According to Wikipedia, it was released on December 10, 1993, for DOS, it is the first installment in the Doom franchise. The player assumes the role of a space marine, popularly known as the Doomguy, fighting his way through hordes of invading demons in military bases on the moons of Mars and in hell. The player traverses levels to find an exit to the next level or kill a final boss, while fighting demons and possessed undead humans.
Doom was the third major independent release by id Software, after Wolfenstein 3D (1992) and the Commander Keen series of episodes (1990–1991). In May 1992, id started developing the game as around the concept of using technology to fight demons, which would use the fast 3D game engine being developed by John Carmack and would have a darker style than Wolfenstein 3D or Commander Keen. Initially intended to have a science fiction plot by designer Tom Hall, the final game, designed by John Romero and Sandy Petersen, is a fast-paced action game with a limited plot. The game was self-published by id as a set of three episodes under the shareware model, in which the first episode is released for free to drive interest in paying for the rest. A retail version with an additional episode was published in 1995 by GT Interactive as The Ultimate Doom.
Doom was a critical and commercial success and is considered one of the greatest video games ever made and one of the most significant games in video game history. It sold an estimated 3.5 million copies by 1999, up to 20 million people are estimated to have played it within two years of launch, and in late 1995, it was estimated to be installed on more computers worldwide than Microsoft's then-new operating system, Windows 95. It has been termed the "father" of the first-person shooter genre and is regarded as one of the most important in the genre. It led to a wide array of games using or attempting to copy the engine and a robust modding scene, and is considerd to have originated the video game speedrunning community. Doom has been ported to a wide variety of platforms both officially and unofficially ever since, and has been followed by several games in the series, including Doom II (1994) Doom 3 (2004), Doom (2016), and Doom Eternal (2020), as well as the films Doom (2005) and Doom: Annihilation (2019).
