DOOM, to many it’s timeless and to imagine a world without DOOM is to imagine a world without first person shooters. It is one of the most beloved series in the history of video games and the studio that created it id Software is one of the most prolific.

There is an aura of mythos which surrounds id Software, creators of a genre and the masters of DOOM. The history of it’s founding fathers has been told over and over again but with an early catalogue including the likes of Wolfenstein, DOOM and Quake, it’s clear to see why.

There was a rock n’ roll style to those early days of id Software which captured the adoration of 90’s gamers, they had the image of being a larger than life studio being filled with young men defining culture and doing so by breaking all the rules but those days are gone, ghosts that both define and haunt the identity of modern id and in recent years as most of the founding fathers left for different shores the company itself has faded from public consciousness.

One of the reasons behind this is the recent blindspot in the history of id Software, one that stretches from the release of Rage all the way to now. However, to the surprise of everyone the punchline of this uncertain era was an incredibly confident game (DOOM 2016), a refreshing take on an old idea that seemed to do something that many had presumed was beyond the ability of id.

This is the first instalment of Noclip’s examination into the world of DOOM. In it we see producer Danny O’Dwyer speak with the team at id Software about the history of the studio, the cancelled DOOM 4 project and how DOOM 2016 came to be.

This post will be kept up to date as the other episodes are released.