10 Years Later, This First-Person Shooter is Still the Best

I can’t believe it’s been 10 years already. In May of this year (2026), the Bethesda-published reboot of DOOM celebrated its 10th anniversary. Honestly, it’s probably one of the best games I’ve ever played, so I’m going to bang on about it for a few minutes. Enjoy the ride!

Demon Slaying Done Right

When I saw DOOM was getting a reboot, I was both excited and a little anxious. I have fond memories of the original 2 games and remember having a pop at them when I was far too young to be doing so. I loved the idea of getting back into the franchise, but I didn’t want something that completely strayed from its roots.

I feared the game would get what I like to call “COD-ified”. You can probably take a crack at what I mean by that. I didn’t want iron sights or anything like that in a DOOM game. It’s way better suited to a run-and-gun style where you get right in there and tear shit apart. There was no way I was going to hide behind a wall or crate and try to carefully pop off imps with single shots.

Turns out I had nothing to worry about though. It was still id Software developing it, and they knew exactly how to deliver the franchise into a more modern gaming world without disrespecting what DOOM is supposed to be.

Rip and Tear

For those who may not be familiar but clicked on this article anyway, DOOM is basically a fast-paced first-person shooter where you run around an industrial complex of sorts on Mars in a suit of armour, blasting and smashing up demons who have appeared through portals to Hell. It’s as ridiculous as it sounds and that’s what makes it so great. You play as a dude simply known as the Doomslayer, and at this point in the series, that’s about as much as you need to know about him.

It’s not just the crazy setting of the game that keeps me interested, though. This game still feels better as an FPS to me than most that came after it. It reminds me of old shooters but still feels like it’s evolved with the times. It still feels like the old DOOM games but with much better graphics and even some cool little bits added on top too.

The finishers that they introduced were brilliant. On the smaller, weaker enemies it was just a hilarious little thing to do, but on the more robust demos it always felt satisfying to see them start flashing and watch them get pummelled or torn apart. I’ve not seen this kind of thing done so well anywhere else yet.

9-Strings of Chaos

One of my absolute favourite aspects to this game, though, is one that I didn’t expect to this extent. The original DOOM games had great little soundtracks. Some of those songs were clearly just Pantera riffs which they’d taken and just turned into their own with a bit of rearrangement. However, this time they went hard.

The soundtrack to DOOM was crafted by the extremely talented Mick Gordon, and it’s probably some of the best music I’ve heard in my life. The 9-string guitar, Meshuggah-style djenty riffs, crossed with the Nine Inch Nails-esque industrial elements – I loved it so much that I bought a collector’s edition of it on Vinyl. 4 blood-red discs in a snazzy-looking box with beautiful artwork to it. Even if it becomes worth a fortune, I’m never parting with it. It’s gorgeous.

It’s not often I get that excited for a game’s soundtrack. Of course, I have fond memories with a lot of music in games, but this one is different. This one quite literally slays. It’s a shame that they fucked it with Mick after the second game though. His compositions are pure genius, and it certainly made a difference after he parted ways (absolutely no disrespect to the later composers though who still do a brilliant job).

I truly love this game. People that know me probably know this too. I like to remind them every so often, if I can, that DOOM 2016 is awesome. Give me this over any COD title any day.