Doom is one of those very few games where I can remember precisely where I was and what I was doing when I saw it for the first time. I was that blown away by it. I didn’t have a PC growing up, I was at a friend’s house. He showed me the game. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
And this is why this feature, over at Eurogamer, is so fascinating. It takes a look at the original design document for Doom and looks over the features that ended up being cut from the final game. A four player, Left 4 Dead style experience, decades before the release of Left 4 Dead? Jesus… I don’t know if my cordial fueled, 12 year old brain could have taken it.
Take, for example, this section…
“Doom takes up to four players through a futuristic world,” explains Hall’s summary. “They may cooperate or compete to push back the invading hordes… [and] the environment is one big world, just like real life.”
And while Doom is and was known for being a relatively straight forward shooter, the original plan was for something far more cinematic.
“You and four friends are having a game of cards in the hangar bay,” Hall writes, describing the opening cut-scene Doom never had. “Meanwhile, the research team are doing experiments at the anomalies found on the moon. There is a flash of horrible light and two gates open at equidistant points on the moon’s surface… Every awake [sic] is quickly killed. One reaching for the alarm button has his hand chopped off!”
It’s a really interesting feature, and a great look at what might have been. It’s crazy to think that, despite how ground breaking Doom was upon release, so much more incredibly innovative content was left on the cutting room floor.
The deleted scenes of Doom [Eurogamer]
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