You May Soon Be Able to Play Doom 1993 in Your PC's Notepad

Over the years, we've seen Doom running on a myriad of different devices. Whether that's a computer, a console, or even a refrigerator, the community has managed to get Doom running on tons of devices that might not normally even run games. It might have been released in 1993, but Doom continues to find a new lease on life, almost 30 years later.

The latest revival comes in the form of a strange new way to play one of gaming's most acclaimed titles. Sam Chiet, a game developer currently working on an unannounced title, ported Doom 1993 over to Notepad.

The game doesn't actually play in Notepad. Instead, it appears to use some kind of application to show the game in Notepad. As such, Notepad essentially acts as a television screen, showing the game in text form screen by screen.

It's an intriguing way to see the game being played, and it honestly isn't the worst-looking way to play the game––though it would be hard actually to recommend. Still, seeing the game running like this in Notepad is intriguing; soon, others might have a chance to try it out for themselves.

Chiet says that it'll take some time to package the game together but that when it is done, a public release may be available as a downloadable version. It's really impressive that Notepad is able to render out all the information that Doom has on the screen at any point.

Of course, Doom has seen a ton of success beyond that original game. The series was rebooted back in 2016 with the release of Doom 2016. That success was followed up by Doom Eternal in 2020, which saw even more advancements made to the original formula. Both games have been highly regarded by the Doom community and offer plenty of demon-slaying action for players to enjoy.

It has been almost 30 years since the original Doom was released back in 1993. Since then, the game has seen quite a few releases, including 2018's 25th Anniversary release. So, if you'd like to experience the allure of that original release without the graininess of the Notepad port that Chiet created, you can always pick that one up to scratch your old-school shooter itch.

And, as noted, this isn't the only time that we've seen Doom running on interesting hardware or software. There are entire threads on Reddit dedicated to showcasing all the different ways that Doom can run on older hardware.

Newsweek reached out for a comment regarding the port.