Home > Essays > Killing Demons: A Review of Doom 64

Killing Demons: A Review of Doom 64

October 31st, 2023

Doom 64 is one of those games I wish I could experience for the first time all over again, but had I played it for the first time today, it probably wouldn’t be as important to me as it is. The game, much like myself, is a black sheep. It’s just a little different from it’s relatives, and some don’t like those differences. But if everything were the same, nothing would stick out. Nothing would latch onto our brains and remain for years to come. We all have our own unique stories, and those stories become who we are. Doom 64 is part of my story.

This essay is a detailed breakdown of what makes Doom 64 a great gaming experience and what the game means to me. The notes for this were taken during a playthrough of the official 2020 re-release on Steam, on the “Watch Me Die!” difficulty, but the more subjective observations come from my experience playing the original release on an emulator on a shitty little laptop in the 2010s.

One need not play the game itself to know that it’s very different from the previous entries in the Doom series. Just looking at screenshots, the general color palette is a lot less bright. The designs of the demons are less cartoonish, more monstrous. If you showed them to someone with zero context and asked them to tell you what game series they came from, Doom might not be their first guess.

The game has a distinctly different tone thanks to these creative differences. The fluid movement and gun play of the original PC games are still present, but everything else has a completely different emotional impact. The player feels less like a bad-ass blowing demons’ brains out left and right, and more like a lone fighter staring down incredibly bleak odds.

The game’s manual gives the Doom Marine a little bit of character development. Since the events of Doom 2, where he valiantly fought the forces of Hell to save all of humanity, he suffers from horrible nightmares that no doctor can cure. This pinnacle of macho masculinity is traumatized by what he’s seen, what he’s endured. It’s a small thing, only a paragraph or two, but it’s a uniquely humanizing moment for our protagonist at this point.

The UAC has been picking up readings from a dying satellite, readings they’ve never seen before. Something is reanimating the dead demons in the irradiated Mars base, and, as the only one who has witnessed the horrors of Hell and lived to tell the tale, our faithful Doom Marine is once again called to serve humanity. He does not want to go back to Mars. He has no desire to fight any more, but he is duty bound. He’s the only one who can push back the demonic forces.

The opening intro cutscene of Doom 64 further cements this lonely existence. Your fellow marines desperately run and shoot at the demons, only to be reduced to crumpled bodies and piles of bloody gore by Mancubus fireballs and the dreaded Cyberdemon’s rockets. You’re on your own.

The visceral atmosphere may be a contributing factor to why the game has stuck in my memory as well as it has over the years, but the circumstances of my life may have also played a part.

I discovered and began playing Doom 64 at a significant mental turning point in my life. I was an anxious 13-year-old going to a private Christian school in a politically conservative area, already chafing against the expectations placed on me while having less than heterosexual feelings for my best friend at the time.

I was already feeling very alone and surrounded by things that wished to do me harm. Rather than putting me off, though, there was something very cathartic about entering the derelict UAC base, walking the dark halls, hearing the groans of the former human inhabitants echoing from all angles.

The level design has the characteristic vagueness of levels in the previous Doom games; there’s no in-game explanation for what purpose the rooms and corridors are meant to serve. It’s all blinking computer screens, dull concrete walls, and incomprehensible structures. The feeling is like being in a dream; it’s up to your brain to make up connections and rationalize what you’re seeing.

The best early example of this is the second level, titled “The Terraformer”. After wandering the cramped and winding hallways to find the red keycard, the player enters an open room leading outdoors with a curious structure dominating the area. Through the red door and a teleporting squad of imps, the player presses a switch and the door locks as the structure suddenly animates. It rises up a ways before slamming down at high speed. This repeats three times, each time the ground under the structure is lowered a bit. Finally, the door opens and at the bottom of the newly formed pit is...an opening to a room with an escalator? Which leads to a hallway full of caged zombies? Not the first thing you’d expect to find during an excavation, unless the titular terraformer was inexplicably placed above an already existing room.

Another example is Level 5, “Tech Center”. One could reasonably call it a “tech center” on aesthetic alone, but the actual environment doesn’t make much logical sense. The player starts in a central room surrounded by doors, much like the eighth level of Doom 2, “Tricks and Traps”. The level similarly consists of traversing a series of largely unconnected rooms that feel very “gamey”, from a room full of cubes and lost souls to dodge around, to a winding series of halls that lead to a long corridor full of moving walls that can crush the player.

One sharp departure from the previous Doom games is the music. Gone are the adrenaline-pumping MIDI rock tracks of Doom 1 and 2. Instead, the levels are filled with droning electronic sounds and low growls, a soundtrack that would not be out of place in a survival horror game in the vein of Silent Hill. These tracks are the work of Aubrey Hodges, an accomplished musician with an expansive discography, including the soundtrack for Final Doom on the Playstation. Hodges has dabbled in many different genres for many different types of games, but personally, the highlights of his work are his more experimental ambient works. He has the uncanny ability to combine dark string instruments and synth tones with all manner of creepy audio samples into haunting soundscapes that stick with you long after you beat the game.

The atmosphere in the levels of the first episode is one of lonely apprehension. The developers made excellent use of new lighting techniques, including colored lighting, to really set the mood. Seeing dim moonlight flowing through a window or the starlit sky of Mars in the more open areas is oddly beautiful and serene. Even after playing the game several times, I still find myself pausing in these moments. These combined with the music, aesthetic, and general tone make the experience meditative, in a way. It’s like the game is inviting you to take a moment from the blood and guts to just breath once in a while, to be in the moment. There are several more moments like this to come, and they’re some of my favorite moments in my gaming experience.

Overall, the first 10 levels of Doom 64 are a solid first-person shooter experience. Although the more limited roster of demons and smaller total enemy count are evident, the designers used what was available to them to great effect.

In terms of gameplay, Doom 64 is often criticized for feeling too similar to its predecessors. If you’re a fan of the classic Doom formula of gunning down demons while hunting for switches and keys, however, Doom 64 delivers. The game builds upon this formula to create some especially interesting and challenging encounters. For instance, the main gimmick of Level 7, “Research Lab”, is backtracking through areas once you find the correct keys for doors you’ve seen previously. The player has to constantly be on their toes, though, as more enemies will teleport into areas they’ve already cleared out.

One review published at the time of the game’s release pointed out that the linear game design feels archaic when compared to its contemporaries, such as Super Mario 64 or Turok (Schneider), but there is something to be said for a well-curated linear experience. Limitations breed creativity, after all, and the more controlled environment means that every encounter feels like a strategic puzzle that challenges players’ positioning, target priority, and situational awareness.

Many levels feature moving elements, as mentioned above in “The Terraformer”, a product of lead programmer Aaron Seeler’s scripting abilities (“Doom 64 Interview”). Level 3, “Main Engineering”, literally builds itself in front of the player, in an impressive demonstration of the new capabilities of the N64 hardware. These moments add a level of visual spectacle and are a key component of the game’s charm.

Another thing the player will notice (or not, depending on the kind of player) is that the level designers don’t pull any punches when it comes to secrets, particularly when it comes to finding and navigating secret levels. Even finding the first two secret levels in the first place requires either a lot of trial and error or looking up a walkthrough from a first time player. The secret exits (found in levels 1 and 4) both require a certain set of things to be done in a certain order, and if you do things wrong, you have to load a save to try again. Just the kind of secrets that make you appreciate the players that go through the trouble of writing walkthroughs. You can’t rely on running around and activating every last inch of wall; you have to really work for 100% completion.

The latter of these secrets, a level called “Outpost Omega”, is a great example of how the designers build challenges in unique ways. Getting the most out of this level requires platforming skills and good spatial awareness, because this level contains two unique items. After some tricky platforming and switch hunting, the player will be in possession of a strange, demonic weapon, dubbed by fans “the Unmaker”. Additionally, behind a well hidden door, the player will pick up the first of three “demon artifacts”, the purpose of which is not immediately obvious. These artifacts power up the Unmaker, eventually turning it into the strongest weapon in the game. They have one other use, but that will come much later down the line.

The last level of Episode 1, “Final Outpost”, is a culmination of every good thing the game has done so far. Firstly, the music is one of the best tracks so far with a truly sinister air to it; it really helps sell the fact that you’re nearing a portal to someplace unholy. Secondly, the difficulty ramps up with a series of nasty traps and difficult encounters. In one of the more lethal encounters, the player wanders into a maze-like area, constantly expecting enemies around every corner, only for the walls to fall away at the flick of a switch and hordes of enemies to teleport in. On the bright side, the player can gain a plasma rifle by solving a clever pillar lowering puzzle, which will prove very handy for the challenging final fight.

Once everything is dead, the platforms raise up and the player can enter the teleporter. In a strangely meta moment, both the Doom Marine and the player (provided the player is already familiar with the Doom formula) are aware that they’re walking into the lion’s mouth. The end-of-episode text screen describes the Marine laughing at the deja vu of it all, knowing that this is exactly what the demons wanted. You know the odds. You know they are bleak. You know what’s coming. Still, you make the decision to fight on. The only alternatives are to die, or wander the grey, haunted halls like the demons you hate.

The throes of depression can often feel like you live in a different reality than everyone else. You can’t see the bright side when you’re consumed with hopelessness. You can’t see what people see in you when you feel worthless or unlovable. People say it gets better, but “better” never seems to come. Some members of the Christian faith describe Hell as not a place of literal fire and brimstone, but as a total spiritual separation from anything good and holy. A place where happiness, love, compassion, and warmth cannot exist. There is nothing to offset the suffering, nothing to look forward to beyond the pain.

In typical Doom fashion, the second episode begins with the player taking their first steps into Hell. The steel and wires and hum of computers make way for austere medieval architecture, piles of gore, and moans of the suffering damned. Human hands had no part in this. All familiarity is gone. You are truly in the lair of demons now.

In a post on the Doom Depot / Castlevania Treasury forums from 2002, user FirebrandX provides a snippet of a conversation he had with lead programmer Aaron Seeler. According to Seeler, the original concepts for the game were much bigger in scope. The game would have had many more episodes, each inspired by architecture and concepts of evil and the afterlife from different cultures (“I talked to Aaron Seeler!!”). While it’s a shame that ambitions had to be dialed back, the level design in the second episode does not leave the player wanting.

The environments are a lot more visually striking when compared to the mostly grey and square UAC base. While the levels are usually dominated by castle-like structures with many rooms to fight through, there’s a lot more freedom to use unique features and landmarks. Examples include the watery canals at the start of Level 11, the sprawling complex and blue-lit tunnels of Level 16, and the two distinct, conjoined arenas of Level 17. One can also find remnants of the original "Hell in different cultures" theme in the textures, with motifs and designs reminiscent of ancient Egypt, Mesoamerica, etc.

My favorite level in this episode, and maybe the entire game, is level 13, “Dark Citadel”. It’s not the most difficult level, but there are a few pretty devious traps that can be deadly if the player is caught unaware. The use of lighting makes this level probably the best looking one as well. The areas are distinctive and memorable, from the library to the open area that resembles a kind of ballroom or great hall. It’s an absolutely endearing level of love and attention to detail.

Even within this wretched realm, there can be found moments of beauty. There’s a particular room in “Dark Citadel” that has no purpose other than to house a switch and many spectres, but the combination of the dim lighting, the claustrophobic pillars, and the moonlight streaming in through the windows creates an image that is permanently burned into my brain. Level 14, fittingly titled “Eye of the Storm”, is set against a dark purple sky with intermittent flashes of lightning and thunder. If you find thunderstorms comforting, this will be a very relaxing level. Even the way many levels feel like real places with real purposes feels oddly comforting. “Altar of Pain” is a small chapel inside a deep, canyon-like moat, with the titular altar found in the innermost sanctum. “Blood Keep” is a collection of several buildings connected by paths and tunnels hewn from the surrounding rocky terrain, including libraries and cell blocks. One could imagine the grotesque inhabitants going about their daily, unholy business in these places before the Doom Marine shows up. Perhaps it’s the general jump in graphical fidelity, but it all just feels more grounded. It creates a feeling that I don’t really find in the previous games, a feeling of being more immersed in the journey.

As well as memorable level design, the second episode is where Aubrey Hodges really starts to shine. His music is as overflowing with creativity as it is with stomach-dropping dread. Notable examples include level 12, “Altar of Pain”, which uses distorted samples of a crying infant, and the dramatic gothic organs of Level 17, “Watch Your Step”.

Speaking of Level 17, I consider this the final level of episode 2, even though there’s no intermission text screen. It’s the first appearance of the big bad Cyberdemon (two of them on "Watch Me Die!" difficulty), and the overall challenge can reasonably be considered a boss fight. The player begins in an ominous arena tinged with red fog. The exit is plainly visible but just out of reach. The player is provided a full arsenal of weapons and ammo, a sure sign that something big is coming. For now, all is eerily quiet. It’s not until the player finds their way to the other end of the map that the demons show themselves.

This part of the map is another large arena, but it is considerably more close quarters. Enemies gradually teleport in as the player crosses certain triggers, and this encounter is a prime example of how big of a factor enemy choice and arrangement can affect how an encounter feels. On the ground level, hell knights and spectres spawn and quickly start encroaching on the player’s location. When the player moves to get away or close the distance, cacodemons and pain elementals spawn higher up. The pain elementals are especially dangerous if not quickly dealt with, as the lost souls they create can overwhelm the player in the tight passageways. After scouring this area of ammo and pickups, the player must head back to the starting area, where more hordes of monsters await. The final battle consists of 5 waves of enemies, starting from the lowly zombies to a mix of mancubi and arachnotrons. Finally, the two cyberdemons reveal themselves. They’re big, mean, and relatively fast. Just one may be a challenge for a newer player, and two can be a real hassle. Positioning is everything; if you can manage to guide one of them into the little walled structure in the center, it becomes much easier to dispatch them one at a time. Once they’re both reduced to a bloody mess, the exit is finally opened.

While the likes of the revenant and the archvile are sorely missed for the unique challenges they provide, and the scarce variety in enemies is very obvious at this point, any fan of shooters will still find interesting challenges within Doom 64. Just as in the previous entries, every enemy has strengths and weaknesses, like pieces on a chess board. And just like chess, the positioning of the pieces is just as, if not more, important than their abilities.

Additionally, while they can’t quite compare to the feeling of being chased by a cloud of revenant missiles, the designers have some new tricks up their sleeves. Environmental hazards have been mostly damaging floors, with the occasional crushing ceiling, up to this point in the series. Some levels in Doom 64 feature arrow traps, and even homing fireball launchers, to keep you on your toes while traversing them. The arrow traps in particular are used to create some pretty deadly situations later on in the game.

The lower overall enemy numbers also make managing ammo less important, even when pistol starting, but I believe this is to the game’s benefit. In my experience playing Doom 2 on Ultra-violence difficulty, many levels require careful ammo usage and monster infighting for 100% completion, and can be a challenge to complete at all without simply finding a way to run past enemies. While this element is not a bad thing, I find it more fun when I can focus solely on the gunplay. This isn’t to say ammo management doesn’t play a role in Doom 64 as well. Rockets and plasma cells are more scarce than bullets or shells, so the player still needs to ration them, but the stress of running out of ammo entirely is almost non-existant.

Many people make the ill-advised claim that mental illness actually gives a person some greater insight into the nature of life and our place in the universe. It gives one a more nuanced outlook on life, sure, but we are all still human. I am no enlightened master or misunderstood genius. I’ve just lived a life where pessimism and despair became routine, so routine that it became background noise that tinged everything else. Maybe it’s because of that that I’ve learned to see beauty, meaning, and even solace in the darker parts of existence.

The developers saved the best for the last stretch of Doom 64. While gameplay remains mostly routine, these levels are the most memorable in looks, difficulty, and creativity.

The third artifact secret level, “In the Void”, can be found early on in this last episode, and is undoubtedly the hardest secret level (not counting the level “Hectic”. That’s in a league all it’s own). The secret exit leading to it relies on the player being perceptive enough to hear a door opening when crossing a trigger close to the normal exit, and is easily missed. If the player manages to figure it out, they are rewarded with probably the most visually unique level in the game.

True to it’s name, the level’s environment is suspended in a void of cyan-colored fog. Not only does this look awesome, it means the enemies have very long sightlines. The player will have to constantly be aware of projectiles coming from very far away, including from several pain elementals floating about. The puzzle to acquire the demon artifact is also the most unique, and very hard to figure out for a first time player. As a last cherry on top, picking up the artifact spawns four more pain elementals right at the exit to harass an already drained player. A very satisfying challenge to overcome.

The usage of scripting and moving geometry continues in this episode, to great effect. There are many surprise arrow traps, collapsing walls, and transforming rooms, making levels feel dynamic and dangerous. Level 20, “Breakdown”, features a series of twisting cramped halls that open and close behind the player, creating the feeling that the place is shifting and changing when out of sight.

Level 23, “Unholy Temple”, is one of level designer Tim Heydelaar’s favorites because of the insane amount of scripting involved (“Doom 64 Interview”), and it shows. The player must fight through the titular temple to acquire three keys, each of which is guarded by its own trap, be it a monster ambush or crushing ceilings. The yellow key is the most fun, as it teleports around a cross-shaped room, spawning barons to thwart you in the process. The level is not over once all three keys are in hand, however. An observant player will notice switches around the level behind closed bars, with their own switches and three colored tiles nearby. To access them, and open the exit, the player must find a room with colored switches and press them in order according to the order of the corresponding colored tiles. The final switch is even guarded by a tricky combat encounter where the room’s floor turns to lava. It all feels reminiscent of a tabletop RPG style dungeon.

Other levels, such as Level 19, are comparatively more straightforward. Aptly titled “The Spiral”, the level takes place almost entirely in one tall room, with a massive spiral staircase coiling around a towering wooden structure. Level 18 and 22 are classic Doom switch hunts through a series of challenges, made all the more impressive with dramatically changing environments. Level 22 has a particularly fun moment where the walls of an octagonal room suddenly and rapidly close in on the player before a crushing pillar begins to descend upon them, forcing them to fight eight newly-spawned hell knights in close quarters.

The penultimate level, “No Escape”, serves as a kind of “mini boss” before the end. It’s a simple but challenging level: kill everything, including 3 cyberdemons. The player is immediately surrounded and must stay on the move to dodge projectiles. More enemies spawn in for a second wave, and monster infighting comes in handy for whittling down the small fry before engaging in the bigger threats. Once all three cyberdemons are destroyed, the player is immediately whisked away to the final level.

Absolution: noun; a formal release from guilt, obligation, or punishment; a forgiveness of sin.

The final boss of Doom 64 is the Ressurrector, also known as the Mother Demon. She is the one responsible for undoing all of our beloved Marine’s hard work and plunging Mars back into hellish infestation. The player is provided a small room chock full of weapons, ammo, and power ups, and a single door that locks behind you. Beyond that is Absolution, the end of the journey.

The battle begins as the player approaches the arena. Demons begin to spawn in from the three dark portals surrounding the central structure, and there’s a lot of them. It’s as straightforward as it gets: run and shoot, try not to die. The BFG really puts in the work here. It feels reminiscent of modern slaughter maps from the Doom map-making community. If the player survives the initial onslaught, the Mother Demon will spawn in the center. She’s a tough boss, the toughest in the series so far. She has a high amount of health and attacks relentlessly with homing projectiles. On top of all that, she screams. Very loudly. Maybe lower your volume a little bit before starting this level.

That’s not the only layer to this boss fight, however. A first time player will probably have to endure the entire fight, but those who put in the work to Google a walkthrough and get all three demon artifacts are rewarded with an almost comically easy final fight. As stated before, the artifacts individually boost the power of the Unmaker to the point where it easily melts anything you point it at. The second use for the artifacts is the ability to activate the color-coded switches next to the monster spawning portals. Doing this closes the portals, effectively skipping the first phase of the fight. Even if the player only has one or two of the artifacts, the Unmaker is still strong enough to turn the Mother Demon into a joke, provided the player has saved enough ammo for it. It feels like a “true” ending in a way; you’ve figured out the game’s tricks the second time around and are rewarded by being able to curbstomp a boss that probably killed you a few times on the first go.

The title of this final level is “The Absolution”, a curious title given the context of things. It was reportedly the working title for the game during development, though the only real reference to that I can find is an offhand remark from the level designer interview I’ve cited before. The final text screen details the Doom Marine’s decision to remain in hell to prevent any further demon uprisings, which is the beginning of the legend of the Doom Slayer from the lore of Doom 2016 and Eternal. As stated above, an absolution is a freedom from duty or obligation; in this case, one duty is traded for another, far greater one. One gets the impression that this was meant to be the end of our hero’s story. His ultimate purpose, to be humanity’s guardian against the forces of Hell, has been fulfilled, but in doing so, his own absolution is bittersweet. Doom is a pretty straightforward series of games, so it’s interesting to see this kind of thematic depth in this installment.

In the end, did conquering the game about killing demons kill my own inner demons? No. That doesn’t mean it meant nothing. I’m talking about it over fifteen years later, after all. It felt like a mirror of my own lonely life, but instead of turning me off, I was drawn in by the strange sense of comfort it gave me. It was sometimes challenging, sometimes contemplative, sometimes unsettling. In the end, after putting in the work and hunting down every secret, I was triumphant and at ease.

It was a small victory. Much like our beloved Marine, the journey never truly ends. Self fulfillment is rarely a single decisive victory, though. I’m very fond of the following quote:

Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before. -Jacob Riis

I’ve learned a lot about myself since I defeated the fictional source of evil, and those small victories have led me here today.

If you’ve overlooked Doom 64 until now, I highly recommend checking it out. The best authentic version is probably the official 2020 re-release that’s available for cheap on PC and consoles. If you’re looking for a free way to play, there are several fan made recreations. For an experience as close to the original N64 version as possible, GEC Master Edition for GZDoom is your best bet. I also recommend Doom CE, which is built on GEC and some other community-made recreations; it’s an authentic experience with options for more bells and whistles should you desire them. If you’re a fan of Brutal Doom by Sgt Mark IV, you’ll also enjoy Brutal Doom 64, also made by him.

Thanks for reading, and happy gaming!

Sources & Links

Schneider, Peer. "Doom 64 Review." IGN.com. Jan 28, 1997. https://www.ign.com/articles/1997/01/29/doom-64. Accessed October 5, 2023.

FirebrandX. "Doom Depot - Doom 64 Interview." Doomdepot.com. http://web.archive.org/web/20100320212246/http://doomdepot.doom2.net/abs- d64interview.html. Accessed October 5, 2023.

FirebrandX. “I talked to Aaron Seeler!!” Doom Depot/Castlevania Treasury Forums October 29, 2002. https://elbryan42.proboards.com/thread/257. Accessed October 6, 2023.

Fan Remakes: GEC Master Edition || Doom CE || Brutal Doom 64

Aubrey Hodges’ Bandcamp page, for your listening pleasure