The illustrious Doom series and, in fact, much of the first-person shooter genre as a whole owes quite a lot to John Romero, who helped create and popularize the genre with the Wolfenstein and original Doom games over 2 decades ago. Now it seems Romero is getting back in the saddle somewhat. He released his first new Doom level in over 21 years.
With only a few hints or teasing, Romero suddenly released the new level via his Twitter feed today. The level is labled E1M8 and is available for free now. Romero apparently started it over the holidays and just finished prepping the level a few days ago.
It's been 21 years since I made a DOOM level. Here's my version of E1M8 using DOOM1.WAD. https://t.co/ueKM7gBbXd pic.twitter.com/NlmA9aIALN
— John Romero (@romero) January 15, 2016Along with the level comes flavor text Romero wrote for the level to give the whole thing context:
After exiting the Computer Station you knew the worst was up ahead. You still hadn’t reached the place where the demons were coming from. The steel door shuts behind you as you realise you’re there; you’re at the Phobos Anomaly. Cracks from hell are all over the place as seepage from the portal invades the entire installation. Now it’s time to find the portal and stop the demons from coming through. You know UAC had hundreds of scientists working at a high-tech lab somewhere in this area, and the portal must be connected to it somehow. Time to lock and load.
Lock and load indeed. Perhaps the most interesting part of all of this is that apparently this is merely a “warm-up”. To build a level in your beloved franchise after two decades has certain implications. Whatever Romero is up to, it’s sure to be interesting.
Players can download the level over at Dropbox
