Doom 2 reimagined as Diablo 2 is trippy as hell

Doom 2 left a huge impression on me. One of my earliest memories was sitting in front of my family’s gigantic desktop computer and (at a wildly inappropriate age) gleefully blasting away cacodemons with a BFG, watching them descend into a formless pool of gloop. Even today I remember the cheat codes — IDDQD and IDKFA, in case you were wondering.

Years later (decades, actually), the original 90’s Doom games have their adherents. Take YouTuber DoIIoM for example, who has created a mod that re-imagines Doom II as 2000’s Diablo II. Check it out.

PCGamer stumbled across Doomiablo earlier today. While the mod is still pretty raw, the concept is obvious. The same Doom formula is present. The main difference is that you perceive the action from a birds-eye view.

As a technical demo, it’s deeply impressive. I haven’t had the chance to try it yet, though I worry the move from a first-person to a third-person perspective will strip away some of the suspense that made it so compelling.

What made the original Doom so amazing was that, despite the obvious technical and visual limitations of the era, it was bloody terrifying. Even though the demons looked like pixelated pizza stains, ID Software managed to craft something pant-moisteningly scary, largely thanks to their innovative use of lighting, sound, and surprise. Doom essentially set the groundwork for modern horror games.

But that aside, Doomiablo proves one thing, and that’s that good games never truly die.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to frag some imps. What’s that? No, I’m not skiving. It’s… research. I swear guv.