Including a few free add-ons, with plans for more to come
As much as I love the originals, I didn’t end up getting the 2019 re-releases of Doom or Doom II. I thought about it, though! And today – thanks to a new update adding 60 FPS support, quick saves, a better 4:3 aspect ration option, and add-ons like TNT: Evilution and Sigil – I’m thinking about it again.
- Add-On Support: Add-ons can now be downloaded and played from the main menu. We will continue to add content that is a mixture of official Doom and Doom II add-ons, as well as some of the best community episodes and megaWADs released for the original Doom games. We’ve curated the initial list and will be asking you guys for your picks for best community-made WADs soon.
- 60 FPS Support: For the first time, Doom and Doom II now run at 60 FPS on all platforms, instead of 35 FPS as in the original releases.
- Added Aspect Ratio Option: Stretches the display vertically to match the original 4:3 aspect ratio that the game was intended to be played in.
- Added Quick Save and Load: Pause the game, and press R/R1/RB to immediately save where you are, and unpause the game. Load your quick save by pausing the game and then pressing L/L1/LB.
- Added Level Select: Pick an episode, map, and difficulty of your choosing, and immediately play on it without having to clear the previous levels first.
- Added Weapon Carousel: You no longer need to cycle through every weapon to get to the one you want. Press Previous or Next Weapon to highlight the weapon you want, and it will swap immediately to the selected gun.
- Added Quick Weapon Select: The Directional Pad can now be used to quickly swap between weapons.
- Added Overall Brightness and Level Brightness: Turn up Overall Brightness to make the colors brighter, but if that isn’t enough, you can also raise Level Brightness to change the brightness of the lights in the world.
- Added Random SFX Pitch Toggle: Turn off randomized sound pitches during playback, which was a feature present in early versions of the original Doom release.
- New Split-Screen HUD: A minimal HUD will be used when playing split-screen multiplayer. The bottom status bar is removed, allowing more room for the game to be displayed in.
- Changed Health Graphics: The pill has been changed into a green plus, making the graphics closer to their original appearance.
- Changed Wolfenstein Secret Level: Enemies in the Wolfenstein level have been restored to the original DOS release. The original textures and enemy audio have been re-added to the level, but with [censored] references removed.
As a quick refresher, Bethesda released Doom and Doom II on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS, and Android. Next up, it’s also bringing these versions to PC via the Bethesda.net launcher.
Existing PC players will find the new versions of these games in their Bethesda.net library with a “2019 Release” title. “If you’re just buying them for the first time, you’ll receive both the original DOS-based release and our new Bethesda.net enhanced versions, which include the new Add-ons menu.”
As for add-on support, Bethesda plans for all the custom content to be “fully tested by our QA and verified to work on all platforms,” meaning players can’t upload their own creations.
That said, PC players can place “WAD files into your Saved Games\id Software\DOOM Classic\WADs folder (or the equivalent folder for Doom II) and they will be recognized in the Add-ons menu.”
More add-ons will show up “on a regular basis over the next few months,” but today, we’re getting TNT: Evilution and The Plutonia Experiment, John Romer’s Sigil, and No Rest for the Living, “a map pack created by our friends at Nerve Software for the original XBLA release.” That’s a good starting point.
With all that in mind, I’m very liable to get these games on Switch now.
DOOM & DOOM II Patch Notes [Bethesda.net]
