John Romero releases new Doom II map to “support the Ukrainian people”

In a surprise treat for fans of the '90s first-person shooter series, John Romero released a brand-new map for the 1994 classic Doom II this week. There is a good reason for the high price of this kind of content.

The release states that the sale is intended to raise funds to support the Ukrainian people and that it can be purchased at his personal shop site. A bunch of Doom-era goodies are also sold at the store.

One day after its Wednesday launch, the download was updated to add much of the same ReadMe information found in his 2019 Doom 1 map pack, Sigil, that explains to newcomers how to easily get the new map working in either Windows or MacOS. (As I found in my own casual testing, the same instructions do not work on Steam Deck, whose semi-closed Arch Linux implementation currently requires a dive into its command line.) To play Romero's new map, "One Humanity," you'll need an original retail Doom II installation (which comes as part of the newest Doom II version on Steam and GOG), on top of which you can apply a source port like GZDoom.

A different type of humanitarian aid

Though the map design in the original Doom II isn't as beloved as his Doom 1 mastery, the co- creator returns to form with a clever ring-based level design. In the case of an unfortunate fall, most of the level's content is above a pit of despair, which Doomguy can battle through and warp out of, though he will need to plummet to find the level's sole rocket launcher. The top-floor series of rooms need to have keys andtriggers that will open doors and raise bridges to the exit door.

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Along the way, players will find classics like a handsomely lit box maze and one of those hallways that ends with you flipping a switch and hearing too many enemy-warp sound effects on the other side. It is nice to get re-acquainted with the brutality of the super shotgun in the game. If you grunt along enough doorways, you will find a useful BFG.

This level looks and plays like an exploration of solid, classic Doom II mechanics, as opposed to including graphics or structures that allude to events of any particular real-life era, though on a graphical level.

The release joins an increasingly loud chorus of voices in games and tech to support the Ukrainian people amidst a Russian invasion. I will quote the template file for those of you who do not want to buy an old Doom II map file for one reason or another.

If you obtained this file for free, please consider making a donation to the Ukranian Red Cross or the UN Central Emergency Response Fund.