The Doom franchise has a long and storied legacy spanning nearly twenty-six years at the time of writing. Strangely enough, despite boasting a lifespan that far exceeds that of other cornerstone FPS properties like Call of Duty or Halo, it has comparatively few titles in its roster.

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A lot of this likely owes to its iconic status in the industry. Doom is commonly referred to as the grand-daddy of all first person shooters, after all, and its protagonist is the stuff of legend. There's a certain reputation to be upheld. That said, not every title released under its banner was as good as fried gold. In fact, some of them were, arguably, outright terrible games. To put that statement into context, today we're ranking every entry in the Doom universe from worst to best.

Updated by Damien Lykins, March 23, 2020: With the highly anticipated release of Doom Eternal on March 20th, we absolutely had to go back and ensure it took its proper place in the lineup. It wasn't an easy call to make, to say the least. But the million-dollar question had to be answered: how did it stack up against the runaway success of its 2016 predecessor?

10 Doom Resurrection

Doom Resurrection takes what was one of the weakest entries in the mainline series and strips out everything that was even potentially fun about it. It's essentially just a rail shooter for iOS that utilizes Doom 3 assets.

It's visually impressive for a mobile game, and is actually pretty decent in that context, though it does perform a bit sluggishly for what it is. Held up against the legacy of the series, it's a lot less than satisfying, and is really only a Doom game in name and aesthetics.

9 Doom RPG

Doom RPG gets a few points for creativity, and actually received some amount of critical praise, which was no mean feat for a mobile game released in 2005. The game channels the charm of the original Doom games in using their original sprites, and preserving their style for new assets.

The format is where things diverge in a big way. As you might have guessed, this is an RPG, complete with statistics, experience-based progression, and turn based combat. It works out pretty well, all things considered, but those looking for an authentic Doom experience are likely to get bored quickly.

8 Doom II RPG

You obviously can't have too much of a perfectly average and slightly disappointing thing, so Doom RPG spawned a sequel four years after its original release. It certainly wasn't any worse than the original outing, though it wasn't much better either.

One thing to be said to the credit of the Doom RPG series is that it manages to fold in a pretty cohesive plot in spite of itself, which Doom II RPG expands upon nicely. Apart from that, there are a few new bits, slightly improved graphical performance, and all around better menu interface. As a game, though, it's altogether unremarkable.

7 Doom 3

Doom 3 took the franchise in a polarizing direction by shedding some of its high octane, action-forward roots in favor of embracing some basic survival horror elements. And really, it managed to do so quite effectively.

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It didn't feel quite like the Doom that people knew and loved as a classic, however. Its graphical fidelity was unprecedented at the time, and the gameplay itself was incredibly tight. Sadly, its dimly-lit horror setpieces really slowed the pacing, resulting in more of a slog than the franchise's hardcore fans wanted out of it.

6 Doom 64

Doom 64 was... well, a Doom title for the Nintendo 64, and it fulfilled that role quite well. The gameplay is almost a mirror of the original titles, albeit with improved visuals, and it was altogether successful in delivering a Doom experience to the Nintendo family of consoles that was both new and authentic.

However, its single player campaign and total lack of multiplayer functionality really put a hard limit on replayability. The graphics can also be successfully criticized for not taking full advantage of the Nintendo 64's hardware, resulting in an experience that, while authentic, paled in comparison to other first-person shooters available on the console. That said, Doom 64 has recently seen a polished re-release with some special bonus content alongside Doom Eternal, making it more than worth checking out whether you did or didn't catch the bus at the time of its original release.

5 Final Doom

Final Doom was less of a proper entry in the Doom legacy than it was a glorified level pack for Doom II. It utilized the exact same engine and assets, including enemies, weapons, items, and power ups.

That said, it was absolutely huge, packing in sixty four levels across two episodes: Plutonia, and TNT, with both of them being extremely challenging. What's really cool about Final Doom is the fact that it was developed by hobbyists. With modding largely being an underground practice at the time, this is one of the first instances of modders being successfully contracted by the original developer.

4 Doom (1993)

Is there really much that needs to be said here? It's Doom. The definitive title that championed an entire genre, introduced us to the concept of the Deathmatch, and generated censorship controversies that continue to this day.

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The original demon slaying shotgun extravaganza was a milestone achievement in the gaming industry that developers have attempted to replicate for decades since. Though they've seen varying degrees of success in those ventures, nothing has come close to the sheer impact Doom had on gaming as a whole. Twenty-six years later Doom is still a blast to play through, and the fact that you can run it on the technological equivalent of a toaster doesn't hurt.

3 Doom II

Doom II is a sequel done right. It hits all of the notes that the original did, but it does so in a bigger and better way. Though largely similar to the original Doom, Doom II introduced new weapons, enemies, an "iconic" boss fight, and increased support for its much-praised multiplayer.

Perhaps most telling of Doom II's success is the fact that it's still the go-to Doom experience for many today, still enjoying a fairly prolific, active playerbase and modding community via modernized clients.

2 Doom Eternal

Following up on the massive success of Doom's 2016 reboot is Doom Eternal, and to say that it keeps the pace admirably would be an understatement. The new toys, new demons, and a wild narrative campaign are entirely worth the price of admission. Is there truly anyone out there that actually thinks a shoulder-mounted flamethrower and integrated wrist blade are overkill when it comes to the Doomslayer? We think not.

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However, it can't exactly be described as "perfect" in the way its predecessor was. An increased focus on platforming and the lack of a conventional deathmatch in its multiplayer offerings are a bit of a damper, and the dramatically increased narrative focus (replete with third-person cutscenes and all) has been a matter of contention among the hardcore fanbase. But the fact that id Software somehow managed to make its core gameplay even more frantic and violently satisfying is more than enough to safely proclaim that they've done it again.

1 Doom (2016)

Doom's 2016 reboot by Bethesda, though well-hyped ahead of its release, still managed to totally shock the gaming industry with its near flawless execution. After the divisive nature of Doom 3 twelve years prior, there was healthy skepticism concerning seeing a release that could truly and successfully straddle the line between modern gaming convention and the franchise's classical roots. Doom 2016 did that.

Its relentlessly frenetic combat perfectly echoed what the original titles were all about. Its progression systems, like unlocking Praetor suit abilities and upgrading weapons, worked perfectly and without obstructing the core experience. As the cherry on top, the plot and characterization of the Doom Slayer couldn't have gone over better. It was precisely what the franchise needed, and that statement alone speaks volumes.

NEXT: 5 Reasons We're Excited For Doom: Eternal (& 5 Things We're Worried About)