DOOM 3 VR Edition launches today on PlayStation consoles, bringing the 2004 classic horror-shooter to PSVR for the first time.
We haven’t gone hands-on with the refreshed VR port yet, however YouTube channel ‘GrizGaming‘ puts together a good look of the game in this no commentary video, which takes you from the very beginning of the game to about a fifth of the way through the main campaign.
In the video, GrizGaming plays on Veteran mode whilst using PSVR’s Aim controller. Veteran is just one step below ‘Nightmare’, which is unlocked once you beat the game on any difficulty. If you’re looking to skip the early giblets and head straight for the demon-slaying madness, skip to around the 15 minute mark.
At least from what we can tell from the video, the game appears to look fairly well realized; the studio also says its overhauled design, art, UI, and even sound effects. The video of course can’t tell the whole story though when it comes to viewing it in-headset.
Like many flatscreen shooters, DOOM 3 is all about classic ‘running and gunning’, but thankfully we’ve noticed a few things that ought to take the edge off eventual comfort issues. Cutscenes are rendered within a viewing window, which is less immersive but undoubtedly more comfortable than having your head tossed around like a camera. The game also includes hand and head-relative locomotion, smooth and variable snap turning, and variable turning vignette for more comfort—all of it intended to keep your lunch where it belongs. Still it’s sure to be an intense experience for VR users since it requires so much turning, fast movement, and artificial jumping and crouching.
One complaint that you can forget about with the overhauled PSVR version is gameplay length though. The 10+ hour campaign also includes the original expansions—the Lost Mission and Resurrection of Evil—although we haven’t seen that content just yet.
We haven’t played yet, so we can’t suggest you pick it up. Just the same though, you’ll find Doom 3 VR Edition on PS4 and PS5 (backwards compatible) for $20 on the PlayStation Store.
In an excerpt from our upcoming interview with community modder Simon ‘DrBeef’ Brown, he said that he would love to port Half-Life 2 to Quest but that it will “probably never happen.”
The reason is mainly practical — all of Team Beef’s ports are possible because the games’ original engines are open source, allowing them to be ported to Android for a Quest release.
Half-Life 2 runs on the Source engine, which is free to use for Steam users but not exactly open source (pun sorta intended) and therefore any Quest ports of the game would not be direct translations of the original. Open source engines also allow modders to port the engines in full without running into any issues.
Here’s DrBeef’s response in full:
UploadVR: I’m wondering if you decided to port something that was Quest 2-only how recent do you think you could go with a game. And is there a dream game that you would like to see ported? Or have you already gotten there?
DrBeef: The problem is there’s a dependency on the actual software being open source. As far as modern games go, I think Doom 3 is kind of — I’m quite happy to be corrected — but Doom 3 is probably one of the most recent well-known popular games that actually has its engine code open source. After that point, I think, id software stopped doing that. There’s not many games studios where they actually open source their engine software. It’s a bit of a shame.
The game I would most like to do, but I think will probably never happen is Half-Life 2. Because I’m slightly ashamed to admit I’ve never played all the way through it. And also I got halfway through playing it on the original dev kit, but never finished it. You know, it’s one of those games that we get asked about all the time. There’s somebody who’s managed to do some sort of Android port somehow. I don’t know how they’ve done it, but it’s, you know, it’s not like a truly open source engine port.
So I think there would be some risks entailed with trying to pick that up. So as it stands, I think that game is out of reach, but, yeah, that would kind of be the dream game to bring to the Quest, but I fear it’s probably never going to happen.
Keep your eyes open for our the rest of our interview with DrBeef, which releases tomorrow on our YouTube channel and here on the site as a transcription.
Bethesda announced that a VR version of DOOM 3 (2004) is coming to PSVR later this month. The game is said to be developed for PS4, however it features backwards compatibility with PS5.
DOOM 3 VR Edition is said to launch on March 29th, 2021, coming exclusively to PSVR.
The game is slated to support PSVR’s Aim controller, and will also include the original’s expansions, the Lost Mission and Resurrection of Evil.
Chances are Doom 3 VR Edition probably isn’t coming to other headsets. Both PCVR and Oculus Quest have rich modding communities which have already ported the 2004 classic to their respective platforms, a luxury PSVR owners obviously haven’t had.
Still, it will be interesting to see what Bethesda has done to make it feel more like a contemporary refresh instead of a straight port.
Bethesda says in a blogpost the game is getting “all-new VR enhancements that allow you to peer around corners, angling your shots with flashlight-mounted weapons using motion controls, 180-degree quick-turn functionality to catch demons sneaking up from behind and an immersive wrist-mounted display to track your health, armor and ammo.”
John Carmack hopes there’s a path to getting the popular unofficial ‘ports’ of id Software games like Quake onto Oculus App Lab, with some help from Microsoft.
Facebook’s Consulting CTO for Oculus had a brief exchange with modder Simon “DrBeef” Brown on Twitter discussing the possibility of bringing the developer’s community-made VR ports of classic games to App Lab.
Team Beef are behind a plethora of VR ports of classic 90s games such as Quake, Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and many more. These run as standalone VR ports that can be sideloaded onto Oculus Quest.
The games’ engines are ported over into VR and shipped with community-made “shareware” versions of the original assets for legal reasons, so that the content can be legally distributed online. Users who want the authentic experience can transfer in the original textures and assets on their own, using a purchased version of the original games for PC.
App Lab is Oculus’ new method for easy distribution and installation of non-Store Quest content, providing an easier method than traditional sideloading and with less strict content restrictions. That being said, the nature of Team Beef’s VR ports might make an App Lab listing legally complicated.
DrBeef said on Twitter that the App Lab listings for these classic ports would use the shareware versions of each title and tagged Carmack asking him what he thought. You can read his response below:
I think there are ways to do it independently and legally, but you have to be careful about trademark usage and media rights. I have some hope that we could get a tacit go-ahead form Microsoft after the Zenimax deal fully settles, which would be the best case.
Microsoft could hypothetically give their blessing for the ports to be listed as App Lab apps once the acquisition is finalised. However, until then, it looks like we’ll be installing the ports through traditional sideloading methods.
Popular sideloaded Oculus Quest game launcher QuestZDoom has been updated to include Wolfenstein 3D, now playable on wireless standalone VR.
QuestZDoom released back in May last year, created for Oculus Quest by community modder Simon ‘DrBeef’ Brown and others. The app is a launcher that lets you play free versions of DOOM and other iconic 90s games in VR, using an adapted engine that brings the games to life in full roomscale VR. Users who legally own the original games are also able to transfer their original WAD files into QuestZDoom, to use the original assets and get the proper authentic feel.
At launch, QuestZDoom included the original DOOM from 1993, as well as DOOM II, Heretic and Hexen. There’s also support for a bunch of games mods as well, such as Brutal Doom and more.
This week, QuestZDoom was updated to include support for Wolfenstein 3D, a first-person shooter originally released by id software in 1992 for DOS. Much like the other included games, this version of Wolfenstein 3D is a “careful fan recreation/mod”. It will be included with the latest version of the QuestZDoom launcher and engine, so all you need to do is update via SideQuest if you’ve already got the QuestZDoom installed.
A new listing from the Australian Classification board may have leaked a new id Software VR game.
The listing (pointed out to us by Twitter user GamerToTheEnd) for a project codenamed ‘Project 2021A’, was awarded an R 18+ classification for ‘high impact violence’ and ‘online interactivity’ on January 22nd, and has a ‘Year of Production’ listing for 2021. The listing confirms Bethesda Softworks as the publisher and id Software as the author, and the filing was made by the Australian branch parent company Zenimax (which itself is now owned by Microsoft).
New id Software VR Game Spotted
This wouldn’t be id Software’s first VR game. In 2017 the studio released Doom VFR which tied into the 2016 series reboot, reusing some of its assets and levels along with all-new content. 2020 saw the studio release the next full sequel, Doom Eternal, so it’s possible this project could again remix content from that campaign.
Then again, the mention of ‘online interactivity’ might suggest the game has a multiplayer component. Doom Eternal had no multiplayer to speak of, but perhaps this could link to Quake, Doom’s sister series also developed by id. 2018’s Quake Champions was online-only, after all.
Of course, it could be entirely unrelated to either franchise and either be a new original project or tied to the Rage series. Either way, it’s encouraging to see Bethesda releasing new VR content – despite early support with Doom VFR, Fallout 4 VR and Skyrim VR — all of which sold ‘really well‘ — it’s been a while since the publisher’s last VR releases, which included the underwhelming Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot and optional VR modes for Prey. Curiously, though, this new title couldn’t release on Microsoft’s new Xbox consoles in their current form, as they don’t support VR headsets. Hopefully, that may one day change.
We also have to wonder if this game might release on Facebook’s VR platforms. Zenimax famously took the social networking giant to court over a dispute about the involvement of id’s John Carmack, who went from the company to a CTO role at Oculus. Bethesda even claimed it made the first VR headset, the prototypes for the Oculus Rift, during one E3 presentation. Could the Microsoft acquisition help patch things up between the two?
Need more VR Doom? A new mod recently brought Doom 3 to Oculus Quest, and it’s really rather great.
Evidence that a new VR game published by Bethesda Softworks, the studio behind The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, has appeared in an online listing by the Australian government’s media classification board.
According to the listing, the game is codenamed ‘Project 2021A’, and will be developed by Bethesda subsidiary studio id Software. It’s unclear what to make of it since there’s no name attached to the game itself, although the listing does hold a few scraps of info.
The game, which is is solely listed as supporting VR, carries an ‘R 18+’ rating for “high-impact violence, [and] online interactivity,” which could point to any number of id Software regulars, including franchises such as Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake.
Notably, id Software’s DOOM VFR (2017) was also rated ‘R 18+’ by the Australian government, which restricts the game to users 18 years and over; that was for the game’s “high impact violence, blood and gore.”
Bethesda’s Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot (2019) was rated ‘MA 15+’, which restricts it to 15 years and above for its “strong violence, [and] online interactivity.” Whatever it is, it’s probably going to be more intense than killing Nazis from the relative safety of a giant mech.
Could we be looking at a wholly new VR-only game in the vein of Doom VFR, or possibly a retread of an older, non-VR game from the studio? It’s difficult to say with so little information, although the codename and preemptive media classification would suggest we’ll be hearing about it sometime this year.
The next likely announce windows are E3 2021 in June and GDC 2021 in July. Both events are still being held in-person, albeit with heavy emphasis on a “digital-first” component.
As you’d imagine, Doom 3 (2004) wasn’t built for VR. But thanks to work by consummate modders Team Beef, the iconic first-person shooter from id Software can finally be played in all its horrific goodness on Oculus Quest, replete with Touch controls. There’s a few hoops to jump through to get it working, but it’s all in the name of doom-slaying.
Simon Brown (aka ‘Dr. Beef’) released the mod in full on SideQuest this week, which lets you port the game’s original files to the newly rejiggered VR-compatible game engine.
The project doesn’t contain any of the original copyrighted assets, so you’ll need to legally own Doom 3 if you want to play on Quest or Quest 2. At the time of this writing, only the original Doom 3 works (not Doom BFG). You can grab it over on Steam for $5.
To play, you’ll need to roll up your sleeves and get under the hood a bit. Firstly, you’ll need to set up SideQuest for either your original Quest or Quest 2. Check out our guide on how to install SideQuest to get started.
From there, follow this step-by-step guide on the Doom 3 Quest website, which requires you to copy a few PK4 files from the installed Doom 3 game folder on your PC to the relevant SideQuest folder.
Team Beef says multiplayer isn’t available yet, however it’s not off the table.
“There is a possibility [multiplayer] may come later, but is however a lot of work,” the team says. “The networking code changed hugely from Doom 3 to BFG. Once this is stable and released we can review our options.”
If you have a PC VR headset, you won’t be able to play this specific mod, although there are others out there. Team Beef suggests downloading the ‘Fully Possessed Mod’ on Github to get you chainsawing and ripping through Hell’s ugliest baddies.
QuestZDoom released last month and gives Oculus Quest users a way to play classic Doom games and mods in full 6DoF VR. Now, a new update is available for QuestZDoom, which adds some minor features and bug fixes, while also bringing a new companion to the game — Isabelle from Animal Crossing.
Yes, really.
Announced on Reddit, the update is mostly minor changes including compatibility for more mods that require a later version of GZDoom (the engine on which the mod runs) and a change to player movement that makes it more consistent with other VR games. You can read the full patch notes here.
While not strictly part of the update itself, the announcement also came with a bonus surprise — the launcher will soon have a new option to install a mod that adds an ‘Isabelle companion’. The mod, initially available for flatscreen Doom, adds Isabelle from Animal Crossing as a 2D companion in-game.
Now, with the Isabelle companion mod, we’re all a little bit closer to living out that video in VR. You can watch some footage of the mod running on 2D Doom here — QuestZDoom will be updated to include VR support for the mod in the near future.
If you want to know how to install and play QuestZDoom on your Oculus Quest, check out our guide here.
You can play DOOM on basically every gaming platform out there, as well as many objects that were never intended for video games (such as calculators and pianos) and now, as of today, that list also includes the Oculus Quest.
The Quest version of DOOM is by way of QuestZDOOM, a sideloaded launcher that enables you to access free versions of DOOM and other related content, as well as the original DOOM, DOOM II, Heretic, and Hexen if you own those games already. Included with QuestZDOOM is also a list of mods you can install to enhance the audio, change weapon textures to 3D models or voxel designs, and even new map packs.
Installing via SideQuest
There are two required apps to install in order to play QuestZDOOM on the Oculus Quest — the launcher and the engine. These are two separate APKs that can be installed via SideQuest.
You can either follow the links above or locate the launcher and the QuestZDOOM engine in SideQuest’s Games and Apps tab or search bar.
Once installed, start the ‘launcher’ application from your list of Unknown Sources in the Library tab inside your headset. From there you’ll select which core game files to launch, such as FreeDoom, followed by any other assets or mods you want to enable.
It’s all pretty straight forward with lots of options. The user interface isn’t great for VR, it’s basically a giant window that looks like an old-school PC game launcher, but it works well enough.
Installing Original WAD files
Now if you want to use QuestZDOOM to play the original DOOM, DOOM II, Heretic, or Hexen, you can do that as well — including with some of the great mods available. In order to do this you need to legally own the full games already on PC. If you don’t, there are lots of very cheap ways to grab them:
At the very least I recommend trying the original DOOM (the Ultimate DOOM version works great) to get an authentic retro feel with a jolt of blood-soaked nostalgia.
Now to get any of these original id Software games working in VR on Quest, it’s very simple:
Install the apk files for QuestZDOOM and the launcher on your Quest following the steps above.
Start the launcher in your Quest at least once.
Install and run at least once the games you want to copy over to your headset.
Navigate to the local files of your game installation. For example, Ultimate DOOM on Steam installed to steamapps/common/Ultimate Doom and from there open the ‘base’ folder.
Locate the file named ‘DOOM.WAD’ and copy it.
Now plug your Quest into your PC and open up SideQuest. Wait until the bubble in the top left corner is green and the Quest is fully connected.
Click the folder icon to open the file browser on your Quest.
Scroll down and open the ‘QuestZDOOM’ folder in your Quest directory.
Open the ‘wads’ folder in this directory.
Paste in the source wad file for the original id game you’d like to play, such as ‘DOOM.WAD’ or ‘DOOM2.WAD’.
Close SideQuest and unplug your Quest.
First Time Setup
The first time you open the launcher, a few files will need to be downloaded, which can take a minute or two depending on your internet connection speed. You’ll be able to see the files being downloaded underneath the QuestZDOOM logo. Just wait for it to finish, it works like a patcher you might see for a PC game or MMO.
From there everything is organized into columns: Core Games, Maps / Conversions, Gameplay Mods, Weapon Packs, Textures / Sounds, and Other Files.
You might notice that upon launching one of the games that the main menu is basically a 2D square in your face, but once you actually start the game everything will fall into place as a fully immersive 6DOF experience. The pixelated visuals oddly feel at home in VR, especially if you enable a weapon pack like voxel weapons or 3D weapons.
VR Options
Once you get inside the game, I highly recommend immediately opening the Options and taking a look at tweaks you can make. Under ‘VR Options’ you can adjust things like your character’s height if it feels off, change the angle of snap turns, enable teleportation movement, change walking speed, and even alter the angle and size of weapons.
After adjusting those, you should go into the ‘Customize Controls’ menu and assign the change weapons button to something easy to access, like one of the grip buttons, and make sure everything like shoot, interact, and jump are easily accessible as well.
That’s about it! If you have any questions about playing QuestZDoom let us know down in the comments below and don’t be shy about reaching out to the developers (like Simon “Dr. Beef” Brown) for feedback or questions as well.
