Doom 3 is a 2004 first-person shooter game created by id Software and published by Activision. It was first released for Windows on August 3, 2004. Later that year, the game was adapted for Linux, and in 2005, Aspyr Media ported it to Mac OS X. Vicarious Visions later released the game for the Xbox worldwide on April 4, 2005.

The game is set on Mars in the year 2145. A large company that combines military and industrial work has built a research facility on Mars to study topics like teleportation, biology, and advanced weapons. During experiments with teleportation, a scientist named Doctor Betruger opens a gateway to Hell, causing demons to invade the Mars base. The player controls a space marine who fights through the base to stop the demons from reaching Earth.

Doom 3 is the first reboot of the Doom series, meaning it does not include events from earlier games. It uses the id Tech 4 game engine, which was later licensed for use by other developers. In November 2011, the engine was released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.

Doom 3 was both critically and commercially successful. Over 3.5 million copies were sold, making it the most successful game developed by id Software at that time. Critics praised the game’s graphics, presentation, and atmosphere. However, some reviewers felt the gameplay was less similar to the original Doom, focusing mainly on fighting large groups of enemies.

An expansion pack called Resurrection of Evil, developed by Nerve Software, was released in April 2005. In February 2008, novelizations of Doom 3 written by Matthew J. Costello were published. A remastered version, Doom 3: BFG Edition, was released in the fourth quarter of 2012. The game has been adapted for multiple platforms, including some that support portable and virtual reality gameplay.

Gameplay

Doom 3 is a story-focused action game played from the player's viewpoint. Some parts show short scenes from a different viewpoint. As with earlier Doom games, the main goal is to complete levels by defeating enemies that try to harm the player. Doom 3 includes more story elements, so the player often meets friendly non-player characters who share important details, tasks, and items. The game provides ten weapons for survival, such as submachine guns, shotguns, grenades, experimental plasma weapons, and the powerful BFG 9000 and chainsaw. Enemies are divided into two groups: zombies, which are humans controlled by demonic forces and attack with hands, melee weapons, or firearms, and demons, which are creatures from Hell that attack with claws, spines, or fireballs. After being defeated, demons turn to ashes, leaving no remains.

The game’s levels are partially linear and include horror elements, especially darkness. This design is meant to create tension and make enemies harder to spot. Players must choose between holding a weapon or a flashlight (until a later update added a feature to hold both), which affects how quickly they can react. Levels often have scattered corpses, body parts, and blood, sometimes used with lighting to confuse players.

Frequent radio messages from non-player characters add to the atmosphere by playing sounds and messages that unsettle the player. Early in the game, the player hears fighting, screaming, and dying through the radio. Background sounds, such as hissing pipes, footsteps, and loud noises, enhance the environment. Sometimes, players hear sounds like deep breathing, strange voices, or demonic taunts.

Early in the game, the player receives a personal data assistant (PDA). The PDA allows access to locked areas by showing security clearance levels. It also lets the player read emails, listen to audio logs, or watch video discs collected during the game. When the player picks up other PDAs found in the game, their contents are automatically added to the player’s own device. These PDAs often include emails, audio logs, and details like key codes or plot information.

Doom 3 originally included a four-player multiplayer mode with four game types. The community later modified the game to support eight or sixteen players. The Resurrection of Evil expansion officially increased the player limit to eight. All four modes are deathmatches. In standard deathmatch, players collect weapons and kill others, with the player having the most kills when time runs out winning. A team version follows the same rules but divides players into teams. In "last man standing," players have limited chances to revive after being killed, with the last remaining player winning. In "tournament," two players fight while others watch. The winner stays to face the next player until defeated. The Xbox version also includes a two-player co-operative mode for the single-player story.

As of April 15, 2010, the Xbox Live service was closed, so online multiplayer for the original Xbox version of Doom 3 is no longer available.

Synopsis

Doom 3 takes place on the planet Mars in the year 2145. The game’s story explains that the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) has become the largest company in the world with nearly unlimited money. The UAC built a research facility on Mars to study topics like advanced weapons, biology, space travel, and teleportation, often ignoring rules and morals. As the player plays, they learn that workers at the base experience strange events, such as hearing voices, seeing unexplained things, and becoming paranoid or mentally unstable, which sometimes lead to deadly accidents. Many workers also talk about mysterious experiments happening in the UAC’s Delta Labs.

Most of the game’s story and dialogue were written by author Matthew J. Costello.

There are five main characters in Doom 3. The player controls an unnamed Space Marine corporal who has just arrived at the UAC’s Mars base. The player’s leader is Master Sergeant Thomas Kelly (voiced by Neil Ross), who gives the player instructions and advice through a radio during the first part of the game. The main villain is Dr. Malcolm Betruger (voiced by Philip L. Clarke), the head scientist of Delta Labs, who works with demons from Hell to conquer humanity. Betruger’s voice often taunts the player as the game progresses. The other two main characters are Elliott Swann (voiced by Charles Dennis), a UAC board member, and Jack Campbell (voiced by Andy Chanley), a Space Marine who carries a powerful weapon called the BFG 9000. Swann travels to Mars to investigate strange accidents at the base after receiving a request for help from someone who reported wrongdoing. Swann is usually with Campbell, and both are shown to be slightly ahead of the player but cannot be directly contacted until later in the game. The game also includes many smaller characters who help the player or add details to the story, such as scientists, other Marines, security guards, and workers.

UAC board member Elliott Swann, his bodyguard Jack Campbell, and a newly arrived Marine arrive at Mars City, the entrance to the UAC’s Mars base. They are sent to investigate problems at the Delta Complex. Swann meets with Dr. Betruger, while the Marine reports to Master Sergeant Kelly for orders. Kelly tells the Marine to find a missing scientist from Delta Labs. The Marine locates the scientist in an old communications building, where the scientist is trying to warn the UAC on Earth about Betruger’s teleportation experiments. As the scientist explains, another teleportation test goes wrong, causing a shockwave that spreads across the base. Demons from Hell then invade through the teleporter and turn most of the base’s workers into zombies.

Now fighting off zombie workers and demons, the Marine returns to Mars City, where Kelly orders them to join another squad of Marines and retrieve a transmission card to call for help. As the Marine moves through the base, they learn that Swann and Campbell survived and are heading to the communications facility to stop any messages from being sent. The Marine’s squad is attacked by demons and killed at the EnPro Plant, but the Marine recovers the transmission card. However, Campbell destroys most of the equipment at the communications facility. Kelly then directs the Marine to a backup system, where they must choose whether to send for help or keep Mars isolated to avoid risking Earth. Depending on this choice, Kelly or Swann tells the Marine to go to the Delta Labs.

While traveling to Delta Labs, the Marine is contacted by Betruger, who reveals he is working with Hell to invade Earth. If the Marine did not send for help, Betruger sends a message to Earth to use incoming ships to bring demons to Earth. Betruger tries to kill the Marine using toxic gases in the base’s recycling system. At Delta Labs, the Marine learns about teleportation experiments, expeditions to Hell for specimens, Betruger’s obsession with testing, and a dig for ancient alien remains on Mars. The dig uncovered a relic called the Soul Cube, a weapon made by an ancient civilization to fight demons. A scientist explains that Betruger sent the Soul Cube to Hell through the teleporter at the start of the game, which caused the invasion. The Marine chases Betruger through the labs but is lured into a trap and pulled into the main teleporter.

The teleporter sends the Marine directly to Hell, where they fight demons to reach the Soul Cube and defeat its guardian. The Marine then uses teleportation equipment to return to Delta Labs. Betruger tells the Marine that although the main teleporter is destroyed, Hell is opening a large portal called a Hellmouth on Mars, which could bring millions of demons to the planet. The Marine finds injured Swann, who reveals that Kelly has been working with Hell and has been turned into a demon. Swann gives the Marine a device with information about the Hellmouth’s location and says he will try to escape the base alone.

When the Marine finds Campbell, he is badly hurt and tells the Marine that Kelly has taken Campbell’s BFG 9000 weapon. Kelly then taunts the Marine in a demonic voice. The Marine fights Kelly, who has become a cyborg attached to a tank-like machine. After defeating Kelly, the Marine takes the BFG 9000 and travels to Site 3, the dig site where the Soul Cube was found. At the dig site, the Marine discovers the Hellmouth, which is guarded by a powerful demon called the Cyberdemon. Using the Soul Cube, the Marine defeats the Cyberdemon, and the Soul Cube seals the Hellmouth. The game ends with Earth’s reinforcements arriving at the base, finding the Marine alive but learning that Swann has died. Betruger is not found, and the final scene shows him in Hell.

Development

In June 2000, John Carmack, a game engine designer at id Software, shared a company plan that included remaking the game Doom using new technology. This plan showed that some employees at id Software had disagreements about remaking Doom. Kevin Cloud and Adrian Carmack, who owned part of the company, strongly disagreed with the idea, thinking that id Software was repeating old ideas too often. However, after the success of the game Return to Castle Wolfenstein and improvements in graphics technology, most employees believed remaking Doom was a good idea. They told the two owners that they would either make the game or leave the company. After a calm but firm discussion, the owners agreed to let the employees work on Doom 3. Development of Doom 3 began in late 2000, right after completing Quake III: Team Arena. About 20 to 22 people worked on the game, and the budget was $10 million. Later, John Carmack estimated the total cost reached $14 million.

In February 2001, Steve Jobs, who was the CEO of Apple at that time, introduced Doom 3 to the public during the Macworld Conference & Expo in Tokyo. The game was also shown at E3 2002, where a 15-minute gameplay demo was played. Doom 3 won five awards at E3 that year.

Early in the development of Doom 3, Trent Reznor, a musician from the band Nine Inch Nails and a composer for id Software’s earlier game Quake, was chosen to create the game’s music and sound effects. However, because of time, money, and poor management, none of his work was included in the final game. Instead, Chris Vrenna, a former drummer of Nine Inch Nails, and Clint Walsh, a member of the band Tweaker, created the game’s soundtrack.

Doom 3 was designed to have a stronger story than earlier id Software games, with professional voice actors. In late 2002, two employees at ATI Technologies shared an early version of Doom 3 online. A year later, a new trailer was shown at E3 2003, and id Software’s website was updated to show Doom 3 as an upcoming project. However, the game was not ready for the 2003 holiday season. John Carmack said the development took longer than expected. A company called Splash Damage helped design the multiplayer parts of the game. Around 3,000 beta testers provided feedback during QuakeCon events. The most intense part of development, called the "crunch period," happened between January and August 2004.

John Carmack, the lead graphics engine developer at id Software, said the technology used in Doom 3 had three main features: lighting and shadows that worked together in real-time, complex animations and scripts that showed real-time with dynamic lighting, and interactive computer screens in the game. The most important new feature in the id Tech 4 engine used for Doom 3 was the unified lighting and shadowing system. Instead of calculating lightmaps during map creation, most light sources were calculated in real-time. This allowed lights to cast shadows on moving objects like monsters and machines, which was not possible with older methods. A drawback of this system was that it could not create soft shadows or global lighting effects.

To make the game world more interactive, id Software created hundreds of high-resolution animated screens for in-game computers. Instead of using a key to operate these screens, players could use their crosshair like a mouse to interact with them. This allowed computer terminals to perform multiple tasks, such as opening doors, starting machines, changing lights, or unlocking weapon storage. According to the Doom 3 manual, Patrick Duffy, the GUI designer, wrote over 500,000 lines of code and created more than 25,000 image files for all the game’s graphical interfaces and displays. Other important features of the game engine included normal mapping and specular highlights on textures, realistic object physics, a dynamic and ambient soundtrack, and multi-channel sound. The Xbox version of Doom 3 supported 480p widescreen video resolution and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.

Release

Doom 3 received gold status on July 14, 2004, and a Mac OS X version was confirmed the next day. The game was released in the United States on August 3, 2004, and globally on August 13. Because of high demand, it was available at select stores at midnight on its release date. A Linux version was released on October 4, 2004, by Timothee Besset. The Mac OS X version came out on March 14, 2005. On February 20, 2006, patch 1.3 Rev A included a universal binary, adding support for Mac OS X on the x86 architecture. A modified Xbox version was released on April 4, 2005, and included a limited steel book edition with two games: The Ultimate Doom and Doom II: Hell on Earth.

A week before Doom 3’s release, it was revealed that id Software and Creative Labs had agreed to include EAX audio technology in the game. This agreement was strongly influenced by a patent owned by Creative Labs. The patent involved a shadow-rendering technique called Carmack’s Reverse, which was developed independently by John Carmack and Creative Labs programmers. To avoid legal issues, id Software agreed to license Creative Labs’ sound technologies in exchange for protection from lawsuits.

At QuakeCon 2011, John Carmack announced that the source code for the Doom 3 engine would be released. The code was made available under the GNU GPL-3.0-or-later license on November 22, 2011. Minor changes were made to the shadow-rendering code to avoid potential patent issues. Art assets like 3D models, music, and sound effects remain subject to the EULA.

On April 4, 2005, eight months after Doom 3’s release, id Software launched an expansion pack called Resurrection of Evil for Windows. The expansion was developed by Nerve Software, a company that had worked with id Software on other projects. It was published by Activision, with a Linux version released on May 24, 2005, and an Xbox version on October 5, 2005. The expansion added a new 12-level single-player campaign set two years after the original story, three new weapons, and new enemy characters. Multiplayer features were improved, with a player limit increased to eight and new game modes like capture the flag. While Resurrection of Evil received less positive reviews than Doom 3, it was still generally well-received by critics.

In 2009, Escalation Studios released a spin-off of Doom 3 for iOS called Doom Resurrection. It was a rail shooter similar to Time Crisis or The House of the Dead. The game was later removed from the App Store.

A re-release called Doom 3: BFG Edition was published by Bethesda Softworks in 2012. It included enhanced graphics, improved sound with more horror effects, a checkpoint save system, support for 3D displays and HMDs, and the ability to use a flashlight while holding a weapon. The edition also included the Resurrection of Evil expansion, a new single-player expansion called The Lost Mission, and copies of the original Doom and Doom II. The versions of Doom and Doom II included in the BFG Edition had changes to make content more appropriate. PC versions of the BFG Edition, except for the GOG.com release, require the Steam client and a valid Steam account for installation, play, and achievements.

On June 4, 2015, Doom 3: BFG Edition was released for Nvidia Shield Tablet and Nvidia Shield TV without online multiplayer. On July 26, 2019, the edition was released as Doom 3 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One without online multiplayer. On March 29, 2021, it was released as Doom 3: VR Edition for PlayStation 4 via PlayStation VR, also without online multiplayer.

Reception

Doom 3 received positive reviews from critics. The PC version of the game had an 87% score on Metacritic and an 88% score on GameRankings. Critics praised the game’s graphics and presentation. GameSpot described the environments as "very realistic, full of atmosphere, and surprisingly large." PC Gamer UK said the graphics and character designs were "perfect," noting that Doom 3 brought the Doom franchise back to the top of the gaming industry, 11 years after the original Doom was released. IGN’s Dan Adams said the game’s atmosphere was a major part of the experience, adding that without it, the game would feel like an older, simpler shooter. Some reviewers also noted that the game looked good even on lower graphics settings.

Reviewers also appreciated the game’s story and setting. GameSpot’s Greg Kasavin said the game felt like it took place in a fully developed world. IGN mentioned that the UAC base looked worn and realistic. Eurogamer said the game’s opening scene honored the ideas from Valve’s Half-Life, a highly influential game.

Many reviewers said the game used a similar "run and gun" gameplay style as earlier Doom games, which was both praised and criticized. Some said the gameplay became repetitive over time. The game’s artificial intelligence was not seen as challenging. GameSpot noted that enemies followed predictable patterns, and GameSpy said enemy appearances felt "gimmicky," such as when picking up armor caused zombies to appear from hidden spots. Some reviewers said the story was hard to follow, and the player character lacked a clear identity. The multiplayer mode was criticized for being simple, with few modes and limited player numbers, especially compared to id Software’s Quake III Arena.

The Xbox version of Doom 3 also received high scores, with 88% on Metacritic and 87.7% on GameRankings. It was praised for similar reasons as the PC version, but reviewers also noted smooth controls on a gamepad and a co-operative multiplayer mode that IGN called "worth the price alone." However, some criticized the game for slowing down on the Xbox due to the game engine’s demands on the hardware.

GameSpot named Doom 3 the best computer game of August 2004 and later gave it its "Best Graphics, Technical" award. Computer Games Magazine nominated it for "Best Technology" in 2005, though it lost to Half-Life 2. At the 8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, Doom 3 was nominated for several awards, including "Computer Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Innovation in Computer Gaming."

The BFG Edition of Doom 3 received mixed reviews. Improvements to graphics, sound, and new content were praised, but some criticized long loading times, forced auto-saves, and a control system that required players to cycle through weapons continuously instead of using hotkeys.

Doom 3 was a commercial success for id Software. The company expected to sell 4 million copies. In the United States, the PC version sold 760,000 copies and earned $32.4 million by August 2006. It was the 16th best-selling computer game in the U.S. from 2000 to 2006. The PC version also earned a "Gold" sales award in the UK, showing at least 200,000 copies sold there. By 2007, over 3.5 million copies of Doom 3 had been sold worldwide, making it id Software’s most successful project at the time.

Legacy

In early 2008, a new series of Doom novels by Matthew J. Costello was published. Costello had previously worked on the story and scripts for Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil. Earlier Doom novels had added more story details to the original two Doom games. The book series aims to tell the story of Doom 3. The first book, titled Worlds on Fire, was released on February 26, 2008. The second book, Maelstrom, came out in March 2009.

The game engine for Doom 3, called id Tech 4, was allowed for use by other developers. Examples include Human Head Studios’ Prey, Raven Software’s Quake 4, Splash Damage’s Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Raven Software’s Wolfenstein, and Splash Damage’s Brink. However, id Tech 4 was not used as widely as Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. On November 22, 2011, the source code for the engine was released under the GNU GPL-3.0-or-later license. However, the game’s artwork remains under the EULA. A later version of the source code included changes for the BFG Edition, which allowed the game to be re-released on platforms like Linux and OS X. A version for these platforms was later released.

id Software later released another game in the series, returning to the original style of minimal storytelling and fast-paced action. Development began in 2008 and was initially planned to use the id Tech 5 engine, with the title Doom 4. The game was later renamed Doom and used the id Tech 6 engine. It was released in 2016 by Bethesda Softworks for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. The game included cross-platform support in its "Snapmap" multiplayer mode. A version for the Nintendo Switch was released in 2017. The game is considered a continuation of the original Doom storyline.