Doomhelped lay the foundation for decades of FPS games, rising to be one of the longest-running gaming franchises on the market. And while its protagonistDoom Guyis as much of an icon as his arsenal of weapons, it appears that the game is being brought to life by some pretty interesting sound effects, including one’s that players may recognize from other places.
A new video by YouTube “decino” explores where all 107 sound effects inDoomcome from, and as it turns out, most of them are stock sound effects that can be found in a variety of other games, cartoons, and so on. The video shows specific examples, like the sound ofDoom’sdoors also being used inCourage the Cowardly Dog,the classic cartoon.
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The unintentional crossovers between the various games, movies, and other forms of media is due to the use of Sound Idea’sSound Effect Library,a resource containing thousands of royalty-free sound effects, which appears to have been fairly popular. While many fans likely never noticed the crossovers, it is hard not to hear the similarities in the ones that decino shares throughout the video.
As fans likely expect, some of the sounds are mixtures of ones found in the library, like the sound of an imp dying layered with an explosion for larger demon’s death. Others are a bit more strange. It isn’t unusual for odd sound effects to be used for games, likeold Xbox consoles being used forHalo.ButDoomapparently takes this one step further, with effects like a washing machine switch being used for the game’s wall switches.
There are, of course, numerous animal sounds scattered throughout the game, ranging from leopard sounds to lower, ambiguous guttural sounds. Audio is one of the aspects that can make a game, but is often under-appreciated by fans.Doomwould be a racially different game if the shotgun were to sound any less punchy, and while the sound effects may be surprisingly generic, that doesn’t make them any less iconic.
TheDoomfranchise is still kicking, withDoom Eternalslated to get new DLC soon, so it safe to say the sounds have had an effect on the game’s longevity. Id Software is still a major player in game development, and with any luck, the studio will continue to create FPS experiences for years to come, especially those with cool sound effects.
