers and set them all up in the same place, with the pay-off being the ability to play together. These days LAN parties are quite normal, and we have Doom to thank for it.

4 Inspiring Contemporaries

After Doom became a major commercial success, it didn’t take long for the so-called Doom-clones to pop up. Although they weren’t complete copies, there were obvious similarities, enough that one would expect an imminent lawsuit. Back then the term “first-person shooter” wasn’t coined yet, so everyone who wanted to make one ended up creating a Doom-clone. Despite the similarities, these clones were left alone to gain their own success, a great example being Duke Nukem 3D.

Even though the games that were inspired by Doom looked very similar to the original, they added enough of their original flare to gain a lot of attention, which in turn made the FPS genre even more popular.

3  Set The Tone And Tempo

There is no denying that the original Doom was tense, especially if you got to play it at the time it came out - there was nothing like it. Not only were you looking at the action from the first-person perspective, but everything that the game had to offer came at you fast. Everything from the character’s movements, the aggressiveness of the enemies, to the iconic badass music made the players’ hearts race as they plowed through hordes of hellspawn. This pacing worked wonders at hooking players and keeping them hooked, as the game never felt boring or too sluggish.

The tone and tempo that Doom set worked so well that it shaped not only the clones that came out shortly after but also FPS games that came out years later.

2 Not Forcing The Story

It’s a given that all good games have to have a story that interests the players and makes them care about the world that the developers created. What players don’t usually like is when a game forces the story down their throats trough ham-fisted exposition that only works to alienate most players. Doom approached this differently, by having a coherent story, but keeping it in the background, leaving the spotlight for the gameplay.

Although not all modern FPS games follow this example, it has definitely helped tone-down the amount of heavy-handed exposition.

1 Popularized Porting To Windows

When Doom came out it was such a hit that every console under the sun wanted to get a port. Back in those days, Windows was still a fresh operating system that was trying to gain mass appeal, and Doom was their golden ticket. Gabe Newell was the one who worked on the port for Windows ‘95, while Bill Gates made promotions for what he called WinDoom. This was all done in order to make Windows and PCs gamer-friendly, which, as we know now worked.

Now that it has been decades since the release of Doom and its port to Windows, we now can’t imagine not getting a PC version of a new FPS game, assuming it isn’t exclusive to a console.

NEXT: Doom: Every Game In The Series, Ranked