Doom, Wolfenstein, and Quake co-inventor John Romero, who pioneered the classic FPS game with id Software all the way back in 1993, has taken to a Twitch livestream to share development of a whole-new Doom episode, slated as a sequel to Sigil, and due for release next year – a wonderful distraction if you’re done and dusted with Doom Eternal.
Sigil 2 is a new Doom episode, designed and built by Romero, which expands the classic shooter with new maps and levels. In 2018, to mark the 25th anniversary of Doom, Romero released Sigil, the first in his personally crafted extra Doom episode packs. Sigil 2 is due for release in 2023, to mark 30 years since the defining FPS game’s original launch.
In a Twitch livestream, Romero shares his original design sketches for one of Sigil 2’s upcoming levels, showing viewers his hand-drawn, top-down sketches, before jumping into the Doom map-maker to begin crafting the new episode.
“This is not the final level,” Romero explains. “I worked on it for hours and only have a little room, because I’m doing a lot of work on detail level and want to do some custom textures. My process is to come up with the idea, come up with a sketch for it, and then start working on it, though it does get a lot of revision. The way I design levels is I do a little bit of work and then I run it. A little bit more work and then I run it again – I just test it and test it and test it.”
As well as working on a new episode of Doom, Romero, as part of his studio Romero Games, is also working on a brand-new shooter using Unreal Engine 5. A recent Doom mod, The Fall of Tei Tenga, allows players to experience the original version of Doom before it was scrapped in favour of the actual, 1993 release version. You can watch Romero building Sigil 2 over on Twitch.
You might also want to try some of the best old games, or maybe some of the best zombie games, if you miss blasting Doom’s signature shotgunners. And if you need even more nostalgia, Half-Life Blue Shift is getting a full remake in the style of Black Mesa, and you can try that out right now.