Let’s Rank All The Doom Games, From Worst To Best

1. Doom (2016)

The Doom reboot released in 2016 is just about as close to a perfect game as I’ve played. If you ignore the so-so multiplayer, which I forgot even existed until I looked it up, Doom 2016 is a lean, mean, demon-killing machine. It adds enough to the classic formula to make it feel new and improved but doesn’t get too bogged down in lore or extraneous features like its 2020 follow-up.

The combat in Doom 2016 is a wonderful balance of speed, brutality, and puzzle-solving. Picking off the right enemies in the correct order becomes an important and fun dance of blood and guts on higher difficulties. The chainsaw is now a weapon that gets you ammo, and the “glory kill” system isn’t some annoying gimmick, but a smart way to give the player more tools to deal with huge hordes of baddies.

In a lot of ways, I still wish I got a true sequel to Doom 2016 instead of the bigger, more arcadey Eternal. I’d love a follow-up more like Doom II, adding just enough to elevate the original game, without changing too much and breaking stuff.

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We will get more Doom games. Few things in life are as certain as this. One day a new Doom game will be released, then you’ll pay your taxes, and then you’ll die and I’m fine with that reality.

The Doom franchise has been consistently great. Even the low points like Doom 3 or Doom VFR aren’t outright awful, just lesser in comparison to the other games. So while fans continue to mod and port Doom games to every platform with a screen, I’ll be patiently maiming yet more hordes of demons and waiting for the franchise’s next major reinvention. I’m not done ripping and tearing. Not even close.