Introduction

The original Doom from 1993 is a First-Person Shooter developed by id-Software for the MS-DOS. Players take over the role of a space marine, mostly referred to as the Doomguy. They fight their way through hordes of demons on Mars to try to stop them from invading. Doom is held as one of the most significant games in video game history and helped to define the FPS genre.

The Sound of Doom was created by Bobby Prince. He created all 107 sound effects that can be found in the game, as well as the music tracks. Prince created the sound effects based on short descriptions or concept art of the demons and adjusted them later to fit the final animations. The music tracks were created without clear assigned levels and were later assigned to different levels by Romero. Some songs were inspired by metal bands, while others are more geared towards ambient pieces.

The full library of the Doom sounds can be found here: http://www.wolfensteingoodies.com/archives/olddoom/music.htm

Music

Doom is a mix of Heavy Metal, Horror and Power Fantasy. Which is also clearly the case when looking at the soundtrack. The game starts in the first level with the Track “At Dooms Gate” and already sets the mood for the rest of the game. With a shotgun and a kick ass metal track, you're about to purge some demons from Mars, and you will love it. Even now, the first track holds up quite well and perfectly sums up what doom is about. Mixed in with more musical tracks are also ambient tracks like “Dark Halls”. They set a more horror inspired mood and still work quite well as ambient soundtrack.

The music also helps to keep the game alive. Ambient sounds are fairly limited to switches and doors. So, a solid track in the background helps to set the mood where ambient sound is missing.

Overall, the Soundtrack of Doom must have been great in 1993 and even in 2022 the Track list holds up. The switch between more clear metal tracks and ambient tracks throughout the game is quite a welcome change. Some tracks can get annoying after a while as they are quite repetitive, but you should also consider the age of the game when playing it in 2022.

Enviroment

Ambient sound in Doom is quite limited, probably thanks to its age and how ambient sound was designed in 1993. The entire library of ambient sound consists of 18 sound effects. While limited, they are used in the right spots. Switches and doors for example use sound effect that help the player as an indicator when something is activated. Others like exploding barrels also make sense and are smartly placed. As mentioned before, the soundtrack helps here a lot to fill out a lot of blank space. The same goes for a lot of the demons that can be heard.

The ambient sound of the game is still fine. It also helps that the level design isn’t much more detailed as well, so it balances each out. In 1993, it was probably pretty good thanks to all the other sound bits. In 2022, it shows its age but doesn’t ruin the experience.

Player

If we don’t count the weapon sounds, then we have 6 sound effects for the player. Two of these sound effects are also the same. So effectively we have 5 sound effects for the player.

First, we have 3 different death sounds, which are all quite great. Two screams and a crunchy gore sound set a nice horrific mood for the player deaths. Having 3 different sounds seems also like a good idea because the player will certainly die a bunch of time on higher difficulties.

Then there’s a single sound for injuries. It's your typical grunt that you’ve heard a thousand times. It's perfectly okay, but nothing exceptional. Furthermore, it will clearly indicate when you’re hit, which is the most important part.

The last two sound effects are the same but are used for totally different cases. It’s a short grunt that gets played when activating a wall and when hitting the ground. The grunt is probably used as a sign of effort when activating a wall or falling. The problem is that it sounds like the player got injured, which can get confusing at the start of the game. A different sound for activating walls should have been chosen here. For the fall it's fine, considering that there is no fall damage it seems a bit weird though that there is a sound effect for it.

The Player sounds overall are a bit lacking, and the wall activation sound is rather confusing. There are no sounds of footsteps or running, which seems fine. The speed of the player is quite high, which would make footsteps weird and more annoying.

Items

Items sounds are used on pickup. For all items the same sound effect is used. This includes ammo, armor and health. The sound effect for picking up item is rather lacking but it indicates sufficient that a pickup took place. The bigger problem is that for different items the same sound effect is used. Which makes it hard for the player to indicate what was picked up. For special power ups a different sound effect is used that is fine as well but also nothing to exciting. Both sounds work well for the sci-fi setting of the game.

For weapon pick ups a shotgun pump is used. The sound is recognisable and satisfying and clearly indicates that a weapon has been picked up. It would have been great if each weapon got its own effect though. Weapon placement makes this not a problem though.

Items sounds are sufficient and fit the theme of the game but aren’t standing out in a significant way.

Enemies

The Enemies sound effects make the game come alive and set a nice horror atmosphere. Each demon has a set of sounds for the different action it does. They can also be heard when they are close which helps to make the mood more intense.

Guns

Gun sounds are the other thing that make up most of the sound effects when playing. There are 8 different weapons and your fists. The sounds for them are rather limited though. Each shot sounds the same and most weapons only consist of 2 sound bites. That makes the weapon sound repetitive. For 1993 the sounds are fairly satisfying, and the repetitions is easy ignored. For 2022 a bit more variety would be cool. The Shotgun is with 4 different sound effects the most fleshed out while the pistol is a good example how repetitive the effects are.

UI

The UI sounds are reused in game sound effects. For 1993 the effects certainly are pretty cool. For 2022 its rather obnoxious. Nonetheless they perfectly fit the mood of the whole game and feel right at home.

Summary

Doom is nearly 30 years old, and it's clear in its sound design. A lot of sound effects that belong into a modern AAA Title weren’t a thing in 1993. Still, the sound design holds up for what it is. Although, most of the legwork is done by the music and demon sounds.  

__DOOM VS DOOM ETERNAL__

Doom Eternal came out 27 years after the original Doom. In those years, quite a lot has happened to the game industry, which is also clear in the sound design of both titles.

Music

Overall, it’s clear what changed between both soundtracks. Quality wise, the original Doom sounds like wet noodles compared to Doom Eternal Soundtrack. Interesting though is that both titles go into a similar direction when it comes to mood. Both give you sick guitar riffs and recognizable melodies, which help you to get into the flow of ripping demons apart.

While the original Doom used Metal as its inspiration, Doom Eternal also mixes it with hard electronic sound. The mix between hard industrial electric sound and metal brings the old soundtrack into current time.

When it comes to ambient music, they both try to go into the same direction as well. An eerie atmosphere is key here, mixed with a good amount of a hellish mood.

It's obvious the technical difference both have, but it's also clear where both titles are similar. Both games also get a lot of their atmosphere from their soundtrack.

Environment

The original Doom basically has no environmental sound except some teleporter effects etc. Doom Eternal has a crisp and thought-out mix of environmental sounds that help to define each level. It's quite clear what happened in the last 30 years in the industry when comparing both titles.

Player

Id Software have moved away from giving DOOM Guy a voice. While there are plenty of voice samples in DOOM, DOOM Eternal just uses sound effects to notify when the player is injured.

Enemies

Enemy sounds have come a long way. Each enemy has its own sound signature. From DOOM to DOOM Eternal, this is definitely a major improvement point.

Guns

The guns are also a nice example of how the sound evolved in games. Gone is the repetitive sound of the old Doom. Weapon sounds also got more complex and intricate. They have different effects depending on their status. The impact is more visceral and brutal as well.

Movement

Fairly quickly compared. The original Doom doesn’t use any sound effects for movement. Doom Eternal on the other hand uses a mix of different sounds to indicate not only the current way the Doom Slayer moves, but also how his armor suit sounds while doing it. It's heavy and clearly understandable, but not annoyingly loud or repetitive.

UI

When it comes to the UI, it's quite interesting what changed. The original Doom used gunshots of the basic Pistol as a sound Que for the UI. This made the menu quite obnoxious to use. Doom Eternal goes a bit heavier into the Sci fit theme and uses a more subtle sound design in its menu. That not only makes it more barrable to use, but also makes it feel more responsive and smoother.

Summary

The sound design of Doom and Doom Eternal are a great example of how the sounds of video games have evolved in the last 30 years. Besides the higher quality, the complexity of the sounds also evolved. Guns for example don’t consist of a single sound bit anymore, instead they consist of an entire sound library with repeating sounds with slight variations to make them less repetitive. Ambient sound also got more detailed and important for a believable and immersive world. Player feedback is also clearer with well-placed sounds for every interaction. Each interaction also getting its distinctive sound so that it's always clear what is happening.

Music still holds somewhat the same value as back in the day. It's important for building atmosphere and setting a mood. It can also still mask off the lack of sound design in other places, but not quite as well as back in the 90ies.