- The new DoomScroll website is now live
- It offers an ‘endless’ selection of custom Doom maps to play in a browser
- It’s quite a trip through Doom history, and some of these maps were created by coders who went on to work for major game studios
Ever felt the urge for a nostalgic trip back to the shores of Hell? It’s now possible to dive in and grab a short burst of Doom right in your browser, with no installation required – and instant access to thousands of custom levels for the shooter.
PC Gamer reports that the DoomScroll site is now live, featuring the classic 90s shooter in all its gory glory, so you can enjoy a series of levels packed with pixelated monsters that you can slay with all the trusty weapons of old, including the infamous (original) BFG.
This is the work of software engineer James Baicoianu and internet archivist Jason Scott, and you can visit the site to check it out for yourself. Scroll down the list of levels available – some of which are entire episodes of multiple levels – pick one you like the look of and click on it.
You can then see more details about the map – click the image in the bottom left to get a good look at it – then click the ‘Play’ button to load it and get started. Press the laptop power button (top right) to go back to the long list of levels, which according to Baicoianus’ post on Bluesky is ‘endless’ (well, very long anyway).
The creator tells us: “Introducing DoomScroll – an endless feed of thousands of user-made Doom WADs from the past 32 years, all playable right in your browser. Our goal was to make decades of work from one of the most creative communities in gaming history more accessible and visible to everyone.”
Analysis: Cacodemon versus Chainsaw
This is an impressive site that showcases the rich history of custom Doom levels, some of which were made by people who went on to work at major game studios. If you played Doom back in 1993 when it arrived—as I did, one-on-one deathmatch on two PCs connected by a serial cable—you’ll definitely appreciate it.
Baicoianu enthuses: “There’s so much here – everything from simplified maps made by kids just learning how game development works, all the way up to full total conversions with brand new music, textures and sprites, made by volunteer teams that went on to become full-fledged game studios.”
Be warned though, it’s quite a time drain. It’s also worth bearing in mind that some of these levels are, shall we say, a bit on the hard side. Be comfortable taking on a Cacodemon with a chainsaw behind the first door you open in a level, and don’t be surprised to run from a horde of imps and shotgun guys and suddenly run into a Cyberdemon around a corner.
Another caveat here is that some maps don’t seem to work, as PC Gamer points out, and I ran into such an error – but everything else I tried was fine.
One final point to note is that the mouse is quite sensitive – or at least it was for me – so you can adjust that in the game’s options. Press Escape to get the main menu and use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate to the options and adjust the mouse sensitivity a bit in there if needed.
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