2025 Gaming DooM Awards

2025 Gaming DooM Awards

In this article, the 2025 edition of our annual Gaming DooM Awards, we list, present, and comment on the 10 Doom mods that stood out the most to us this season. All types are considered — including map packs, gameplay mods, add-ons, and total conversions — as long as they are compatible with any engine of id Software’s classic.

The order of the list is random (it's not a ranking) and each work is accompanied by a brief description, videos, some of our own opinions, and, of course, a download link. The mods were selected by our Discord community, taking into account aspects such as consistency, innovation value, functionality, and — most importantly — fun. Naturally, personal taste plays a role, and this is not meant to be the definitive top list of Doom mods for 2025 (much less a competitor to the Cacowards). Our goal is simply to highlight some cool projects to enjoy in 2026 while helping to spread the word about them, and doing this with our community’s always makes it even more enjoyable.

As usual, we turned the list into an episode of our Gaming DooM series, made up of narrated videos dedicated to the only possible game. Below you’ll find its 40th episode — essentially a narrated version of this year’s awards, with additional commentary (enable the English subtitles; maybe Google will generate a decent one):

Well, without further ado, let's get to the mods for the Gaming DooM Awards 2025:

Duke Nukem: Tears of Crimson

Duke Nukem: Tears of Crimson, released on February 8, 2025, is a total conversion for Doom by SuperMarioFan123311. Set in a dystopian future, the mod takes place after the fall and subsequent return of the military corporation A.R.M.A., which comes to dominate what remains of Tokyo under the command of a vengeful scientist. Faced with this threat, the Earth Defense Force sends its most well-known soldier, Duke Nukem, on a solo mission to uncover who is really behind the organization’s control — and eliminate him.

The project works as a crossover between Duke Nukem and Crimson Tears, a 2004 action game with RPG elements released for the PlayStation 2, known for its science-fiction setting and dungeon crawler structure. The mod is extremely consistent in introducing new maps, weapons, monsters, textures, music, sound effects, optional cinematics, a blood and gore system, AI-controlled allies, and a fast melee attack activated via altfire. Visually, the levels scream BUILD games, especially through the use of textures and decorative sprites. Additionally, when run with an IWAD based on DOOM.WAD, the mod allows players to use vanilla maps with the mod’s original monsters, opening the door to interesting combinations — which, as we know, is always a very welcome feature.

Trailer

Prince Peter and the DOOMing Adventure

Prince Peter and the DOOMing Adventure, released on November 28, 2025, is a gameplay mod developed by NoodlyNoodlBo that proposes an unusual crossover between fantasy and science fiction. The player takes on the role of Prince Peter, a young man raised in a magical kingdom and shielded from any real danger, who ends up crossing a dimensional portal and emerging inside UAC facilities. From this clash of worlds, the mod delivers a light-hearted and deliberately over-the-top narrative, involving dimensional corruption, enchanted objects that take on new forms, and a protagonist who discovers violence in an unexpected way.

The goal of this project is to offer a more relaxed alternative to tactical gameplay mods, striking a balance between humor and functionality. Prince Peter features its own set of mechanics, including exclusive weapons, effects, and behaviors, all wrapped in a colorful visual style that works especially well in retro-style combos with monster and/or map PWADs. It is a very consistent piece of work, with a large number of custom assets and some interesting effects. The mod is also thorough in small details, such as the weapons, which, when picked up, seem to magically transform into their fantasy-themed versions.

Video

I briefly talked about Prince Peter and the DOOMing Adventure in Facínora's News #325. I’ve already left the video more or less at the right timestamp:

The Economy of the Dead

Released in November 2025, The Economy of the Dead is a nine-map episode for Doom II developed by multiple members of the Doomer Boards Community, under the leadership of Jon Vail (40oz). The WAD is the 77th entry in the Doomer Boards Projects series and was designed for limit-removing source ports. Its central theme revolves around a post-apocalyptic retail setting, with maps set in abandoned, decaying commercial spaces permeated by a constant sense of collapse and emptiness.

In addition to the new maps, the episode introduces custom decorations, textures, graphics, and background music, all without altering the original gameplay. The Economy of the Dead pairs well with other mods — especially those focused on zombies, horror, urban warfare, or apocalyptic scenarios — since its atmosphere rooted in liminal spaces and urban decay offers a great deal of creative flexibility. That said, it is perfectly enjoyable on its own as well. It’s also worth noting that the mod delivers a well-balanced difficulty curve, avoiding the frequent DBP's opening with an oversized first map packed with monsters.

Showcase

POSTAL: Red Letter Day

Released in December 2022, POSTAL: Red Letter Day is a total conversion for Doom developed by Brain Dead Arts that recreates Postal (1997) in a fully three-dimensional perspective. It replaces virtually all vanilla elements, introducing weapons, enemies, graphics, sound effects, textures, and maps inspired by Running With Scissors’ game, but adapted to first-person shooter mechanics.

Despite still being in development, POSTAL: Red Letter Day already calls our attention as a solid and surprisingly faithful recreation in both tone and identity. Also, its enemies are more aggressive and intelligent than standard Doom foes, requiring greater mobility and player awareness. In addition to its own custom maps, the TC allows players to load vanilla or custom mapsets, effectively “postalizing” any level, which greatly expands its longevity and range of use without compromising the original concept.

Trailer

Diamond Dragon

Released in June 2025, Diamond Dragon is a gameplay mod developed by cybermonday that puts the player in control of Kiwi, a robotic bounty hunter with feline traits, operating in a violent and stylized cyberpunk future. The mod replaces traditional Doom combat with a fast-paced, aggressive approach, blending modern firearms with sword-based melee combat. It also introduces new enemies, a custom HUD, graphics, sound effects, and original systems such as headshots.

Diamond Dragon’s mechanics are deliberately straightforward and flexible, allowing players to freely choose between focusing exclusively on guns, exclusively on melee combat, or mixing both playstyles. This freedom, combined with the mod’s strong visual appeal and impactful combat feel, helped it quickly stand out within the community, earning it a Gameplay Award at the 2025 Cacowards. It’s a mod that prioritizes pace, style, and overall “game feel,” working well with a wide variety of mapsets without requiring the player to master overly complex systems.

Trailer

Quakin Doom

Released in August 2022, Quakin Doom (or QuakinDoom) is a gameplay mod developed by ZWolf14 that brings the Quake universe to Doom, Heretic, and Hexen. The project works as a large compilation of ideas inspired by other Quake-for-Doom mods, adapting weapons, monsters, items, power-ups, and mechanics from the 1996 FPS to the logic of these other classics, while maintaining a cohesive visual identity and making extensive use of 3D models.

Beyond porting Quake’s arsenal and bestiary, the mod also includes unique creations, difficulty adjustments, and renames the skill levels to match those of the original game. Quakin Doom is distributed in a modular fashion: the weapon pack can be used separately with other enemy mods, while QuakinMobs depends on the main mod to function correctly. There are also alternative releases, such as the Quake 1 Monsters Pack, which makes the project quite flexible for use with weapon mods across Doom, Heretic, and Hexen.

Video

Tyrant120 played Castle of the Damned using the full QuakinDoom: Chaos Edition, alongside the following additional mods: Precise Crosshair, Custom Crosshair Pack, Armament Tuning, SpawnProps, Brutal Doom Community Expansion Liquid Texture Pack, Alternate Quake Music Pack, Alternate Quake Music Pack Jukebox, and LiveReverb.

Tax Evasion 3D

Released on March 19, 2025 — and previously covered in Facínora News #290 — Tax Evasion 3D is a gameplay mod developed by CaptainResident, designed especially for GZDoom, with a title that alludes to legitimate self-defense. Set in an alternate Earth, the player fights against the armed forces of an immoral and authoritarian federation that rules as a true police state. The official justification for the assault is an accusation of “tax evasion,” used as a pretext to break the isolation of a small group of survivors living outside the regime’s control. The concept blends dystopian science fiction with a straightforward narrative structure centered on retaliation and survival.

At its core, Tax Evasion 3D remains faithful to Doom, while incorporating strong influences from Build Engine games such as Duke Nukem 3D and Blood. The mod completely removes random damage, replacing it with fixed values, and introduces a more elaborate system of weapons, damage types, and enemies categorized by species, each with specific resistances and weaknesses. Hitscan attacks are almost entirely absent, favoring fast projectiles and combat that demands pattern recognition and careful positioning. There is also a considerable degree of customization, as many aspects can be adjusted — from visual effects to interface options.

Weapon showcase

Hell Crisis

Released in October 2025, Hell Crisis is an interesting gameplay mod developed by ScileSC directly inspired by Namco’s Time Crisis series. The concept adapts some of the core mechanics of rail shooters to Doom, placing the player under constant pressure through a timer that never stops. The mod is not suited for clearing large slaughters or massive megawads, but rather for pushing as far as possible through practice, route planning, and mastery of its mechanics.

The mod features two playable classes, each with its own characteristics. The Glock21 class focuses on mobility and resistance to hitscan damage, with reloading performed by looking down — a direct reference to light gun games. The Machinegun class, on the other hand, sacrifices agility and resistance in exchange for a frontal ballistic shield, activated via altfire. In Hell Crisis, defeating enemies fills a time gauge which, once completed, adds 30 seconds to the timer, with additional bonuses awarded for headshots and barrel explosion kills. The presence of dashing, a headshot damage multiplier, and careful time management makes the mod compatible with a wide variety of mapsets, although the use of external monster packs may interfere with its core mechanics.

Trailer

The D64ifier

Released in 2022 and already used extensively by the Gaming Room community, The D64ifier is a modular package created by Cryonaut with the goal of bringing the classic Doom games closer to the atmosphere of Doom 64. Rather than altering gameplay mechanics, the mod focuses exclusively on delivering a darker, more oppressive visual and audio aesthetic, directly inspired by the Nintendo 64 cartridge. The idea is to “D64ify” the base game, preserving its original structure while transforming its look, sound design, and overall pacing.

The main module, or core, concentrates the primary visual and audio changes, including a custom HUD and interface, darker lighting, new textures, smoke effects, and environmental sprites, along with enhanced reverberation affecting all in-game sounds. The mod also adjusts player movement, making it slower and less slippery, and offers an alternative soundfont that alters MIDI music playback toward a more subtle and unsettling tone. Compatible with Doom, Doom II, Final Doom, No Rest for the Living, and most vanilla mapsets, D64ifier also features a variety of optional add-ons, such as music modules and utility features, as well as other editions with different compatibility profiles.

Video

Below, I use D64ifier with Doomed Marine on Mapa do Sereno, alongside the following mods: Sun Damage Omen Enemies Pack, Darkbox, CatsVisor HUD, NashGore NEXT, Critical Shots, and Bloom Boost:

Mass Disassembly

Released on July 18, 2025, Mass Disassembly is a Doom mod inspired by the Murder Drones series developed by Krypton57 with direct collaboration from Squig, Katherinecode, and Craneo. The mod casts the player as a disassembly drone created to carry out the orders of Cyn, a rogue AI attempting to purge a planet overtaken by the Solver, a program capable of manipulating matter and responsible for turning drones into grotesque aberrations. The result is a form of technological horror with a strong, aggressive visual identity, built on top of Doom’s classic framework.

Rather than relying solely on health and ammunition, the player must manage core overheating, which acts as a death sentence if it reaches its limit. Survival depends on collecting oil obtained by tearing enemies apart, encouraging an aggressive playstyle. The arsenal, while featuring infinite ammunition, demands careful control of pacing, reload timing, and positioning. Meanwhile, color-coded telekinetic abilities, advanced movement options such as gliding and ground slams, and extreme power-ups — including an eldritch form — add even more layers of complexity.

Trailer

Whew!

Another edition of the Gaming DooM Awards wrapped up at the last minute — but good enough to get the job done. There’s definitely something here for everyone to frag away at.

Now we want to know what you think of these mods. Did we miss any? Was all the effort to list these projects worth it? Share your thoughts with us.

Also, please consider — very carefully — loosening your grip on your wallet and becoming a supporter, helping fund our campaign for world domination!

So, see you in 2026. God willing, it will be a year with even more great things for Doom!

Cheers!

<code>

More awards and stuff

Comments

Post a Comment