Top 7 Indie Games Inspired By Doom
Fight like hell.
id Software’s hellish first-person shooter has long since reigned over the world of gory first-person shooters. There’s nothing like the squish of blood splatter or the crunch of horns under the pressure of a shotgun, and players have been itching to get back into the action ever since those early pixelated adventures. With the rerelease of the classic Doom trilogy, we’re taking a look at just how influential those original gunslinging, demon-dodging days of Doom were in the indie scene.
7. Paranautical Activity
While Paranautical Activity is such a blend of genres and influences, it’s easy to see how much of its gameplay was inspired by Doom. The procedurally generated dungeon crawler features all the high octane first-person shooter action you can shake a plasma gun at, with the added bonus of a difficulty spike common of rogue-likes.
With the neo-noir graphical style, it’s not obvious you’re playing a Doom-like title right from the off. However, once you start bouncing across rooms to fend of nightmarish ghouls, those old memories will soon come flooding back.
The permadeath feature takes away some of the run-and-gun frivolity of the original series, but the sheer speed of each level will take your thumbs straight back to those early days on Mars’ moons. Even if your eyes don’t make the connection, your muscle memory sure will.
6. Wrack
Wrack is a stylised gory take on Doom’s tight corridors and vicious demons built around a chain combo system that cranks the pacing up a notch. Slaughtering countless enemies in your path is still at the core of the game’s design, so it doesn’t stray too far away from its progenitor, but expect way more emphasis on speed.
Combining a variety of game modes, such as time and score attack, Wrack is an arcade shooter with a purpose – building insane kill combos. Add Mega Man-style boss battles into the mix and you’ve got something that pushes the difficulty as well as the action.
It looks every bit as fun as Doom, although the less gritty visuals may offset the horror elements Doom could evoke at times. Either way, you’re an unstoppable force of shooty hell so how scared of hell’s minions could you ever really be?
5. Devil Daggers
Whereas some of the games on this list could be long lost siblings of DOOM, such is their level of similarity, Devil Daggers is clearly inspired by games of that era but does something a little different with their DNA. Rather than giving you levels to complete, Devil Daggers spawns you in a single room and challenges you to stay alive for as long as possible. No mean feat, when you have to survive waves of flying skulls, tentacled beasts and other demonic creatures.
In another departure from the classic formula, you won’t have an army’s worth of weaponry at your disposal – instead, you’re simply given the ‘devil daggers.’ While these don’t compare to the BFG, they can still hold their own, and can be thrown at a distance in quick succession or a close-range blast. When enemies are shot they drop red crystals that increase the power of your attacks, so gathering as many of them as you can find is crucial to managing a long innings.
Devil Daggers soon gets pretty intense, with monsters filling the arena. But because each run is pretty short, jumping back in for another stab at your record is irresistible. Solidifying the retro feel is the visual design, with charmingly low-poly graphics transporting you straight back to the advent of first-person shooters.
4. Project Warlock
With its unique visual style and combination of hardcore weaponry and spell-slinging, Project Warlock modernises the gameplay mechanics of its Doom and Wolfenstein 3D inspiration. A gorgeous arena of bloodshed awaits as you take on the role of a young Warlock on his journey to Hell and, of course, there are plenty of demons to gun down on the way.
Beyond the traditional gunplay of Doom, Project Warlock also introduces a far wider weapon crafting and upgrade system that opens up new combat options with every added ability.
You’ll be travelling through time and space to vanquish evil in all the grotesque sprite forms it takes. That is, the enemies are suitably grotesque. The sprites are gorgeous. An almost comic book aesthetic lends itself perfectly to the run and gun, whack and splat nature of Project Warlock. It’s a fast-paced thrill ride worthy of its influences.
3. Strafe
You might remember STRAFE from its bonkers announcement trailer styled like a ’90s ad in which a child’s head explodes playing the game on a classic CRT monitor set up. This was our first look at the “world’s bloodiest” game and it invoked some serious Doom vibes.
It’s more than just a homage to ’90s first-person shooters, though. It features rogue-like elements and procedural generation which changes the levels every time you play. With insane weapons and a lightning-fast pace, STRAFE takes classic first-person shooters and puts them in a blender.
There’s even a vague kind of story to explain the outrageous level of violence. As a Scrapper on a dangerous mission at the edge of the galaxy, it’s your fate to survive the nightmarish hell you find yourself in or let your blood stain forever tell the story of your failure. More importantly, it also features persistent gore, so things get pretty bloody, even in comparison to the Doom series of games.
2. Hellbound
“A 90s FPS, 20 years later” is the straightforward pitch for Hellbound, proudly emblazoned on its Steam store page. Take one look at it, and it’s hard to argue with that statement. Hellbound is a modern-day celebration of DOOM and its ilk, right down to the angular orange logo and premise of demon-hunting in Hell.
Hellbound just squeezed past its $40k target on Kickstarter in June 2018. Since then, Saibot Studios released the standalone Hellbound: Survival Mode (pictured above) to whet people’s appetites for the full game. A free-to-play proof of concept, it challenges players to survive for as long as possible in a small arena, with monthly leaderboards. It’s been well received, with a solid ‘Very Positive’ rating on Steam.
When the full Hellbound arrives, players can expect levels teeming with demons, an armoury of shotguns, machine guns and rocket launchers to choose from, and powerups – but “no auto heal, XP, level ups or anything like that.” If DOOM didn’t need ’em, then neither does Hellbound.
1. Dusk
It would be wrong to write a list of games inspired by Doom without bringing music to the forefront for a while. That’s where Dusk comes in. With the roaring tracks of Andrew Hulshult underpinning every blood-soaked encounter you find yourself in, Dusk certainly picks up the hardcore tones Doom laid down.
While the weapon variety is limited, Dusk thrives in its speed. If you’ve toned your thumbs leaping and bolting around the moons of Mars, you’ll be well trained for the zippy gameplay that awaits you here.
While you won’t be facing off against too many horrific demons, the scares that await you in Dusk are no less terrifying for their (for the most part) lack of claws. From shotgun-wielding scarecrows to a band of cultists, you’ll be traversing a wide range of locations, each one perfectly constructed to make your hair stand on end and your trigger finger twitch.
If you don’t think you can play a Doom game without its classic otherworldly monstrosities, there are still plenty of grim foes to splatter. Plus, the arena multiplayer pits you against the rest of the world in a bloodthirsty battle for supremacy over evil.
There’s plenty to get your rocket launchers into here, with retro design and head-banging soundtracks reigning supreme. If you’re looking for something a little more laid back, check out our list of the Top 7 Indie Tactical Role-Playing Games, or for more action head over to the Top 7 Underrated Indie Platformers.