Doom II, also known as Doom II: Hell on Earth, is a 1994 first-person shooter game developed and published by id Software for MS-DOS. It was released on Mac OS the following year. Whereas the original Doom was initially only available through shareware and mail order, Doom II was the first Doom game released initially in stores.
Doom II features larger levels, new enemies, a new Super Shotgun weapon, and a new power-up. Master Levels for Doom II, an expansion pack with 21 new levels, was released on December 26, 1995. Another expansion, No Rest for the Living, which adds nine extra levels, was developed for the release of the game on Xbox Live Arcade and is also included in the Doom 3: BFG Edition, as part of Doom Classic Complete, and as a free add-on for the 2019 Unity engine port of Doom II. It was also included in the 2024 KEX Engine port.
Doom II received positive reviews for its refining of the original Doom. It has sold more than 1.8 million copies, has earned over $74 million in revenue in the United States, and is considered one of the greatest video games.
Doom II was ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2002, Tapwave Zodiac in 2004, on Xbox Live Arcade in 2010, and on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2019. The release of the Doom source code has facilitated ports to platforms including iOS and other cellphone systems. Doom II was included in the Doom ports for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1995 and 1997.
Gameplay
thumb|left|The Super Shotgun in use
Doom II was not dramatically different from its predecessor. There were no major technological developments, graphical improvements, or substantial gameplay changes. Instead, the development team took advantage of advances in computer hardware since the release of the original game that allowed them to do more with their game engine by making much larger and more intricate levels. The game still consists of the player navigating large nonlinear levels. Each level is infested with demons that can be killed with a variety of weapons that can be picked up throughout the game. Levels are completed by finding an exit, whether it be a switch or a teleporter; the goal is simply to advance to the next area. As with its predecessor, Doom II's levels can be completed in a straightforward fashion. However, because the levels are nonlinear, players can wander off the beaten path, and those who do are often rewarded with bonuses like health pickups and more powerful weapons. Due to the larger and more complicated maps with larger groups of monsters, the game had somewhat higher system requirements than the original.
Rather than the player playing through three related episodes as in the first Doom, gameplay takes place over 32 levels (two of which are secret levels that can be accessed from level 15), albeit with interludes for when the story develops. Instead of watching the player's progress on a map (as in the original episodes of Doom), the screens between each level simply show a background (a style carried over to the bonus fourth episode of Doom available in The Ultimate Doom, the retail re-release of the original Doom). This also means the player is never forced to lose all of their inventory after completing an episode.
Doom II doubled the number of non-boss monster types and started using bosses from the original Doom as normal level enemies, in addition to adding a new weapon, the Super Shotgun (a very powerful double-barreled shotgun), and a new power-up, the Megasphere.
Multiplayer
Dooms multiplayer functionality was greatly improved in Doom II, including "out of the box" support for a vastly increased number of dial-up modems. The two-player dial-up connection allowed one player to dial into the other player's computer in order to play either cooperatively or in deathmatch-style combat. There was also local area network (LAN) functionality added, which was improved upon as patches and updates were released. This functionality was later incorporated into the original Doom. As with the original Doom, multiplayer games used to be played using the dial-up or LAN by the internal setup program (setup.exe), through the online service DWANGO or with once-popular programs like Kali and Kahn (using SPX) in Windows 95. Nowadays, there are countless third-party source ports of the Doom engine, such as Odamex,
Releases
Doom II was released for DOS on October 10, 1994 (one of the days of the Doomsday rule and exactly ten months after the original) in North America and Europe; distribution was handled by GT Interactive.
In 1995, a port for Mac OS by Lion Entertainment Inc. was released, as well as a port for the PlayStation. An Atari Jaguar port was also announced early in the year, but was never released. Likewise, a 3DO Interactive Multiplayer version was announced to be in development by Art Data Interactive, but it never materialized.
On 10 April 2025, Sigil II was officially added to the Doom + Doom II edition.
Expansions
Master Levels for Doom II
Master Levels for Doom II is an official expansion pack for Doom II which was released on December 26, 1995, by id Software. Reviewer Ed Dawson for PC PowerPlay praised the quality of the levels, but noted the "uniformly medium size" of the commercial levels and the high purchase price for predominantly shareware content.
No Rest for the Living
No Rest for the Living is an expansion pack developed for the release of Doom II on Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360. It was developed by Nerve Software, under the direction of id Software and was released on May 26, 2010. It consists of eight regular levels and one secret level. It is also included in the 2012 Doom II release from Doom 3: BFG Edition, as part of Doom Classic Complete for the PlayStation Network, and has been released as a free add-on for the 2019 Unity engine port of Doom II. Although no detailed plot information is given, this expansion appears to take place after the main campaign of Doom II. Brandon James, president of Nerve Software, said this expansion was designed to be played on Ultra-Violence difficulty, contains "a plethora of secrets to find", and "is geared toward a more hardcore experience".
Legacy of Rust
Legacy of Rust was developed by id Software, Nightdive Studios, and MachineGames. Released on August 8, 2024, Legacy of Rust is the first official episode since Doom II to feature brand-new enemies/weapons. The new episode is divided into two chapters, "The Vulcan Abyss" and "Counterfeit Eden", which contain a combined total of 16 maps.
Reception
Critical reception
The reception of Doom II was positive, with reviewers saying it refined everything that made the original Doom good. It placed 10th for 1996, with 322,671 units sold and $12.6 million earned in the region that year alone. Its revenues in that country ultimately reached $80 million, while those in Europe reached $20 million. Of the latter figure, Kushner wrote that "30 percent [...] came from Germany—a country that had banned the game from its shelves."
Legacy
In 2022, John Romero created a new level called "One Humanity" for the game to raise money for the Ukrainian Red Cross, and the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund following the outbreak of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. By March 2022, the new level had raised more than $29,000.