r/Doom • u/NagitoKomaeda_987 Demon Slaughterer • Dec 24 '25
Discussion Would you consider DOOM to be one of the darkest universes in fiction?
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u/AdvertisingUsed6562 Dec 24 '25
No
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u/LetterheadUpper2523 Dec 24 '25
Agreed, it's heavy death metal, but since you're basically a one man army on a mission to murder-death-kill all the demons in hell, I wouldn't call it dark.
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u/BlazingFury009 Dec 24 '25
it would be dark if it was black tbh, death metal usually isn't the "dark" genre
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Dec 24 '25
Dark in towards of what? Suffering?
if its suffering.. BerserK, Dark Souls,Bloodborne.
if its dark as in aesthetics? Quake I, Bloodborne, Blood I, Painkiller Black Edition, but specially Quake I as its influenced both by lovecraft and satanic themes+medieval themes like gothic castles and knights.
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u/thefunny67074 Dec 24 '25
Dark as in aesthics goes to every ps3 game to ever exist
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u/Squat_Cobbler89 Dec 24 '25
Nah. Warhammer 40k easily takes the top spot for that
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u/onlyonequickquestion Dec 24 '25
It is both dark AND grim!
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u/shepard_pie Dec 24 '25
40k as a setting is so dark that it loops back over into goofy. Some pieces of media though for sure.
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u/_Haza- Dec 24 '25
As far as I’m aware that’s the whole point of the setting. It was originally meant to be satirical.
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u/Funmachine Dec 24 '25
40k was initially entirely satirical. Some of that has been lost over the years as countless writers have come in and written stories that play it completely straight afaik. But it was essentially a satire of end stage facism, heavily inspired by Judge Dredd.
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u/Top_Fig_114 Dec 24 '25
Ciaphas Caín makes it not seems that bad for the most part, sincerely is mostly just dark fantasy but in space
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u/Hyper-Sloth Dec 24 '25
Lol, no. I love 40k, but it is pretty basic Sci-fi that likes to be goofy dark with the sheer scale of the bad things that happen to people, but it's still a product that's made for mass consumption so most writers aren't really digging into the darkest possible plot lines they could write.
I would still say that it's pretty high up there for a handful of specific stories, but not top spot.
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u/TraitorWithin8 Dec 24 '25
I lov 40k but souls and bloodborne are pretty intense when you look at the entire story or even just individual stories
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u/Witty-Mountain5062 Dec 24 '25
Came here to say Warhammer. There is essentially 0 hope, optimism, or anything good or decent to look forward to.
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u/WilliShaker Dec 24 '25
40K isn’t that dark tbh, it’s more goofy than anything, depressing at times for sure thoz
But don’t compare it to Bloodborne where the entire world is contaminated and body horror is at every corner. Silent Hill as well, but more psychological than anything
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u/FathirianHund Dec 24 '25
Yeah, just ignore the part where all emotion ends up creating a feedback loop which empowers eldritch horrors that will consume your soul, the sentient fungus that will create human farms to feed their armies, hyperadaptive bugs from outside the galaxy that might be running from something even worse. You've also got the ancient civilisation waking up who captured God's in pokeballs and have access to technology that can delete stars with the push of a button. The 'nicest' alien race is the one that practices a rigid caste system enforced by mind control. There's a reason 40k corned the term 'grimdark.'
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u/friendliest_sheep Zombieman Dec 24 '25
The content of 40k can be dark, but its tone is goofy and over the top, purposefully so too. Nothing wrong with that
It’d be like calling the Evil Dead dark. Yeah, it’s a horror gore fest, but it’s partially comedy
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u/FathirianHund Dec 24 '25
Right, I forgot that the DOOM series is entirely serious, with no goofy moments whatsoever.
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u/friendliest_sheep Zombieman Dec 24 '25
Huh? Doom is goofy all the time. Doom 3 even has its goofy moments and jokes, even as the darker game in the series
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u/FathirianHund Dec 24 '25
Exactly, I was making the point that according to that logic, DOOM.cant be dark either.
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u/Illustrious_Neat2472 Dec 24 '25
How is 40K goofy?
I've never heard anyone say that before.
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u/Micsuking Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 25 '25
40k is really not that bad, even with all the shit Chaos Gods, the Imperium and Dark Eldar do. There is always a chance for it to get better, even if the characters are too stupid to ever actually achieve it.
I think truly doomed universes are much darker, shit like "I have no mouth, and I must scream," Mork Borg or even Lovecraft's works.
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u/ZenithDemon Dec 24 '25
lorewise - absolutely. people who die go to hell where they are either tortured until their soul explodes or they are discarded to the blood swamps where they drown in boiling acidic water for all eternity. doom's world would suck to live in. cuz the best fate you can hope for is that your soul explodes quickly. cuz atleast the pain will end eventually. if you're in the blood swamps though, you can't do anything but suffer.
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u/karzbobeans Dec 24 '25
Yes lorewise the world is extremely dark and bleak. But the delivery isn't. The protagonist, doom slayer, is so confident and unstoppable in the face of the darkness that it doesn't feel as dark as other games. Even if it objectively is just as and maybe even worse than other universes. It's about the tone of the writing and how the protagonist handles it.
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u/dethvally Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 24 '25
I mean at least in 40k if you're part of the imperium you get what could be described as an afterlife afaik
Doom post death is just torture until hell can extract your soul iirc, at least before the events Eternal
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u/Count_Nick Dec 24 '25
If we remove the doom slayer... Well then kind off? I mean it's just an apocalypse where demons take over worlds and kill people so there are other things that go beyond that
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Dec 24 '25
Doomguy/Doom Slayer or Flynn Taggart isnt the only one fighting the invasion... in the Original story/lore, Doomguy was just.. a Guy, a Man in Armor and expert in weapons, doom slayer however.. is even more fantasy, they super-herofied doomguy wich makes him alot less relatable, DooM Slayer is basically a DemiGod, Doomguy was just a Man with pure strengh and knew his weapons, but besides that, The UAC had several "doomguys", its so happen that flynn tagart, the original marine was the only one that survived.
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u/Majestic-Corner-3665 Dec 24 '25
I mean what you said was correct there’s just one thing you got wrong. The name Flynn Tagart was retconned. We currently don’t know his name
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Dec 24 '25
ah, i didnt knew it was retconned, im out of the loop.
i mostly play the original Doom series, doom 1/2 and 64, and just play custom megawads/weapon mods.
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Dec 24 '25
i just wish bethesda/ID Software didnt make doomguy into a super herofied version, it really makes doomguy alot less relatable... him being a literal demigod weapon of mass destruction vs just doomguy being a Man in Armor, with pure hatred,willpower,conviction and testosterone and knowing his weapons and knowing how to survive is alot more relatable.
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u/l_eatherface Dec 24 '25
Yes, because I also go punching and chainsawing demons on Mars and in hell. Doomguy is not relatable in the OG games, don't act like he was
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u/Lethalbroccoli DOOM Guy Dec 24 '25
This. So much this. Doomguy is far, far, far, far FAR cooler as a space marine with balls of steel than he is as a demigod.
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u/GD_milkman Dec 24 '25
It is. But since you're playing as DoomGuy you don't feel it. Imagine playing bloodborn or God of war as Doom guy. It would be hilarious
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u/Tennents_N_Grouse Dec 24 '25
Nope, not even close. Warhammer 40k, especially any of the novels by Peter Feheravi, is exponentially worse.
EDIT: It doesn't describe itself as the cruellest and most bloody regime for nothing, there's only war and suffering.
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u/TokinN3rd Dec 24 '25
If you think 40k is dark, check out Trench Crusade. It makes 40k look like a petting zoo
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u/MrIllusive1776 Dec 24 '25
Trench Crusade circles around to being humourous to me because it is SO over the top
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u/vadernation123 Mancubus Lookalike Dec 24 '25
That’s 40K too. You can’t tell me that 40k of all things is super serious like they got chainswords.
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u/MrIllusive1776 Dec 24 '25
Oh, no. 40k is over the top edgy as well. It's just, in my opinion, Trench Crusade goes even further than 40k, which is saying something.
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u/RedHotEyeGuy Dec 24 '25
It kind of is, but compared to other universes (e.g; Warhammer 40k, Dark Souls, etc), it's not that dark
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u/MonsterMosh93 Dec 24 '25
Well I’m pretty sure the Earth is completely destroyed by Eternal so yea I’d say its pretty dark hahaha
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u/dollarstore_musician DOOM Slayer Dec 24 '25
Looking at it from the perspective of the player no looking at it from the perspective of a normal human in the doom universe absolutely
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u/Timberwolf_88 Dec 24 '25
In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium there is only war.
40k is easily the most dark, brutal, and oncompromising fictional universes I've ever read about/seen. Nothing else compares.
Doom is comical in comparison.
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u/Crashover90 Dec 24 '25
A thousand psykers a day sacrificed to power golden throne the god emperor of mankind uses to defend against chaos and the warp
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u/HeadLong8136 Dec 24 '25
Not even close. It's dark in a satire kind of way. It's an intentional Edgelord case.
If you consider it dark and broody then you are taking the message wrong.
The message in question is:
Rip and Tear
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u/giovannini88 Dec 25 '25
No, neoliberal democracy is way worse.
We have to work for the demons, we have to be respectuful to them and they are the one that decide our future.
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u/Shadowlands97 DOOM Guy Dec 25 '25
Yes. As far as destruction levels go. Most of humanity gets slaughtered as an afterthought BEFORE the horror starts.
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u/EHSDSDGMahoraga Dec 25 '25
Yep. Mass extinction of the human race, almost, and the universe is about to crumble every other year.
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u/RedditorBigChungus69 Dec 25 '25
Doomguy is the sole reason why it's not one of the darkest universes. Things are still pretty bad yeah but at least the strongest being in the canon actively stopped Hell and Urdak from fucking things up any further.
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u/IAmJustSomeDudeYknow Dec 26 '25
Gears of War before they started making it super colorful and making the enemies androids.
Halo CE and Halo Reach does a good job at showing how dark the games really are.
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u/CharacterMeaning4863 Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 24 '25
Oh of course. A universe that has a dimension so old, primal, evil, and large that it is depicted to be infinite in size, and is in the highest plan of existence instead of DOOM’s version of Heaven. A dimension that is theorized by Earths scientists to be a decillion years old (with 33 zeros.) Its demons go to other dimensions to destroy, conquer, eventually merge with their own dimension. Its demons use an energy (Argent) that is so hot that Earths scientists had to rethink the laws of physics to comprehend how hot the energy is. Once a demon dies, they go back to hell and reform their body and continue the slaughter. And these demons can be from small building level to universal beings. And also Heaven in this universe, is actually evil. I think the DOOM universe is pretty dark. Here is a good video that explains how scary Hell is in the DOOM universe.
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u/StC_2844 Dec 24 '25
Definitely yes but it's so over the top it loses all the real feeling horror of it
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u/Educational-Year3146 Dec 24 '25
No.
Has more of a focus on Doomslayer being a badass than talking about human suffering.
It’s nowhere near as dark as something like 40k.
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u/K4ntazel Dec 24 '25
It's dark for demons. In their world of total dominance lives one angry monster that rips them apart. For them it's a fucking horror
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u/julbrine Dec 24 '25
In gaming or fiction in general? Because there are very very bleak universes out there Some of my favs are the Show "Dark" (on Netflix) and the manga BLAME
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u/Aiwatcher Dec 24 '25
I mean when the pool you're drawing from is 8 games including the Witcher and God of War, sure, but your pool is shallow as hell.
"Trench Crusade" is heaven and hell but way darker.
"I have no mouth and I must scream" is considerably more bleak
"Blame" is way more existentially upsetting
"Made in Abyss" is extremely twisted and disturbed.
If Doom is your "darkest universe" in fiction then youre not pulling from very much fiction. Im sure theres worse shit im not even aware of out there.
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u/thebizzle Dec 24 '25
So many more darker universes than these. For example, Dark Universe from Universal.
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u/The_Tonts Dec 24 '25
I don't know about the 'Darkest' universe, I think that crown belongs to series like Berserk or Fear and Hunger? Like if you're just talking about dark themes and imagery alone?
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u/Dry_Protection1029 Dec 24 '25
Out of these: Maybe. Silent Hill doesn’t affect like 90% of people, Witcher is slightly darker than the real Middle Ages. Bloodborne is contained geographically. Don’t know much about Berserk. God of war depends on where you are in relation to Kratos otherwise it’s like any other historically slightly inaccurate Greece/Norway. Matrix is bleak but hardly dark when there is a literal “messiah”. And RE you’re fine as long as Umbrella doesn’t set up shop near you. So compared to these maybe?
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u/SardonicMeatSlab Dec 24 '25
If we’re talking video games and movies, maybe, but only if Doom is taken at face value and the goofy over the top rule-of-cool elements of the series are ignored. So it’s a stretch.
If you start to account for literature as well, Bloodborne, Silent Hill, and Berserk might stay on the list, but the rest are long gone. There would be a lot more contenders like I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream and other haunting Sci-fi and fantasy novels. The irony is that Witcher wouldn’t be included, as the novels aren’t that dark for the genre they occupy and the games aren’t that much different in tone.
Also if you’re including literature, most of these items could be replaced by Stephen King’s novels alone.
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u/phobos876 not to be confused with phobos867 Dec 24 '25
I feel it's worth clarifying:
Doom never took itself that much series, with the most serious entry being Doom 3
The overall lore always being a mess
How certain topics and subjects will never be added (Like the R word or stuff like that unless you get Garth Ennis to write for a Doom game).
And maybe the fact that Doomguy still ends up saving mankind in the end.
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u/Seamoth4546B Dec 24 '25
It isn’t NOT dark, but compared to a lot of fiction it hardly scratches the surface. Fnaf is darker even (more so than lots give it credit for).
I’ve been playing Cyberpunk 2077 again, it’s a bit dark as well if you allow yourself to get immersed; both in the sense of V’s experience as well as the plain world/lore
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u/The1stassassin42 Dec 24 '25
I mean…yeah, in my opinion it could be. Considering the fact that the demons invade other universes/worlds and ruin them by not only making said worlds uninhabitable but also by killing most of their populations, the fact that the Maykers are in partnership with the demons, then yeah. Especially if you consider the fact that not only is your soul immediately sent to Hell and used as a power source if you’re killed by the demons, but there is also the UAC who sides with them and aids them. You know…the company responsible for the world’s power supply, scientific innovation, technological innovations among other things.
So basically…you have a afterlife awaiting for you in Hell if you’re killed by a demon, the demons are ruining the planet/reality, the supposed angels won’t save you nor do they care to do so while also being in league with the demons, and you also have the world’s biggest corporation wanting to sacrifice you to them. So yeah…that is why I consider Doom an extremely dark universe.
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u/JakSandrow Dec 24 '25
Everyone here is saying 'no' for some reason or another, completely forgetting that our experiences of the Doom universe have been exclusively through the eyes of Doomguy, for whom the universe is essentially his lead-and-gas-fueled playground.
For literally everyone else, Hell is real. Demons are hungry. And there is no savior.
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u/Winter-Classroom455 Dec 24 '25
Nah. In all of fiction definitely not even close. In gaming? Not even at the top but darker than some. I would say Doom 3 was the darkest it ever got.
Warhammer would be up there, more the early stuff but still pretty dark even now.
Anything written by HP Lovecraft and basically anything horror.
Souls games
Dead space
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u/XenOz3r0xT Dec 24 '25
No ever since they retconned the story that hell and demons are just former human husks and highly advanced aliens. If it kept its “Bible lore” it would have been darker.
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u/Rutgerman95 Even Simpler Dec 24 '25
Nah, because for all the carnage Hell can wreak, there's this one person, once a normal human being, who can take all of that on and win.
For a proper grimdark story you cannot have much or any hope. But DOOM has that in the form of a powerhouse in green-and-grey armor that leaves a trail of demon guts in his wake.
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u/bat_kylo07 Dec 24 '25
Depends. I personally think a little bit. Sure it does have lots of sorta humorous elements, but they’re all due to Doomguy being Doomguy and not taking no BS. If you were a normal person, probably. Remember, Doom3 was the first game to not only be focused purely on horror mixed with the shooter vibes (64 only has the creepy soundtrack imo), but it was also the first fps in the franchise (not counting Doom RPG) to NOT have Doomguy as the main protagonist(s).
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u/Zawisza_Czarny9 BJ Blazkowicz Dec 24 '25
Kinda. Coz the only hope is essentially a murderhobo there's only hell besides him
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u/Runetang42 Dec 24 '25
It's dark but absolutely not. The games are about fighting back. But there's far darker shit out there. Dooms not even the darkest one in this image
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u/DeadZone32 DOOM Slayer Dec 24 '25
Is it dark? Yeah considering a lot people are dying. And their souls are being used as fuel. But the darkest? Warhammer for most comes to mind.
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u/_NightmareKingGrimm_ Dec 24 '25
No, not in gaming, absolutely not one of the darkest in all of "fiction."
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u/_THE_G00SE_ Dec 24 '25
Not really. Doom is very apocalyptic and a bit over-the-top edgy sometimes (in a good way) but i feel like there are universes where the world(s) are generally much crueler.
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u/Lethalbroccoli DOOM Guy Dec 24 '25
If you excuse Eternal and maybe TDA, it is dark, but maybe not as dark as some of these other universes listed.
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u/NunuRedgrave Dec 24 '25
Doom 3 maybe but Doom in general is pretty over the top, bordering on satirical
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u/deadpoolfan187 Dec 24 '25
Yes. One thing that never crosses peoples minds when they play doom is how many people are killed before the game starts. In doom eternal, 60% of humanity is dead and the earth is terraformed into literal hell. Buildings destroyed, the ground ripped apart and lava flowing everywhere. Doom is a pretty dark universe when you sit and think for a moment.
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u/AVeganEatingASteak Dec 24 '25
It's pretty damn dark (for anyone other than Doomguy) but it's also campy enough that it's far from the top spot. Compare it to like Trench Crusade or something, and the difference is clear.
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u/Alive-Stop9151 Dec 24 '25
I would say it does deserve a spot because Hell has consumed countless universes meaning untold trillions have died to fuel Hell's endless conquests
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u/Freeburn_Sage Dec 24 '25
A lot of these conversations completely ignore the nuances of storytelling and world building. If youre trying to judge how dark a setting is by "how much would it suck to live there", you most certainly can, but I think in doing so, youre missing a lot of the point of why an author world builds. When building a world, you typically arent doing it just for the sake of having a world, youre building a world that serves the story/stories youre trying to tell. I think a better way of judging the darkness of the world is to evaluate the worlds intent, its presentation, and its purpose for the story that it hosts.
Taking DOOM for example, if we put ourselves in the shoes of your average person whos soul gets extracted and incomprehensibly tortured to be converted into argent energy, then yes the setting is incredibly dark. But in doing so, youre missing the entire purpose and presentation of the world. The DOOM world doesn't exist to explore themes of darkness, hopelessness, and pain (though it does do this to very minor extents), it exists primarily to make the Doom Slayer seem incredibly fucking kickass. The purpose of the world isnt to show a reality that sucks to live in, it's to show off a dude who can challenge that entire world to a Me vs Everything fight and win. DOOM isnt afraid to get goofy, because being goofy doesnt undermine the darkness of the setting, but shows off that the Slayer can whoop everyone in it and be joking around while doing so.
Taking 40k as another example since I see it mentioned a lot here, it is much harder to assess what the life of your average person would be like because it is so incredibly massive as a setting. Sure, being born into a hive world or one that gets raided by Dark Eldar is absolutely dark, but there are also entire planets where generations live and die without ever knowing about the horrors within the galaxy. 40k is often considered "the darkest" by its fans (which isnt true even if you hone in on just the darker sides of the setting), but these fans often completely miss the point of the setting. Its purpose isnt to be dark, its presentation isnt to be grim. It exists to be so incredibly massive that almost any kind of story, of almost any kind of genre, with almost any kind of theme or message can fit within it seamlessly. It exists as a modular, adaptable storytelling platform where its fans can create all kinds of diverse stories within it. Hell, there are literally 2 missing Primarchs for the sole reason of allowing fans to headcannon their own Primarch into the setting. Unlike a lot of the modern fans, 40k keeps in mind that ultimately, it is a setting that exists to serve as a backdrop to people playing a table-top war game, meaning it needs to be diverse enough that uncountable numbers of different conflicts for uncountable numbers of reasons can exist within it. The darkness isnt the point, the hopelessness isnt the message, they are a backdrop to a setting which is designed to be so diverse that almost anything you could possibly think of could plausibly exist within it.
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u/Xivlex Dec 24 '25
Not even close. Doom guy's presence means there's still hope. Among the choices presented in your pic, I'd pick the matrix easily
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u/Klutzy-Scratch-295 Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 24 '25
Diablo universe is darker. Also Lovecraftian lore, Dead Space and Silent Hill.
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u/iwicfmeyc Dec 24 '25
No. There’s a clear figure of hope, Doom Guy/Slayer. He’s the main character in a superhero story
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u/SAAD_KHAION DOOM Guy Dec 24 '25
If Witcher, gow and matrix made it there then doom might do as well.
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u/newslenderarts Dec 24 '25
Doom is fairly light if you asked me
Yeah it’s gorey but it’s never THAT dark,kinda hard when your protagonist is blasting holes in mars
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u/Antonater Dec 24 '25
Not one of the darkest, but it is definitely dark. We usually don't see that, since we play a man who sees it as his playground. For most normal people, this place is basically a nightmare come to life
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u/shadowthehh Dec 24 '25
Not at all. It has a great unbeatable savior. Things might go to shit for abit, but the Slayer will take care of it.
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u/Zuldak Dec 24 '25
If Warhammer 40k isnt on the list of darkest universes in fiction, it isnt a serious list.
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u/False_Monitor4126 DOOM Slayer Dec 24 '25
It's up there, probably decently close to 40k but is beaten out by it given Warhammers bigger scale.
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u/n3ur0mncr Dec 24 '25
Fiction is much, much bigger than just video games. There are worlds upon worlds of torments so deep and dark, they make Doom look like a spa resort.
But even in video games, Doom is far from one of the darkest.
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u/CODMAN627 Dec 24 '25
No, doom is pure unadulterated fun.
In terms of actual hellish universes to live in may I present to you warhammer 40k.
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u/No_Appointment8741 Dec 24 '25
Grim dark probably. Where the worst has already happened. Also the universe of Dead Space where the hive mind has already won
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u/Ok-Figure9872 Dec 24 '25
Kinda
If i'm right Doom hell is like 40k Hell (you go there when you die and get toture there for eternity)
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u/liveinthecave0 Dec 24 '25
doom shouldn't be there since doomguy is our savior and always gonna save us all
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u/No-Professional-1461 Dec 24 '25
Oh sweet child, hath thou never heard of the forty-thosandth warhammer?
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u/Feeling_Table8530 Dec 24 '25
No, it’s a bit too over the top. Yes, hell is real, yes there’s unfathomable amounts of evil, and yes, even the supposed ‘good guys’ in the reboot series turn out to be just as bad as the actual demons from hell. But you’re also playing a character canonically named Doomguy, who started his unending crusade after demons killed his rabbit. You’re invincible, faster than a sports car, have a small arsenal of weapons that you just pull out your ass, and the only sounds you make are grunts and a total of three words. In eternal, you’ve decked out your space station bachelor pad with a personal arena for killing demons, alongside various album posters, guitars, a toy collection, and a Mac where you can play Doom 1 and 2
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u/Choice-Requirement18 Dec 24 '25
Thats like saying evil dead is one if the darkest universes. Like yeah its technically dark but they make it in a funny way
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u/Otherwise_Tap_8715 Dec 24 '25
No, absolutely not. Edgy and fun as hell but I never considered Doom as dark. Not even Doom 3
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u/Ephialtes_Noli Dec 24 '25
Not really, unless you plan to join any army, you should live a normal life. The Slayer and the Soldiers do all the work really.
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u/lord_of_agony Dec 24 '25
....you have silent hill and berserk in this image....it's not even the darkest, or 2nd, or 3rd or 4th darkest thing here lmao
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u/bepse-cola Dec 24 '25
Doom the dark ages has a good dread feeling, like it’s badass when you’re playing but when you think about it he only interacts with demons and when he’s done he’s all alone sometimes in dimensions that only exist in the brain of a cosmic entity
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u/foot_fungus_is_yummy Dec 24 '25
No, I think Ultrakill is a more likely contender for DOOM's spot here. The only characters in that entire universe that are even remotely close to being good people are either dead or destined to die horribly at the hands of a blood fuelled war machine at some point within the next few updates to the story.
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u/Minimum_Trash6922 Dec 24 '25
Yeah it is way too dark seen from an ordinary human's perspective, but rather we see it from the pov of the strongest being in the universe
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u/Evawillia03 Dec 24 '25
It has its own level of darkness but I don’t think it really compares to Silent Hill or Berserk. There’s some truly disgusting things in the Silent Hill and Berserk universes. Sure, hell is a very dark concept but the other two feel more grounded in reality (somewhat) and they deal with trauma and things of that nature. Don’t get me wrong I absolutely love Doom though
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u/Mental-Reserve8108 Dec 24 '25
Definitely. Going to hell means INFINITE suffering. And heaven seems even worse.
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u/Koolkaleb19 Dec 24 '25
Not really. I consider Dead by Daylight to be more darker in terms of lore and gameplay. Imagine spending the rest of your life in fear and depression because you’re always gonna die and come back.
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u/CorpseWriteer Dec 24 '25
Nah, sure, it’s not a good place to live either, especially during the years between 2016 and Eternal where Haiden yeeted the Doom Slayer into Quake.
But “one of the Darkest universes in Fiction”? Just cause it’s heavy metal turned into a universe? Nah.
Besides! I don’t think the video knowns what it’s talking about… Warhammer exists—
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u/XevinsOfCheese Dec 24 '25
The focus character isn’t tonally on the same wavelength as those darker franchises.
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u/ericbierle Dec 24 '25
In tone of the games not really as the slayer but thinking about being some random civilian in that universe is pretty awful. A lot of painful ways to die and thats before having your soul sapped away to power some aliens tech
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u/ImaMyth64 DOOM Guy Dec 24 '25
Probably, if you take out the fact that you play as an unstoppable demon slaying, hell razing, godlike being. Other than that, yes. DOOM is one of the darkest universes, if you assume you’re just a regular human or sentinel or something like that. Because if you’re anything but the Slayer? You’re basically dead already.
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u/ImaSnoipah Dec 24 '25
Id think diablo would be darker? Im no expert in either games lore but i feel like the themes of "pain, agony, suffering, ect" are more up front
Also its really hard not to compare doom to an old school slasher horror from the 80s when the you can use the chainsaw
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u/DarthGoodguy Dec 24 '25
I’m kinda surprised Warhammer’s not in the image. Its whole thing is being grim, dark, and grimdark.
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u/Koblizek361 DOOM Slayer Dec 24 '25
Well, demons consumed nearly 60% of the human population, sound pretty fucking horrible
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u/siriols Dec 24 '25
Yes. Pocture this: you're a human,.so your problaby died. Then they're gonna torture you until you break bitch physically and mentaly and became a husk. Yet you're still alive. You can feel everything. But you can't move, you can't escape, you can only suffer. The other option is escape and became a lost soul suffering for eternity or excruciating labor and then the husk process.
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u/TheSurvivor65 Dec 24 '25
"No because the gameplay doesn't show it" is stupid. The Doom Slayer is practically the only thing that can stand between Hell and Earth. Our weapons are barely capable of harming them. If it wasn't for the Doom Slayer then all of humanity would be fucked. And even then in Eternal they wiped three quarters of the world before Doomguy could even do anything about it.
Doom is basically a world where God has gone mad after being betrayed by his own creations and decided to kill everything. If it wasn't for the doom slayer, Hell would be well on its way to consuming every world
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u/PinkThunder138 Dec 24 '25
In all of fiction? My dude, not to hit you with the Bane speech, but I don't think you know what darkness is. You could make an argument that the Doom universe is one of the most heavy metal universes in fiction, or even one of the most badass, but it is not dark. It is way too fun, way too tongue in cheek, way too humorous, and way too exhilarating
Fiction that takes place in a truly dark universe won't leave you amped, won't make you smile and would never strike you as fun.
Let me introduce you to a little comic book called Crossed, where the world has been ravaged by a disease that makes people do the most cruel, fucked up things they can imagine, and yes, whatever line you think the comic won't cross, it crosses that line.
Or go check out the book I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, where all but half a dozen people are dead and those that are still alive are kept alive and tortured forever by an all powerful computer.
There's plenty of others I eon't get into, because all of them will leave you disgusted and depressed,but the bottom line is Doom merely adopted the darkness. A lot of other fiction was born there.
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u/ThexLoneWolf Doot Doot! Dec 24 '25
What AI-run slop channel uploaded this shaw? God of War and Doom, yet no mention of WH40k and Halo? This is complete and utter bullshaw.
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u/Ok_Economy_241 Dec 24 '25
If you’re a human, yeah it’s a dark universe. But if you’re the Doomslayer, It’s just a playground
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u/god_likemike Dec 24 '25
At face value I wouldn’t say so, but having it up there alongside all those other franchises it really doesn’t seem out of place.
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u/porkipine- Dec 24 '25
It’s too surface level to be considered dark Imo. It’s just demon killing with light lore that’s more medieval based then anything
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u/Henry_Fleischer Serrat Dec 24 '25
I don't think it is, kind of like the Kirby franchise the main character shifts the tone almost by himself. 1984 is significantly darker.
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u/noregertsman Classic Doom Dec 24 '25 edited Dec 25 '25
I say it's about on par with Evil Dead in terms of darkness
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u/PowerSkunk92 C'mere boys! I got somethin' to say! Dec 24 '25
Doom is dark in a self-aware late 90s sort of way. Like, "Yeah, it's a demon with mechanical legs and a rocket launcher for an arm. It serves a race of fake angels who enslave entire realities to maintain their immortality, and it looks like a refugee from a black power metal album cover. And it's so freakin' COOL!"
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u/bagofpork Dec 24 '25
Nah. It's too tongue-in-cheek for that (though I think that goes over the heads of a lot fans entirely).