The Ultimate Doom

Overview

Led by John Romero, The Ultimate Doom saw improvements to the original Doom, as well as the addition of new content in the form of a fourth episode, Thy Flesh Consumed, to lengthen the singleplayer and multiplayer experience. Parts (or in some cases, entire levels) were built by level designers from the Doom fan community. These designers would be Romero-recruited John Anderson and Tim Willits, who wowed id Software with the levels they designed during the fledgling years of .wad customization and deathmatch. Willits would later go on to be the lead designer for the horror-oriented Doom 3.

New art was put in place, but because id's resources were stretched thin because of work on Quake, these additions were minimal. Since Thy Flesh Consumed was released after Doom II : Hell on Earth, it is unknown if the events of the fourth episode are supposed to be taken as canonical, but the loose nature of the storyline in the Doom franchise means it's not especially important either way. The ending text explains (in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner) that the reason the Space Marine took the fight to the demons so hard was to avenge the death of Daisy, his pet rabbit, apparently the decapitated rabbit seen in the game-ending cutscene after the third episode, Inferno, is completed. It then nods to Doom II, saying that although Daisy has been avenged, there are still nations worth of demons ravaging the world, and the fight must be continued if the Human race is to be saved. "Next stop: Hell on Earth!"

Those with registered copies of the original Doom received the additional content that came with The Ultimate Doom free of charge, as part of a version update. The first printing of The Ultimate Doom for the PC included a poster with an expansion of the cover art for the original Doom, featuring the Space Marine, standing on a rocky precipice with a demon horde attacking him.

Episodes and Maps

For Episodes 1-3 see Doom.

Thy Flesh Consumed (E4)

System Requirements

• 386 processor operating at a minimum of 33MHz or any Pentium® /Athlon® processors
• Windows 95/98/ME/ 2000 operating system
• 8 MB RAM
• 20MB of uncompressed hard disk space
• 100MB of free hard drive space for the Windows swap file (in addition to install space)
• A 100% Windows® 95/98/ME/2000-compatible computer system (including compatible 32-bit drivers for video card, sound card and input devices)
• A 100% Windows® 95/98/ME/2000-compatible true 16-bit sound card and drivers
• 100% Windows® 95/98/ME/2000-compatible mouse and driver
• 100% Windows® 95/98/ME/2000-compatible keyboard