Doom-From Video game to Board game

Alexander Booker
Sep 9, 2018 · 3 min read

This week I played the Doom board game designed by Christian T. Peterson and Kevin Wilson and published by Fantasy Flight Games. For me finding out that a Doom board game even existed was an amazing surprise as I’d often wondered how Doom would play in a format such as this. From my time playing it I can say that it captures the essence of the original work. The game pits up to 4 players playing the role of marines against 1 other player who controls the various demons that spawn around the board. This creates a nice balance of competitiveness and co-operation.

Playing the game is an interesting experience as you can play as one of the marines or play as the demons. Playing as the marines is an experience that I enjoyed, at the beginning of the game you can customize your class role and the weapons you bring into a particular mission. The different weapons are represented by the combat cards that all players possess, this is how most of the game is played. This is also true for the demons as at the beginning you get to choose a special card that shows the types of demons you can summon for the mission. In a way it reminds me of being the DM in a tabletop RPG like Dungeons & Dragons. The marines and the demons have a pool of cards that they use to fight each other and the effects of these cards can vary greatly. There are many more mechanics that make the board game feel like the video game, like glory kills and argent energy. The gameplay is smooth once you play the tutorial and learn the basic rules, after that it only gets more fun even while learning the more advanced mechanics.

During my time playing I was able to play as a marine for one mission and as the demons for another. I feel that both types of play are fun in their own ways. Playing as a marine is more fun if you like co-operation and for the most part feeling like a bad-ass demon killing machine, as you would want to in a board game adapted from Doom. When playing as the marines you maneuver around the board killing the demons as you try to complete your mission objective which may be different depending on the mission. The weapons you choose and the class you choose really impact the way you’ll play the mission. the way you play the game can also be impacted by the various pick-ups around the map like health packs and special weapons. Playing as the demons however is an entirely different experience. As the demons the gameplays as more of a tactical battle simulator such as X-COM, and for this reason I really enjoyed the demon gameplay. Playing as the demons you have to choose where you spawn the demons carefully and move them in a way that maximizes your chances of taking out the marines and completing your mission objective.

In all I think the Doom board game does a great job at replicating the atmosphere of doom with the different mechanics and differing playstyles of the marines and the demons. The many advanced chains of actions that can be taken on either side also make the game feel action packed and fun for everyone. For the best experience I’d recommend playing the Doom soundtrack in the background for maximum immersion. I’d recommend that any fan of the Doom games try this game out, you won’t be disappointed.

Alexander Booker

Written by

Born in Clearwater, FL | I love games and anything that relates to them

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