Horror Games Special Feature – Doom 3

Posted on 15th October 201520th October 2015 by

With Halloween just around the corner, we felt it was time to delve into some of the horror classics of gaming!
In the nights leading up to All Hallows Eve, we’re going to do a short feature of some of the more notable horror games that have been released. This isn’t a list of the best or even our favourites.
Just some Horror games which have stood out to us, for one reason or another.

For our first feature, we decided Hell was the best place to start.
But where in the hell do you start when trying to talk about Doom 3?

Representing a massive directional shift, Doom went from silly, blood n’ guts carnage to nerve-shredding horror in its third installment. It was a direction not everyone was happy with, but those who enjoyed horror had little to complain about with this heart-stopping exploration in terror.

It’s not a perfect game, by any means. The niche horror genre is bound to divide audiences, and it definitely gets repetitive towards the end. Fortunately, it leaves on a high note, with your BFG-toting Space Marine bursting through the gates of hell, like the bad ass penis allegory that he is, blowing chunks out of a gargantuan Cyberdemon, rendered beautifully in full 3D.

The reason this game stands out in memory is because it is so obviously the black sheep of the franchise. Doom and Doom 2 are both straight up shooters. They might feature hell, demons and gleeful chainsaw wielding. But if either game made you crap your pants, it wasn’t because of any sort of tension.
It was because you just stepped into an arena full of Mecha-Brain Spiderdemons.

Doom 3 might not be what fans want in a Doom game, but it’s nonetheless a solid survival horror game. It has a beautifully realised world, full of little details and brilliant light and shadow mechanics to make it properly terrifying.
Definitely a game worth owning.

Best moment:
The game may have had pacing issues towards the end, but it culminates beautifully in the final scene. After walking through an archway into an empty arena, you stand there, confused. Until you realise, that wasn’t an archway…

Where is the franchise now?
Doom 4 was teased all the way back in 2008, before finding itself, ironically, doomed to development hell. A prototype was made that had a similar style to Call of Duty, with a lot of cinematic cut-scenes.
In 2011, Doom 4 was scrapped completely and the development team went back to the drawing board. The newest game in the franchise has been rebranded simply as ‘Doom’ and is due for release in 2016.