DOOM II

I decided it was time to jump into DOOM II after I had a couple of friends over and we played though the first episode of DOOM in multiplayer. We foolishly thought we were playing through the sequel (due to a misclick in the menu of the DOOM + DOOM II re-release), so I thought I'd just pick back up where we left off. I was immediately confused by the difference in mission structure between the two games, which helped me realize our mistake. I still wanted to play the game though, so I just started fresh.

As a disclaimer, I want to warn you that I did play at the lowest difficulty. If I had the time and the attention span, I could have made it harder and just tried to get good. However, as a dad of two littles, my gaming sessions were just too short for that approach to make sense. Regardless, I am more than content with the way I beat the game because I actually got to see every chapter before I felt like I needed to move on. I know that some people live and die by boomer shooters like this, but I'm nothing more than a casual enjoyer of the genre, which is exactly how I approached and appreciated DOOM II. In fact, the best part for me was the fact that I now have this shared experience with my father and grandfather, who played the game on their home computer when it first released.

Part of its "boomer shooter" nature, DOOM II wants the player to move fast and hit hard. However, when playing shooters, I tend to be the guy stays back and picks off my opponents one by one. I played much of DOOM II with that approach, but I wish I could have done the whole strafe-and-shoot technique more often. Likely due to a lack of experience on my part, unless there was a wide open space WITHOUT PITS, I usually couldn't bounce around and wipe out demons the way I've seen other people do. I'd usually just fall into the lava/acid pits, which often didn't have any means of escape, and then ruin my entire run.

It's been long enough since I've played the first DOOM that my memory could be failing, but I'm pretty sure the number of inescapable death traps was much lower than it was here. I was stunned by how many times I fell into lava or acid only to learn that the pit I landed in had no discernable exit and I just had to wait out my slow but inevitable demise. I would interact with every single reachable surface in the hopes of activating a secret elevator, but that only seemed to work about one in ten times. It was so bad that I started save-scumming around any sign of dangerous flooring, and I'm honestly glad I did. If I had to completely restart a mission with only a pistol every time that happened, I absolutely would not have kept playing. Thankfully, my cushioned approach to this otherwise completely metal game was very easy to set up, and I ultimately really enjoyed the rest of my experience.

Finally getting to the game itself, DOOM II follows up your success in beating back the demon hordes on the Mars base during the previous game by revealing that the hellspawn have created a portal to Earth and are causing chaos back home. As Doomguy, you must once again save the day by traveling back to Earth yourself to singlehandedly fight back the demons and give humanity a chance to flee. The new environments provide a neat departure from the familiar, with one of my favorite stages being stuffed full of skyscrapers you need to travel between using portals. However, the actual structure of the stages hasn't really changed from those in the first DOOM.

Nearly all of the missions in DOOM II are simply a maze stuffed with demons, weapons, and power-ups. You'll collect color-coded keys so you can progress further into the labyrinth until you ultimately locate the exit and begin the next mission. However, each maze was designed by one of a handful of level designers, each with their own unique ideas and styles, making for a game full of wildly shifting pacing and structure. In one mission, you may be blasting waves of enemies in wide open arenas, but the next might have you nimbly hopping across raised platforms as you dodge incoming projectiles. The creativity and variety throughout DOOM II is, in my opinion, it's strongest selling point. I didn't feel the need to "git gud" during my playthrough, but I absolutely wanted to see everything the developers crafted for this package, and I'm glad I was able to do that.

DOOM II isn't a game for everyone, especially this far removed from it's heyday. However, this sequel still has plenty to offer all these decades later, and Nightdive's modernized port is easily my recommended way to experience it. Whether you're looking for a time capsule of culture and game design, or just a cheap game to play split screen, this bundle is one of the best deals on the market.
The game is available for Android here (as of 7/27/26): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bethsoft.DOOMII&hl=en_US
The game is available for iOS here (as of 7/27/26): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/doom-ii/id1470090748
The game is available for Steam here (as of 7/27/26): https://store.steampowered.com/app/2280/DOOM__DOOM_II/
The game is available for Switch and Switch 2 here (as of 7/27/26): https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/doom-plus-doom-ii-switch/
The game is available for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S here (as of 7/27/26): https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/r/9p46m5jq2ptf
The game is available for PS4 and PS5 here (as of 7/27/26): https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10010353/

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