Doom 2 map Diabolus Ex takes Deus Ex: Human Revolution to the old school

The nearly 25-year-old Doom 2 has taken to draining the youth from newer games to fuel its apparent immortality. Thanks to the open-source GZDoom engine's continual evolution, classic Doom mods get a little more impressive with every passing year, and Diabolus Ex by mapper Arvell is a fine little example of that.

What you're getting here is a single short, sweet but highly explorable level that apes the style of Eidos's Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Perhaps a little on the easy side, but this particular trip to corporate hell is more about the sights and sounds (including a great synth soundtrack by El-Metallico) than the challenge.

The level doesn't constrain itself just to the claustrophobic corridors and ventilation crawl-spaces of a demon-infested cyberpunk tower either. There's a brief trip into neon-hued cyberspace around the midway point. Pro tip: While you're there, I'd recommend figuring out how to reach that BFG before opening too many doors.

Leveraging GZDoom's feature-set, Diabolus Ex features true 3D environments in its multi-storey corporate tower, polished and reflective wood floors, animated and glowing neon signs and a whole lot of golden twilight glow. If it weren't for the familiar enemies and weapons, this could pass for another game entirely.

For those smitten by the look of Diabolus Ex, Arvell also kindly provides Diabolus Ex's texture file for public use on the map's Doomworld release thread. A real treat if you know your way around a Doom level editor.

To play Diabolus Ex, you'll need the map itself here, a recent build of the GZDoom engine, and the main WAD data file from Doom 2, which you can buy on Steam here.

Dominic Tarason
Contributing Writer

The product of a wasted youth, wasted prime and getting into wasted middle age, Dominic Tarason is a freelance writer, occasional indie PR guy and professional techno-hermit seen in many strange corners of the internet and seldom in reality. Based deep in the Welsh hinterlands where no food delivery dares to go, videogames provide a gritty, realistic escape from the idyllic views and fresh country air. If you're looking for something new and potentially very weird to play, feel free to poke him on Twitter. He's almost sociable, most of the time.

Latest in FPS
Atomfall hidden cache locations - Blue fungus ravine
All Atomfall endings and how to get each one
A female druidic figure clutches a heart riven with thorns in Hunt: Showdown
'We want to increase the cost of silence': Hunt: Showdown 1896's latest update brings a new event, a massive list of bugfixes and a tougher challenge for stealthy players
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Ogryn
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide adds a psychic horde murderzone mode and makes Ogryns even smashier
Starfield's companion robot giving a thumbs-up
Former Bethesda dev who quit Starfield to go solo says it's 'much less stressful as an indie' without daily meetings or 'office politics': it's 'very refreshing to just care about the game'
A crew of prospectors in Wildgate, featuring a robot, a rabbit man, and a small aquatic creature in a combination mech/aquarium.
Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime's new company is putting Sea of Thieves-style shenanigans in space with a new crew-based shooter
Team Fortress Spy being shocked
An FPS studio pulled its game from Steam after it got caught linking to malware disguised as a demo, but the dev insists it was actually the victim of a labyrinthine conspiracy
Latest in News
A witch riding a broom sails past a Fish and Chips shop.
Cozy gamers rejoice: Witchbrook finally has a release window, and yes, you can fly around on a broom with your friends
starcraft 2 face
StarCraft fans taunted by the announcement of a new StarCraft... board game
kingdom come: deliverance 2 henry looks confused
'Medieval Batman' completes Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 pacifist playthrough with zero kills and 535 knockouts
SUQIAN, CHINA - OCTOBER 6, 2024 - Illustration Tencent's plan to buy Ubisoft, Suqian, Jiangsu province, China, October 6, 2024. (Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Ubisoft and Tencent are forming a new company that will take control of its most successful franchises: Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six
The Huntress holding a bloody spear.
The biggest update since Path of Exile 2's early access launch is coming next week, bringing a new class and a bunch of endgame changes
Key art for the Ranger class in Path of Exile 2
Path of Exile 2 director isn't worried about ARPG competition, in part thanks to seasons: 'So long as people are willing to come back and play our game for a month four times a year, then I'm good'