There are people who would love for Doom 1 and 2 to have "remasters" or remakes and i think there are a lot of things to consider IF those ever happen:

  • The classic games have a messy art style/presentation because the original team (Who is not at id anymore, by the way) didn't care much of the setting, so Doom's premise was a "frankenstein" sort of presentation and it's why fans either get creative with fan content or argue over "this is what Doom is".
  • Some assets (FIREBLU, that twisted faces texture) and levels are so abstract, they could get "multiple" interpretations because there's no "definitive answer" to what X would look like in HD.
  • Some details like the Arch-vile's face tubes could be lost in an HD model of the demon (Specially in a series where either the story is meaningless/ignored or most people only focus on modern Doom lore; Not many invest in the OG Doom "lore" except for wiki nerds that document stuff about classic Doom, those that look at lost/obscure media like the mobile games and manuals or fans who create content like Realm667 assets that explore the aesthetic).
  • Lots of videogame remakes always lose some aspects of the originals, so there could always be differences we may take a while to realize and miss (This is why i like how Metroid Zero Mission comes with the OG Metroid).
  • Doom has the biggest modding scene and a very creative fanbase, so fans already "remastered" Doom many times and it shows 2 extremes: The first being ugly models/textures making it seem impossible to translate Doom to HD and really good assets that mean fans are too invested in the "Doom setting" and moreso than even the original id devs.
  • "Remaking Doom" can mean a lot of things: You mean classic UAC bases built like Build Engine/Quake maps with extra props and geometry but still retaining classic textures? Those ugly "REALISTIC" Unity locations? Mods like Smooth/Beautiful Doom that had extra/nicer sprites animations?
  • Even if Doom had an "art style" you'd have to consider stuff like Doomguy's "flat top of his head" and games like Wolfenstein 3D (even HD ports) and Catacombs 3D or the mobile games even.
  • Some sound effects have unusual origins, so remastering sounds could change them differently.
  • Most classic Doom music comes in different genres and instruments, so i don't think every theme has to be heavy metal just because it's the main genre.
  • Another way to "study" Doom's aesthetic is to look at its development and unused assets but Romero is still restricted from sharing more of them.
  • Whatever issue Doom has, source ports and mods still exist for that.
  • There are obvious reasons why modern Doom games don't play like the originals and you have stuff like corpses disappearing over time.
  • Doom is moddable but its source code may have some limitations that are why the Unity ports have their limits and why "boomer shooters" made under GZDoom will never be on consoles.
  • Perhaps a reason to "remake" Doom 1/2 is to connect the old games to the new ones in terms of lore, which feels a bit dishonest because it's clear the classic games will always have tonal/aesthetical/mechanical/contextual differences from the new ones.

I like how Eternal had SOME remastered concepts because: 1 they still had differences from the originals and 2 Eternal is its own game with its own direction and identity.
I prefer if a Doom game (mainline or spin-off) has its fair share of fanservice and "throwbacks" but is still its own thing.
Videogame remakes are a double edge sword where you either completely rewrite an old game or "remake" an already modern looking game.
Even worse is when remakes replace the older versions, so it feels like historical revisionism.

RE4 is a questionable remake because the game is already praised as a 10/10 game.
And "setting a game to modern standards" is also questionable because sometimes, "current standards" aren't that good.
"Current standards" in modern games usually mean "release product unfinished, add in MTX, put in shitty MCU writing, add Ubisoft-esque features that make a game feel bloated than it makes it feel interesting, overwork devs to death over photorealistic graphics, make the filesize too big (Either to compete with other devs for storage space or because you don't know how to compress files) and then slap a 70$ price tag and pay the IGN reviewer well enough to give it a high score".
In general, "remakes" make it seem like pop culture is imploding, as if media is too much about itself.

Midly related but i've also seen people say "what if Doom had a spin-off like Mario Maker for consoles" and it made me think of factors like:

  • There would be limitations, not just from tech/physical limts but also legal/policy limits, which is why Unity ports are the way they are.
  • Because of the large culture around Doom wads, a "Doom Maker" would be creating an off-shoot of that culture.
  • Doom wads are fan content hosted in fan sites and those sites/their content can last for years: Consider that when it comes to modding and custom levels in games, since SnapMap is an official feature hosted by id themselves.
  • Besides gameplay/engine limitations, another thing to consider when making "classic" versions of new demons (Carcass, Whiplash etc) is if their gameplay will be changed to suit the "philosophy" of classic Doom's design; Specially if there's something interesting to their differences like new interesting attacks to compensate for what they'd lack.
  • Aesthetics are another factor to think about, since classic Doom has aesthetics/ideas that Eternal hasn't brought back: Basically, consider trends or influences and what either Urdak/Maykrs or Sentinels/Argent D'nur would look like if they existed in the classic games; Would you be creative with their differences, try to analyze what makes the classic Doom aesthetic like that or just lazily pixelate some objects?
  • Would it use unused assets like textures and sprites? Remember what i said about Romero and cut Doom content.
  • Would they even use stuff from D64 or Final Doom? What about RPG?
    Plus, Doom has a fanbase that did a lot of fanservice to itself; You could argue they got a bigger "HIRE THIS MAN" energy than Sonic fans.
Edit
Pub: 07 Nov 2022 22:48 UTC
Edit: 21 Nov 2022 23:35 UTC
Views: 97