Doom is a pioneer and first-person shooter classic game. It introduced 3D graphics, true 3D spatiality, networked multiplayer gameplay, and support for player-created expansions. Doom was first released on December 10, 1993 by id Software.

Doom is one of the most widely ported video games in the FPS genre: starting with the original MS-DOS shareware version, it's been released for seven computer operating systems, nine video game consoles, two handheld game consoles, and one cell phone. And that's just the old official list. The Doom source code was eventually released under the GPL license by id Software, that's why you can download the DOS version here for free and ports simply keep on coming.

Must read: 3 Decades of Doom

Doom cemented basic shooter weapon archetypes in video games: the pistol, the shotgun, the automatic rifle, and the rocket launcher, and as such most shooter design can be traced, in some way, back to it.

How to run Doom

The original game is for DOS and to play it on computers with newer versions of Windows you will need a DOS emulator like D-Fend Reloaded, or you can use a launcher like Chocolate Doom, which you can download right from this page.

Using Chocolate Doom

  1. Download Doom original files here.
  2. Download 'Chocolate Doom' for Windows or Mac.
  3. Extract both the Doom original files and the Chocolate Doom contents to the same folder.
  4. Run Chocolate Doom.
  5. Launch the game and enjoy!

Using Emulator:

  1. Download Doom original files here.
  2. Download and install D-Fend Reloaded.
  3. Extract Doom's zip file contents to a folder.
  4. Open D-Fend Reloaded, go to File > Import > Import Folder and choose the folder where you extracted the game.
  5. In D-Fend Reloaded, choose the game you want to play and press 'Run'.