Freedoom

In 1993 DOOM changed gaming. The fast first-person shooter from id Software defined an entire genre, brought deathmatch, modding and the famous engine into millions of bedrooms. Freedoom is the open-source community declaration of love for that legacy: a completely free game package of original graphics and original levels, built on the same mechanics and running on the classic DOOM engine. The browser version here plays without sound.

The principle is as simple as it is timeless: you explore maze-like levels from a first-person view, find keycards for locked doors, collect weapons and ammo and clear plenty of monsters out of the way. From the pistol through the shotgun to heavy hardware, your arsenal grows with every level. Secret passages reward the curious, and the adrenaline rush when a horde of enemies comes around the corner is still there thirty years later.

Freedoom is expressly not a pirate copy and needs no original DOOM files. Over the years the project has created its own, freely licensed content - textures, enemies, weapons, music and complete levels - so the whole package can be passed on legally and for free. You get the real DOOM feel without ending up in a legal gray area. Pure, free shooting nostalgia.

Controls use the keyboard: WASD or the arrow keys to move, the left and right arrow keys to turn, the space bar or a left click to fire, E to open doors and hit switches, and Escape for the menu. If you like, you switch to fullscreen with a click and let the gloomy world fill the whole screen - only then does the claustrophobic atmosphere of the tight corridors truly come into its own.

Technically the whole thing runs in a browser port of the DOOM engine that executes the game directly on your device. No server does the computing, nothing is installed. On start your browser loads the game files once (just over 30 MB), then you are off. Open, wait briefly, shoot. Exactly the simplicity that makes a good retro shooter for the break in between.

Whether you played DOOM to the last level back then or know the genre only from stories: Freedoom is the fastest way to experience the classic in its free form. A bit of reflex, a bit of exploration, plenty of nostalgia - and all completely free and open source.