The Strangest and Funniest DOOM Mods

Little more can be added about the DOOM saga these days. The classic versions are unforgettable, while the new Bethesda edition was split in two: a very solid campaign and a multiplayer mode best forgotten. But the history of DOOM is not limited to "blood and action". Over the years it has become a canvas for thousands of modders, whose creations range from the purely fun to the strangest and most absurd we can imagine...

What happens when a mod carries the potential to surpass the original game it's based on? The most common thing nowadays is that it becomes a standalone game. If there's a clear example out there, it's Defense of the Ancients, which started out as a multiplayer mod for Warcraft III and reached its final transformation as an e-sport with Dota 2, with millions of followers, millions of dollars in tournaments... and even cases of Adderall doping. But that's a story for another time.

Let's get back to mods, to their diversity, to the time their creators invest, and the skill they acquire in each process. For many reasons, the DOOM saga has been one of the favorites among modders when it comes to making independent levels, complete conversions, and even unexpected jokes. Do you have a copy of DOOM, DOOM 2, Zandronum, ZDOOM or GZDOOM (their most popular ports) lying around? If the answer is yes, you need to try at least one of these mods:

Brutal Doom

It would be truly crazy to make a list of DOOM mods and leave out Brutal Doom. As its name says, it's Doom... only more brutal. Blood, guts, explosions, guts, execution moves... did I mention guts? According to John Romero himself, Brutal Doom would have "destroyed the video game industry" in 1993. Many of us knew Doom by controlling that marine exploring every corner in fear. Brutal Doom makes you decapitate monsters bare-handed. Oh, I forgot: It has a version inspired by Doom 64.

Sonic Robo Blast 2

Wait, what does Sonic have to do with Doom? Nothing. Everything. Thanks to the magic of mods, both answers are valid. According to its official page (yes, the mod has an official page) Sonic Robo Blast 2 is a "fangame" developed from a modified version of Doom Legacy, which includes quite elaborate 3D graphics and everything you can expect from a Sonic game. The mod has a ready-to-use installer and is still in development.

Ghostbusters Doom

I remember Ghostbusters Doom... not only because it's Ghostbusters, but because I talked about it a couple of years ago. This mod, or rather "level pack", combines elements from both the first and second movies. Unfortunately, it was never finished, and the last update on its official page was almost twelve years ago, but the files are still there. So if you want a bit of classic Ghostbusters before being disappointed with the new movie, you know what to do.

Batman Doom

Making a little room for comic book characters, we find none other than Batman, in a mod called Batman Doom. Considered "the best WAD of 1999", Batman Doom adapts all the engine's resources to the style of play you can expect when taking control of the Dark Knight: more stealth, non-lethal weapons (after all, Batman doesn't kill), and zero blood. It requires a special patch in ZDOOM, and even then you have to get your hands a little dirty.

Void

Almost thirteen years old according to its official information. For some, a masterpiece, while others declared it "boring", but if there's something we need to recognize about Void, it's that it makes excellent use of textures and visual effects, borrowing some audio lines belonging to Half-Life. In fact, we could say that Void is inspired by Half-Life, although there's no Gordon Freeman to save us here...

Fistful of Doom

Far West. Bad, dirty, bloodthirsty guys. You, "the good guy", shooting in all directions. When the Spaghetti Western crosses with Doom, the result is precisely "Fistful of Doom", a mod that will make you feel like the unforgettable Clint in "A Fistful of Dollars". The musical band, the characteristic noise of gunshots, horses, vultures... only a "tumbleweed" is missing rolling across the screen.

The Sky May Be

Absolute madness. Extreme delirium. Side effect of a powerful acid. All three at once. We have no idea, to tell the truth. The Sky May Be aimed to be "completely different" from the mods that existed at that time, and without a doubt it succeeded, because we can't make heads or tails of it. Floating Lego pieces, Windows error messages on the walls, attacks that can kill you even in God mode, sounds from the movie Zardoz... my head already hurts.

Doom Raider

Based on another great classic like the original Tomb Raider, Doom Raider places the player in a strange ruin that combines a bit of Maya with a bit of Egyptian, full of traps and "ghosts" to annihilate. By far, one of the most interesting details in Doom Raider is the "dual wield" of pistols... which from a practical point of view is equivalent to a machine gun. Now, when I say "full of traps", I'm not exaggerating.

Cyberdreams

Imagine having to solve a puzzle to advance to the next level while a Cyberdemon tries to use its missiles as suppositories, with the goal of inserting them "you know where". No pressure! That's what Cyberdreams proposes... at first. As we progress, both the complexity of the puzzles and the number of Cyberdemons increase, and we'll depend more on advanced techniques, including telefrag. Extra detail? The mod was made in Spain.

Seinfeld: Jerry's Apartment

Ladies and gentlemen, at this point we throw in the towel. Few doubt the enormous popularity of Seinfeld (despite being a sitcom that started in the '80s), but that someone dedicated more than a hundred hours of work to recreate Jerry's apartment in Doom 2 is... I don't know. I need help. Dedication? Fanaticism? Too much free time? Fans of the series can't miss this mod. And those who hate it have the chance to shoot the characters a bit...

And so we reach the end. The original DOOM is more than twenty years old, and its new version will surely give rise to a new generation of followers, but its mods not only resist the passage of time, but in several cases continue to receive updates. A unique gaming community.