Here's what Doom would look like as a '90s survival horror game

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The camera is Silent Hill, the doors are Resident Evil, and the tank controls are tank controls.

(Image credit: Puppet Combo / id Software)

The feeling Doom Eternal leaves me with is breathless anxiety, so I find indie developer and horror game auteur Puppet Combo's latest visual experiment extremely on point. 

It's the original Doom reimagined as a '90s survival horror game, replete with foggy environments, those high camera angles, extended door-opening animations, and a garish (gorgeous, to the right people) inventory UI. 

See it in motion below:

Doom's simple textures and color palette work pretty well in a horror context, but they were already a bit spooky when I was a kid. Those barren, nondescript hallways underscored by some of Doom's slower ambient tunes were unnerving. Getting lost in the more disorienting levels only amplified the stress. 

Puppet Combo clearly saw something there and whipped up this neat what-if to exorcise those "impure thoughts." I hope they're not completely gone, honestly.

I doubt this is a tease for a bigger project from Puppet Combo, so don't get your hopes up for a full-blown game recasting Doom as PS1 Resident Evil. It looks like a cute experiment rather than a big project, and their focus tends to be on original horror games. I've reached out to clarify anyway and I'll update this story if I hear back.

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James Davenport
James Davenport

James is stuck in an endless loop, playing the Dark Souls games on repeat until Elden Ring and Silksong set him free. He's a truffle pig for indie horror and weird FPS games too, seeking out games that actively hurt to play. Otherwise he's wandering Austin, identifying mushrooms and doodling grackles.