After almost 30 years, the oldDoomreleases are more than just beloved games, as they pretty much set the bar for the early days of first-person shooters. As aclassic video game that still holds up to this day, the original title is still an inspiration after all this time, and while the reboot and subsequent launch ofEternalhave been highly praised, many fans will always return to where the series started. However, that’s not to say id Software’s influential series can’t make the leap into the modern gaming sphere, as one modder recently showed.
In a video uploaded to YouTube, user sultim_t has managed to add ray tracing to 1993’sDoom. It should be pointed out that, while the teaser trailer was posted on April Fool’s Day, this is a genuine mod for the game, with the first three episodes being available to download from GitHub. Overall, it shows what the classic FPS looks like when given more realistic light and shadow, with the result being surprisingly colorful, what with the glow of the red lava or green radiation. It gives this three-decade-old release just that little bit of a modern look.
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This is also not the first time the user has done something like this. A few months back, sultim_t showed footage from an upcomingray tracing mod for the firstHalf-Lifegame. Similar to theDoomone, it shows a before and after of what the game’s lighting used to look like, to what it looks like now with the modern tweak. At the time of writing, theHalf-Lifemod doesn’t appear to be available just yet, with the modder saying that “these things, they take time.”
Ray tracing is fast becoming a video game standardthese days. It’s implemented in a lot of AAA and indie titles, sometimes after the fact. As is evidenced here, it’s also possible to take a much older release and give it that ray tracing facelift which can make the visuals pop to some extent, even if the overall graphics are dated when compared to the industry today.
After so many years, fans are always finding new ways to tinker with the originalDoomgames. With people looking to getDoomrunning on all sorts of crazy devicesand modders continuing to change up the formula or just add to it, it’s pretty clear that id Software’s groundwork for the modern FPS genre has made a huge impact on gaming in general.
The originalDoomwas released in December 1993 for multiple platforms and has been ported to many systems over the years.
