Until Doom Eternal came along and engulfed YouTube in the fires of hellish Discourse, Doom 3 was the hotly debated one. Discussed and re-litigated a thousand times over, it was highly praised by many at launch, “a non-stop ride of tension, carnage and terror” (to quote PC Gamer’s 94% scoring review), while others found themselves less enthralled by its goofy action-horror charms. Edge Magazine and the New York Times both considered it a pleasant enough seven-out-of-ten game, with the latter skewering it for its “skeletal story and often repetitive game play”. Criticisms that seem increasingly fair with time.Does Doom 3 hold up today? That’s a complicated question. Did it hold up at launch is an equally interesting one. Doom 3 was, for many, a visual showcase. A victory lap for PC gaming, featuring graphics that seem quaintly of-an-era now, but were almost (more on that later) the cutting edge at the time. Doom 3’s entire aesthetic was defined by its deep, sharp-edged stencil shadows ca...
