Doom has always been a playground for creative minds. It's the perfect excuse to shoot demons or to run experiments on absurd hardware, and it even works on peculiar devices from the 1970s. But beyond the carnage, Doom has an extraordinary modding culture that lets players turn the classic shooter into something entirely new. One of the most striking examples is MYHOUSE.WAD, a map by Steve «Veddge» Nelson that begins as an innocent tribute and slowly morphs into something much more disturbing…

Horror and video games have a deep connection. We remember Alone in the Dark, the father of modern survival horror, with fondness, but plenty of franchises deserve attention—from Resident Evil and Silent Hill to Amnesia and Dead Space. Some players might add that the «Souls» games carry a horror element—mostly because of the screams after dying dozens of times—but that's another story.

So what about Doom? Its universe is full of ripped-up marines, terrifying demons, and satanic iconography, but nowadays it feels more like «reverse horror» to me. However, there are exceptions in the form of mods, and one of the most impressive is MYHOUSE.WAD, created by Steve «Veddge» Nelson. You'll need GZDoom as your launcher, and the fact that the file exceeds 65 megabytes should already tell you that this mod hides far more than you might expect…

(Editor's note: massive spoilers ahead)

A Tribute That Turns Into a Nightmare

Veddge explains that the map is actually a tribute to his friend Tom, who sadly passed away in August of last year. After the funeral, he contacted Tom's parents and received some of his belongings, including an old 3.5-inch floppy disk that contained a Doom map. Veddge had never seen that design before—both had explored Doom modding in the early 2000s—so he decided to finish it. The video below shows the final result, and it made so much noise in the community that John Romero himself shared his playthrough on YouTube.

Second video from John Romero:

Personally, I don't want to spoil anything because both videos do that… but there's no doubt that MYHOUSE.WAD is a very special creature. If the player knows what they're doing, Veddge suggests they'll get about ten minutes of gameplay, yet there are dozens of objects, new enemies, liminal spaces, and four endings to discover. Trust me when I say you'll be playing this for far more than ten minutes…

(Editor's note: you need to download the .pk3 file inside the "files" folder)

Download MYHOUSE.WAD

Download via DoomWorld:Click here