Doom is still a very good first-person shooter, even if it’s nearly 30 years old. But that first, world-changing chapter did lack something that its predecessor, Wolfenstein 3D, had plenty of—Nazi killin’. Thankfully a new total conversion mod for Doom, called Venturous, has fixed this and in the process created a whole Indiana Jones-inspired game.
Released all the way back in 1993, the original Doom from id Software was a big step forward for video game technology and also helped popularize the first-person shooter genre. Even today, three decades later, people are still playing and modding Doom and all of its sequels. So it’s not shocking that in 2023 someone has spent a lot of time on a brand-new total conversion mod for the original Doom that turns the game into a Nazi killin’ adventure that sees you spanning the globe as you look for the lost city of Atlantis.
Venturous, developed by PixelFox, came out earlier this month but in the last week has become more popular as folks have discovered this rad adventure-themed GZDoom mod. I just came across it today and ended up getting distracted for about an hour playing it instead of doing my job and writing about it.
What immediately stood out to me about Venturous is how heavy guns feel. Even the starting pistol is no peashooter and can take down rooms of Nazis in a few seconds. I also like how the mod plays around with darkness, especially in the first level. You have to use a torch to see in some areas. And you can only hold the torch while using the pistol, which has limited ammo, forcing you to sometimes fight in the dark if you run out of handgun bullets. However, you can also toss the torch to light up areas and make combat easier in these dark hallways. Or you can even chuck the flaming torch at enemies and set them on fire.
The mod has seven maps split across three areas with each map featuring new weapons and enemies. I especially love the MP40 SMG as it sounds menacing and does a lot of damage very quickly. The new lever action shotgun is also just as good and dangerous as any shotgun found in official id Software shooters.
Developer PixelFox—who had only created two maps before this massive project—explained that they made this mod because they wanted to play an “Indiana Jones-style adventure” in a retro shooter engine. So after a year of learning how to create something like a total conversion mod pack, PixelFox has finished Venturous.
You can download and check out Venturous yourself for free. Just a heads up before you hop in: You’ll need to download and install GZDoom and get that all set up first, and this particular total conversion requires the data file from the original Doom, not Doom II. But once you have that sorted, you’ll be able to enjoy this mod and three decades’ worth of other cool stuff, too.
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