Here are the 15 best games like DOOM
So you've slaughtered your way through Hell and back, and now there's a DOOM-shaped hole in your heart that's just bleeding to be filled. Fear not - these games will get you ripping and tearing again in no time!
15) Metro 2033 Redux
Based on the Russian novel of the same name by Dmitry Glukhovsky, Metro 2033 is a first-person survival horror that strands you in a future version of Russia after it has been decimated by nuclear war, forcing survivors underground into the old metro tunnels. There you’ll be forced to contend with rival human factions, monstrous mutants, as well as the harsh environment itself and even a few supernatural elements haunting the endless tunnels.
Though less action-packed than DOOM, Metro 2033 is still a tense and thrilling experience. Gunplay is taught and frenetic, especially since bullets are a precious resource in the wasteland. Sometimes using stealth and setting traps is the better option. The survival element is also strong, requiring careful resource management. Bullets function both as ammunition and in-game currency, forcing you into some tough decisions – Do you buy medical packs or hold onto a few more shotgun shells, just in case? Gas-mask filters are rare to find, but crucial for when you’re forced to venture out into the blasted, irradiated surface world. On the surface you also need to keep track of your dosimeter levels; exposure to high amounts of radiation will lead to a quick death.
Metro 2033 Redux is a remaster of the original game, featuring boosted graphics, ironed-out bugs, and all DLC.
14) Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead 2 has all the pulse-pounding action of DOOM, minus the Doom Marine badassery. Like its predecessor, the insanely popular sequel to Valve’s insanely-popular zombie FPS gives you little more than some guns, your wits, and maybe a machete or baseball bat, and throws you into zombie-infested New Orleans with up to three of your friends. Death comes quick on the heels of the screeching horde. Your only goal – work together and survive long enough to escape.
In addition to your standard zombie – or Infected as they’re called in the game – Left 4 Dead 2 also features eight different types of Special Infected: Boomers, Hunters, Smokers, Tanks, Chargers, Spitters, and Witches. Each variation has special mutations that make them even more deadly than their common counterparts, from the Hulk-like strength of the Tank to the Smoker’s long asphyxiating tongue and the Spitter’s acidic saliva. But it’s not all bad news, because players can take on the roles of the Special Infected in four competitive multiplayer modes. This asymmetrical gameplay makes Left 4 Dead 2 truly unique among zombie games and shooters alike.
One wrong move can call down the horde.
Left to right: Charger, Hunter, Spitter, Jockey, Tank, Witch, Boomer, Smoker
13) Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
Before there was DOOM, there was Wolfenstein. Though the series is known for popularizing the FPS genre, it actually began life as a side-scroller on the Apple II. It wasn’t until id Software developed the third sequel, Wolfenstein 3D, that it became the FPS that launched an entire genre and paved the way for the original DOOM.
In 2014 id and Bethesda returned to Wolfenstein in The New Order, a reboot that throws BJ Blazkowicz against technologically-advanced Nazis during the later years of WWII. The Old Blood is a prequel to The New Order that actually returns players to the Castle Wolfenstein that is the series’ namesake.
Coming from id Software, it’s no surprise that The Old Blood features the same relentless, fast-paced, over-the-top combat as DOOM 2016. Players can also use a cover system, dual wield weapons, or try the stealth route instead of going in guns-blazing. Instead of Hellspawn, you’ll be fighting against Nazi mech-warriors, robotic dogs, and ancient abominations. Other than that, The Old Blood will feel pleasantly familiar to fans and veterans of DOOM.
12) Crysis 2: Maximum Edition
If there’s one armored protagonist who might be able to take the Doom Marine in a fair fight, it’s the nanosuite-wearing Prophet from Crysis 2. A sequel to Crytek’s highly-successful HD-extravaganza, Crysis 2 puts you back in the superpowered nanosuit and tasks you with defending a New York City that has been attacked by aliens, sealed beneath a dome, and reclaimed by nature.
If DOOM seemed a little one-note, don’t worry – Crysis 2 has more options than you can shake an armored fist at. With the power of the nanosuit you can become invisible and whisper-quiet, or increase your agility and reflexes, or armor up and turn into a car-flipping, gun-toting, nigh-invincible mobile tank. Weapons are fully customizable as well, and you can commandeer vehicles if you’re tired of running. With a semi-open world to play in and the ability to easily swap between different suit modes, Crysis 2 is a dynamic FPS that’s constantly changing, never giving you the same experience twice. It doesn’t hurt that the game still looks fantastic, assuming your rig can run it at the highest settings.
11) Metro: Last Light Redux
Last Light is the sequel to Metro 2033, and Redux is the remaster of that sequel, with improved graphics and all the DLC included.
Like 2033, Last Light is as much about surviving the wasteland as it is about gunning down mutants and enemy soldiers. Bullets are still valuable as currency and a gas mask with working filters is still vital to surviving the surface world. Thanks to improved AI and mechanics, combat is much more satisfying that 2033, thought stealth is still a viable option. New to the series is the branching storyline. By making moral decisions at key points throughout the game, you’ll accrue good or bad Karma, which ultimately affects the ending of the game.
10) S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. could be seen as the Metro 2033’s hardcore older brother. Both games take place in a Russian nuclear wasteland, but while Metro is relatively linear and story-driven, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a marriage of tactical FPS, horror survival, and fully fleshed-out role playing.
The game takes place in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone, a vast area divided into three free-roam worlds stalked by bandit gangs and mutants, as well as non-hostile NPC locals, all of which play into the game’s economic system. Working for the local villagers earns you more currency and goods, while the bandits deal in weapons, gear, and strange artifacts. In addition to fierce firefights, your relationships with the bandit gangs will also heavily determine your survival. While every gang is hostile to you by default, alliances can be formed to sway the odds in your favor.
Like Metro, the environment can be just as deadly as the enemies that populate it. Random psychic storms called "emissions" will ravage the land, killing everything in its path, forcing players to either find shelter quickly or take drugs that shut down the nervous system to provide immunity to the psychic wave. Assuming the player survives the emission, they might find new artifacts created by the anomaly which can be used to either upgrade their gear or to trade with locals.
9) Killing Floor 2
Currently in open beta, Killing Floor 2 is still one hell of a bloody, Zed-stomping romp. After the deadly outbreak from the first game, world governments have collapsed, leaving only a few survivors to fight off waves of crazed Zeds and discover the source of the Zed horde.
In both single-player or multiplayer co-op, players fight waves of Zeds that increase in size and difficult the further you progress. These aren’t your standard zombies – with blades attached to their arms, flayed skin, massive chainsaws, and other grotesque mutations, they look closer to something out of Hellraiser. The environments can be tight and claustrophobic, and welding doors shut will only buy you a few moments of respite.
In addition to a vast arsenal of upgradeable weapons, players can also use perks to increase the odds and support the team as a field medic, commando, or support player. Utilizing those perks earns you XP to upgrade your class character, boosting your base states and unlocking further perks and skills.
Recently Tripwire Interactive added PvP to Killing Floor 2, allowing one team to play as the Zeds and hunt down the opposing mercenary team.
8) No More Room in Hell
No More Room in Hell is a co-op FPS on Steam that lets you play with up to seven friends in a post-apocalyptic zombie wasteland. Cooperation is the key to survival; in addition to watching each other’s backs in combat, players will also need to defend their shelter from the undead hordes and keep it from being breached. Two modes are available, Objective and Survival. Objective mode, similar to Left 4 Dead, has players fighting their way through maps to the rescue vehicle. Survival is simply that: surviving against waves of zombies until the rescue vehicle arrives.
7) Call of Duty Black Ops 3 Zombies
Nobody expected the first appearance of zombies in Call of Duty: World at War, yet there’s no denying it’s now become at least as popular as the series’ core gameplay, and arguably more anticipated than the main game. With four-player co-op and fast wave-based gameplay, it’s equal parts addictive and challenging.
Unlike previous iterations, the zombie mode in Black Ops 3 actually features its own characters and story. As Nero the Magician, Jessica the Femme Fatale, Vincent the Cop, or Campbell the Boxer, players fight together against the undead in Morg City, a film noir-esque metropolis that has been overrun with zombies and Lovecraftian horrors. In addition to the staple Call of Duty gunplay, players can use Gobblegums to get bonus perks or “Unleash the Beast” to transform into a tentacle monstrosity and tear through waves of zombies, as well as unlock hidden areas. Mystery boxes provide access to more powerful weapons that can’t be bought normally, which you’ll need to combat the elder horrors and flying demons that periodically show up.
For the first time Black Ops 3 also features “Nightmare” mode, in which the entire single-player campaign is transformed into an apocalyptic zombie survival game, including an entirely new narrative.
6) Quake Champions
Announced just this month at E3 2016, Quake Champions is the revival of the classic PC-only FPS that spawned its very own competitive tournaments in a time when such things were still far from mainstream. Like its predecessors, Quake Champions will be a “fast paced arena based shooter”. Unlike previous entries in the series, players will for the first time be able to choose a class for their character, each of which will have unique skills and abilities to help level the playing field. There’s no release date yet, but Bethesda promised more info at this year’s QuakeCon, so stay tuned.
Stylish new champion characters come equipped with their own active and passive skills.
Sometimes you just need to settle things the old fashioned way.
5) Prey
Another recent reveal from Bethesda at E3 2016, not much is yet known about Prey. While it bears the same name as the 2006 video game, it doesn’t appear to have a whole lot to do with either the original or the sequel that was stuck in development hell.
Prey 2006 featured Cherokee Domasi “Tommy” Tawodi as its protagonist. Abducted by aliens and brought to a massive spaceship known as The Sphere, Tommy had to fight through creative and disturbing environments against DOOM-esque alien enemies to save his girlfriend and, ultimately, the world. Prey had a host of unique features, including the manipulation of gravity and portal-elements before Valve’s Portal was released. Players also entered the spirit world when they died, where they could fight dark spirits to reclaim their soul and be reanimated.
What little we saw of Prey 2 appeared to be in a futuristic city setting with a bounty hunter protagonist. That appears to have been dropped by Arkane and Bethesda; instead, the new Prey looks closer to a psychological first-person horror survival. Not much has been revealed beyond that, and no release date is set (other than 2017), but it’s enough to keep us intrigued until then.
The game appears to be set on a space station, but nothing is as it seems.
Something terrible has happened. It's up to you to find out what.
4) Titanfall 2
Titanfall was praised for innovative and fun gameplay, because who doesn’t enjoy stomping around in a giant mech suit? In a sea of generic shooters, Titanfall mixed things up by allowing players to call in their own personal mech, which would drop from the sky and let them raze the battlefield. The reveal of its sequel at this year’s E3 was met with just as much excitement and anticipation, if not more.
The core gameplay is back, with a mix of FPS action and mech piloting in both single-player and online multiplayer. New features, including a grappling hook and an AI-driven mech partner, were also previewed. But honestly, all it takes is that vintage Titanfall action to get us back in the pilot’s chair. Titanfall 2 is set to release this October.
3) Battlefield 1
The war between military shooters often comes down to a standoff between Call of Duty and Battlefield. It’s interesting, then, that while CoD is going to the far future with Infinite Warfare this year, Battlefield is headed in the opposite direction.
The oddly-named Battlefield 1 takes players all the way back to the original Great War, World War 1. For the first time players will fight in the trenches, on horseback, and in biplanes, contending with mustard gas and shooting down massive dirigibles. Battlefield has always been known for its pounding sound design and massive dynamic 60-person multiplayer; by the look of things, turning back the clock has done nothing to dial down the intensity. Weapons and vehicles are less high tech than in recent iterations – no auto-targeting weapons on fighter jets, for example – but that doesn’t make them any less brutal. Classes are back, of course, and arguably more important than ever. You’ll need the right equipment to take out the crude but deadly tanks.
Battlefield 1 hits this October.
Mastered this list already? Share what you thought of the games in the comments below, along with your own suggestions and favorite shooters. And if you liked this article, check out these related ones:
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