The Doom franchise stands as one of the longest-running and most beloved pillars in gaming history. It consistently delivers intense, gritty first-person shooter experiences that redefine visceral action with each entry, proving that pure, unadulterated fun can be the key to an FPS game’s success. While each installment follows the core loop of navigating hellish environments and obliterating demons to save humanity, slight variations in plot, setting, and gameplay mechanics keep each title feeling fresh.
While the series is perhaps most famous for its signature gore and relentless violence, the campaigns themselves often feature surprisingly high-quality design and offer a solid narrative thread to follow. This prevents the demon-slaying from becoming purely mindless, instead providing players with clear objectives to pursue amidst the chaos. Each game possesses its own unique charm and strengths, but some campaigns unquestionably stand out above the rest, feeling more complete and delivering a more enjoyable overall experience.
Here are the 8 best Doom campaigns, ranked:
8. Doom 64
(Released: 1997) Far more than a simple port for the Nintendo 64, Doom 64 is a fully realized entry in the franchise that embraced a distinctly darker, more atmospheric design. It masterfully utilized lighting and environmental details to create a moody, eerie atmosphere that made every stage feel like a drawn-out struggle. While retaining the core tenets of earlier games, it also introduced new tricks and enemy types. Its level design placed a greater emphasis on puzzles for progression, strongly encouraging exploration alongside intense firefights. This blend of slower, more methodical navigation punctuated by bursts of heavy action sequences gives the game a perfectly balanced pace. Though its storyline might not be the most complex, the campaign remains a cult classic well worth revisiting today for its unique take on the formula.
7. Doom 3
(Released: 2004) Doom 3 represents perhaps the most significant tonal shift in the series’ history. It deliberately opted for a much slower, horror-driven experience focused on building tension over time, contrasting sharply with the franchise’s usual emphasis on breakneck speed and aggression. Claustrophobic corridors and fear-inducing encounters replace wide-open arenas and relentless push-forward combat. Leveraging a new engine allowed the game to feature impressive dynamic lighting and enhanced audio design, significantly boosting immersion. While initially divisive among long-time fans of the classic games, it remains a bold and distinct experiment that explored new genre territory while still retaining elements tied to the Doom universe.
6. Final Doom
(Released: 1996) Final Doom delivers one of the most brutally challenging campaign experiences in the entire series. It consists of two lengthy episodes, incorporating over 60 different levels into a single package. A collaboration between talented community designers and id Software’s publishing, the game pushed the limits of the original engine and elevated map design to remarkable new heights of complexity. The campaign is infamous for its notoriously difficult stages, often demanding near-perfect movement, resource management, and environmental awareness to survive. It serves as an intense proving ground for veteran Doom players, offering a campaign that uniquely rewards precision and remains a formidable challenge in the franchise’s history.
5. Doom (1993)
(Released: 1993) The original Doom was nothing short of revolutionary for gaming, introducing a potent blend of breakneck combat, intricate maze-like levels, and aggressively designed enemies. Its campaign is split into three iconic episodes, each escalating in intensity and featuring increasingly complex layouts that have become legendary in the decades since their debut. The visceral feedback of weapons connecting with demons, combined with a thundering, pulse-pounding soundtrack, makes every single level feel like a desperate fight against the forces of Hell itself. Even after more than thirty years, the campaign maintains remarkable quality thanks to its intuitive design and precise gameplay loop. Every level encourages players to push forward and maintain spatial awareness, demanding both speed and strategic thinking – core tenets carried through to the most recent games. As the foundational game, it established the essential DNA that every subsequent Doom title would build upon.
4. Doom (2016)
(Released: 2016) Doom (2016) marked a triumphant return for the franchise, bringing it roaring back into the modern era with a campaign that brilliantly reimagined the original’s core aggression with a sleek contemporary polish. Fast, fluid, and brutally efficient, its gameplay emphasized mobility, allowing players to seamlessly switch between weapons and chain together glorious glory kills, delivering a pure power fantasy built on player skill. The level design is expansive and layered, filled with secrets and hidden details that integrate perfectly with the overall sense of high-speed momentum. Propelled by an adrenaline-pumping heavy metal soundtrack, the campaign revitalized the franchise without compromise, expertly bridging classic design principles with contemporary mechanics. It rightfully earned its place as one of the genre’s most influential modern shooters.
3. Doom 2
(Released: 1994) Doom II took the foundation of the original and expanded upon it in almost every way. It featured more complex maps, introduced tougher enemy encounters, and brought in iconic foes like the Mancubus and Arch-vile that have remained staples for over three decades. Its campaign feels faster and denser than the first game, leaning into more chaotic firefights and demanding tighter resource management. It elevated the original experience without straying too far from the beloved core DNA. While it foregoes the episodic structure of its predecessor, the single 32-level campaign more than compensates with escalating challenge and a greater sense of scale that still feels cohesive from start to finish. The game remains a cornerstone of the FPS genre and demonstrated how a sequel could successfully build upon an original idea without sacrificing what made the first game so compelling.
2. Doom: The Dark Ages
(Released: May 15, 2025) Freshly unleashed upon the world, Doom: The Dark Ages already promises to be an absolute thrill ride of pure FPS chaos and demonic destruction. The trailers alone sent shivers down the spine of any Doom fan. The narrative, delivered through cinematic cutscenes and codex entries scattered across the map, takes players through increasingly insane chapters. This entry shakes up the formula, notably featuring segments where the Slayer is not confined to just his two feet, allowing for combat involving colossal mechanical suits and even riding a robotically-enhanced dragon! Every action, every gunshot feels incredibly responsive and satisfying. Each chapter feels like a meaningful step forward in pushing back the scourge that plagues this new, dark setting. From initial impressions, it seems to pack everything a Doom fan could ever want and much more, powerfully demonstrating that the franchise is still capable of delivering exceptional, innovative campaigns all these years later.
1. Doom Eternal
(Released: 2020) Widely considered one of the very best games in the entire franchise, Doom Eternal represents modern Doom firing on all cylinders. It pushes the envelope with even greater player movement options and an expanded arsenal of weapons and abilities to juggle. Every combat encounter is designed as an intricate, fast-paced puzzle that heavily rewards aggressive play, precise movement, and tactical weapon switching in a way few other games in the genre can match. The level design is arguably pure perfection, and the campaign serves as a technical showcase in both its enemy variety and intricate world-building. With Hell quite literally at humanity’s doorstep, players are tasked with nothing less than saving the world from utter annihilation. Every battle feels like pure, high-octane cinema. The momentum is so strong that putting the controller down becomes a struggle. Every aspect of the game, from its combat loop to its presentation, feels like it’s operating at the highest quality the series has ever reached. Doom Eternal doesn’t just set the bar; it blasts it into orbit.
