This guide is based on my experiences.

If you have questions on stuff that isn’t present in the

guide ask some autist on /vr/ doom general or google it. I don’t plan on playing games I do not
find appealing, like tekwar for example. So if you want to play dogshit like that you’re on your
own.

Controls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct8U06Wonhk

Watch this video and apply it. Applying basic mouse aim techniques from modern multiplayer
fps games to older shooters will make you much better as many of these older games were play
tested by 40 year old 40000 dpi geriatrics on ball mice.
Whenever I go into a new game, I mess with the sensitivity until I am able to 360 my camera
with one complete swipe of my 12in width mousepad. This keeps my sensitivity consistent for
each game, assuming I can also turn off mouse accel and smoothing. Most source ports will let
you do this. Do something similar with whatever sensitivity you find yourself using.
Make sure to rebind your weapon and item hotkeys to be around your WASD or whatever keys
you use for movement. Being able to consistently switch to whatever weapon you want is very
useful. Keep these consistent between games if possible (melee 1, pistol 2, shotgun 3, automatic
weapon 4, rocket launcher 5, explosive throwables F, super weapon Q, etc.).

Pistol Starting

Most retro styled fps games are balanced map by map with the intention that the player is
starting the map with a fresh loadout. This allows the designers to be consistent in their
consideration of the player’s resources (there would be much more variation in what the player
has going into map 20 if they did not pistol start than if they did). Pistol starting also makes
secrets more desirable for the player in that a player is not already stocked up on resources and is
further encouraged to hunt for them. Obviously this makes the games more challenging, but I
would definitely recommend trying it if you either find the game too easy or find yourself
annoyed with being over encumbered on rare ammo and armor.
Some games are not balanced around pistol starting (Doom 3, 4, Quake, Hexen, Half-life, and
Heretic (maybe)). Generally, you can tell if it is if when you die you are sent back to the start of
the level with default equipment rather than instantly having your last save loaded. (This is
another reason why GZDoom is gash because it auto loads your save rather than pistol starts you
on death when the original game does the opposite.)
This was to make sure a player didnt render the game unwinnable because they’re a stupid 10
year old who did not save properly, so if they were forced to restart the level with default
equipment it would still be doable.
Difficulty

Generally, play the difficulty that is the second hardest. If that's too difficult, bump it down one.
If too easy, either pistol start, and/or ironman (you can only save at level start). The final
difficulties in this genre tend to be shitty, in that they fundamentally change how the game is
played for the worse. Blood is probably the only exception, where I would recommend playing
on the middle difficulty unless you’re very experienced with retro fps games, especially if you
plan to pistol start it.

ID Games

Wolfenstein 3D

This game is real simplistic to the point where it’s just boringdoom. All the enemies are hitscan
and have little variation and the level design is both simplistic in that it has no verticality and
confusing in that everything looks the same. The shooting is basic and all the weapons are
essentially the same. I would not recommend playing it beyond just to see how doom improved
on it.

Recommended Source Ports: ECWolf

Doom

It's really good. Play episode 4 after Doom 2. 4 is far more challenging and came after Doom 2
was released. It will better prepare you for it than if you just went in right after episode 3.

Recommended Source Ports: Crispy Doom, PrBoom+, GZDoom,

I personally try not to use GZDoom if I do not have to. It changes the player movement of the
original game by messing with the players friction and momentum, and alters aspects of the
original game like changing the collision of enemies. If you use GZDoom, make sure to turn off
texture filtering, it makes the game looks scuffed as fuck. I don't know why it's on by default the
devs must be autistic and I’m sick of watching doom gameplay that looks like ass because the
player doesn't know they can make the game not look like dogshit covered in vaseline.

Doom 2
Level design is all over the place. Some maps are better than 1, and some are far worse. The new
enemies are often found by new players to be very frustrating, but are very enjoyable to fight
once a player is experienced. The super shotgun is amazing as well.

Recommended Source Ports: See Doom

TNT: Evilution

Half of the levels are open rooms with hitscanners and it feels very low effort in certain maps.
Many maps emulate Doom 2’s shitty attempted real life location level design. Probably the worst
official classic doom wad.

Recommended Source Ports: See Doom

Plutonia

This or No Rest For the Living is my personal favorite official classic doom wad. Definitely play
this after getting some experience with easier user made wads before coming back to this. It's
very challenging, but will force you to learn how to deal with the new Doom 2 added enemies.

Recommended Source Ports: See Doom

Doom 64

This is basically a mix of Doom 1 and 2. Level design is more similar to 1in that maps tend to be
more cramped and concise, but it has the SSG and some of the new enemies added in 2. The
atmosphere and music are more similar to Quake which is cool as well. The lack of the revenant
and archvile is lame.

Recommended “Source” Ports: Doom 64 EX

The original is an n64 exclusive which caps the game at 30fps and forces you to play on a
gamepad. If you’re playing casually, play the port. You need a rom of the n64 version, but you
can download that from some rom site.

No Rest For the Living

This is probably the best balanced of any official classic doom wad. It’s a bit more challenging
than Doom 2, but lacks the retarded difficulty spikes Doom 2 has like the Catacombs. It's only 9
maps, but it's definitely worth playing. It was an exclusive to the xbox arcade port of Doom 2 so
just pirate it.

Recommended Source Ports: See Doom

Doom 3

Yikes. The game shat on the weapons, which all feel like trash (the machine gun sounds like a
stapler and the shotgun has more spread than Doom 2’s ssg) and has some of the most repetitive
encounters in any game ever made. For the vast majority of the game, you’re fighting a bit more
than a handful of enemies at a time and the game thinks its extremely clever by repeating the
same encounter scenarios over and over. The design of the enemies resembles the goop that was
used to make the krabby patties from that Spongebob episode where the Krusty Krab is turned
into a Thank God It's Friday clone compared to the easily identifiable enemies from the classic
games. It does better as an atmospheric horror game, but there a better horror games in that
regard. If you do play it, use the original. The BFG version makes the game even easier by
making the player flush with resources.

Recommended Source Ports: dhewm3, fhDOOM

I’m unfamiliar with both because I do not want to play Doom 3 again, but I have heard good
things regarding both.

DOOM (4)

Fun game, feels really smooth and has satisfying weapons. The level design and enemy
encounters are rather repetitive and some of the upgrades and runes break the game, but it’s
definitely worth playing through and more. I’m also not a fan of the challenges that ask you to do
arbitrary shit like sniff a zombie’s feet 10 times as they make the player play stupidly. The
enemy’s also feel less varied than the classic games as many seem to fit the same “run around
really fast and shoot you with projectiles”role.

Recommended Sourceports: N/A

Quake
Amazing game. Learn to be efficient with your guns and weapon combo/swap. Bunnyhopping is
something you can do for fun if you’re just playing casually, but is very enjoyable to learn while
just playing the game and its user maps. It’s expansions are fun and worth a playthrough, but not
as enjoyable as either the base game or some of the better user content. You need to add back in
the music, which you can find by googling. Just follow the directions on some steam forum link.
Recommended Source Ports: Quakespasm
Use gl_texturemode 1 in console to disable texture filtering. I’m not as familiar with quake ports,
so there are probably other good ones. Darkplaces is gash.

Quake 2

Enemies will block you for ages with their dying animation and swapping weapons is far slower.
All the enemies feel much spongier as well because of this as the player is less able to weapon
combo. Just play Quake user maps instead. I have not played the expansions and have no
intention of doing so and then commentating on them.

Recommended Source Ports: Yamagi

Quake 3: Arena

It's just bot matches. This is a singleplayer thing and I’m neither qualified nor able to talk about
the game’s multiplayer from a design perspective.

Recommended Source Ports: idk

Quake 4

Have not played, will update whenever that occurs.

Recommended Source Ports: idk,

use q4max for multiplayer according to @Inane87

Build Engine

Blood

This is my favorite fps game because the game will still put up a fight even when you’re
experienced in it. Most of the weapons feel amazing and the way fire weapons work is awesome.
The game also has the best throwable weapons in any game ever. The level design is intricate
and detailed without being confusing and the game pulls off a fantastic atmosphere due to its
sound design despite being made in an engine where everything looks like a cardboard cutout.
Crouch when fighting hitscanners and things low to the ground and learn to throw dynamite and
you will succeed. Play Deathwish after finishing the base game and its expansions, it's better
than either. The game has both a CD and midi original soundtrack. The CD is more atmospheric,
but the midi is better to listen to for repeated looping.

Recommended “Source” ports: BuildGDX, nBlood

BuildGDX is allegedly more accurate in terms of enemy behavior, but also requires you to
download some java shit. It also runs worse if you want to use the original color scheme, which
you have to run through software, rather than opengl.
Use Fresh Supply if you’re lazy, but it is unfinished and certain secrets are inaccessible when
coming out of water. Fuck Atari.

Duke Nukem 3D

Amazing game. Much easier than Blood, but still challenging. Level design is much less abstract
than Doom’s despite still being very enjoyable and gamey to playthrough. Play Life’s a Beach
(one of the best expansions ever made and has a fantastic original soundtrack) and skip the other
two expansions, they’re trash. Pirate Megaton Edition for them because every other port lacks
them.

Recommended Source Ports: EDuke32, 20th Anniversary World Tour

Play 20th Anniversary only for the new episode which is quite good. It has worse audio and
Duke talk because Gearbox is scuffed. I’ve also heard the game has mouse issues. EDuke32 is a
great port and has none of the issues World Tour has so play that whenever you aren't playing
the newest episode.

Shadow Warrior

Great game with no good source port. Be prepared to get insta killed by enemies and mines. The
difficulty of the game is about equivalent to Blood, except replacing that game’s saturation of hit
scanners with explosive enemies, damage floors, and death pits. One of the expansions is a
mediocre user map collection and the other is literally unfinished. I would not recommend them.

Recommended Source Ports: DOSBox, Shadow Warrior Classic Redux

With the exception of Shadow Warrior Classic Redux, all of the ports are old and worse than
simply playing in DOSBox. Redux itself has terrible mouse movement issues and will randomly
crash. It also does not properly display landmines in certain maps so there will be maps where
the player will randomly explode on an invisible mine.

Ion Fury

This is my favorite of the recent throwback shooters. The level design is extremely intricate with
some of the most hidden and in depth secrets of any commercial game. It also adds some things
from newer shooters that I enjoy like being able to headshot. The weapons are also as satisfying
as you would expect from a build engine game especially with being able to gib heads. The
challenge on the 3rd difficulty is about in line with Duke 3D so it would be a good idea to play
before Blood or Shadow Warrior. Some of Shelly’s lines are a bit lame in comparison to Duke or
Caleb’s though.

Recommended Sourceports: N/A

The game is also able to run in open source EDuke32, though the game is already on a private
build of that engine. Not sure what that would add as I am unfamiliar with the game’s user
mapping scene because I’m waiting for it to be more developed.

Redneck Rampage

This game is weird but still fun. Many of the weapons are janky like the AK with insane recoil
and the shotgun with extreme vertical spread. The healing system is also weird where you have
to balance alcohol and food. The level design for the game is mostly good with the exception of
the first level having a really weird wall you can barely tell has destructible that needs to be
blown up. Some of the enemies have weird hitboxes as well. The soundtrack is also fantastic but
is literally the same for every level and just loops after 30 minutes which means it will get old
after the first episode.
Recommended “Source” Ports: Rednukem, BuildGDX
I haven’t tried GDX for this game but I trust my boy M210. Use this to make the radio work:
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Redneck_Rampage#Make_CD_music_work_with_BuildG
DX
For, GDX you need to turn on CDaudio.

NewBlood Published

DUSK

Great game. I’m not 100% on the artstyle, which feels like it could be crisper and more detailed.
It feels less so than Quake, for example. The weapons feel great to use and the level design is
again very good. The game has a great atmosphere as well, with a couple of horror like levels
strewn about. The game is fairly easy on the second to last difficulty and the level design, while
still very enjoyable to play, is simple, so this would be a good starting point for people new to
the genre. An SDK came out recently so hopefully people will start pumping out some good
maps instead of autistically porting levels from other fps games.

Recommended Sourceports: N/A

AMID EVIL

Good game, though I’m generally less interested in fantasy weapons and enemies compared to
other types of shooters. There also seems to be less feedback on hit as enemies will not be
slowed or stunned by damaged, though I played on Nightmare so that may be exclusive to that
difficulty. A lot of the enemies feel as if they have a bit too much health which hurts how the
weapons feel (again though this may be Nightmare specific). The enemies also feel very samey
as, despite each episode having new enemies, they mostly fulfill similar archetypes which are:
“run and melee/shoot you”, “float at you and melee/shoot you” and “walk slowly and shoot
you”. Some of the enemies, like the harpoon guys in the robot episode, will try to predict your
movement, but these are some of the few that break the mold and they’re only in one episode.
The general aesthetic of the game, especially in the latter episodes, is insane and should be
played for that alone.

Recommended Sourceports: N/A

Croteam

I have only played the HD versions and don’t really plan on playing the originals. The originals
seem to be the same save for different graphics, lacking some weird physics shit in the new
engine, and certain secrets that could not be done properly in the new engine. Either version
works, though the HD versions are better for multiplayer.

Serious Sam: The First Encounter HD

Very polarizing game. People who are diehards of older fps level design, people who are bad at
fps games, and people who are low test will not enjoy this game. It, out of any other game on this
list, will demand extremely efficient use of weaponry and movement along with competent
accuracy. If you’re the type of person who only uses one or two weapons in an entire arsenal,
you’ll get fucked up and quit and cry. The level design is also very basic with lots of wide open
spaces that enemies will attack you in waves from. However, the enemy variety is extremely
robust and makes up for the basic corridors and open spaces you’ll often be fighting enemies in.
Also, some of the encounters are tedious in that they go on for too long. Once you’re good, the
game is very satisfying to play. If you’re not good, play normal. If you’re very good, play
serious.

Recommended Source Ports: Serious Sam Fusion

This is a port made by the devs to consolidate all the serious sam games, save for 2, under the
same engine. This combines the multiplayer and also makes the game run better, as the HD ports
and 3 were not designed for multicore cpus. The port itself is 20 dollars, but is free if you owned
and of the remasters or 3 before the port was released.

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter HD

More of the first with some changes. New weapons are always nice and give you more options
for dealing with certain enemies and, if you were the kind of person to be mad at the item
ambushes in the last game, there's fewer in this one. The game has much more varied theming
with an Aztec, Persian, and Medieval episode compared to only Egypt in the previous game.

Recommended Source Ports: See Serious Sam: The First Encounter HD