I just added these in, but every chapter will have an ending card like the classic game levels.
The Time stat is supposed to be a stat of how much time has passed on Mars in that chapter - makes it easier to keep track of the story's timeline.
However, the interesting one is the Secrets stat. This is the number of Easter Eggs that I have included within each chapter, and which I will be listing in this tab (in no particular order).
E1M1
1. Elite Guard Commando uses zombie voice lines from Brutal Doom.
E1M2
1. Ruby being sheltered from the Lazarus Wave attack in an elevator is inspired by the similar plot element in Doom VFR.
2. The tik tik tik heard when Ruby is being stalked by a prowling imp is based on the similar notes in the classic Imp Song.
3. The prototype UAC Mega Armor is based on the classic blue mega armor.
E1M3
1. The Marine deriding the irresponsibly placed nukage barrels is inspired by the...environmentally conscious Doomguy in the infamous Doom comic.
2. The Power Colt handgun is based on the protagonist of Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon, Rex "Power" Colt.
3. The Flamer zombie is inspired by the Pyro class in Team Fortress 2. Lore-wise, UAC Flamer Specialists are supposed to be biohazard workers that use flamethrowers to safely cremate biohazardous demonic gore/tissues in the event of breaches or contaminations.
4. This may come as a surprise, but Hiro Romero's name is inspired by the classic Doom designer John Romero and the protagonist of his infamous game Daikatana, Hiro Miyamoto.
5. The flashback where the Marine remembers finding a plasma gun in Deimos comes from the classic game, where the plasma gun is first found as a secret in the first level of the second episode, the Deimos Anomaly.
6. Hiro Romero's "big iron" is a reference to the song "Big Iron." In other news, the floor is made out of floor.
E1M4
1. The 211-V Plasma Cutter is taken straight out of Dead Space.
2. The Marine acquiring the super shotgun from a dead soldier references the infamous MAP21 Nirvana/super shotgun theory.
3. The Marine's former sergeant Mahonin is inspired by the antagonist from the 2005 Doom film, Sgt. Asher Mahonin.
4. The Headless Kamikaze enemy is taken straight out of the Serious Sam series, though customized to fit the Doom universe.
5. Excavation Site 32 is based on the Excavation map from Doom 2016's multiplayer.
6. "Hell devours the indolent" is a tutorial tip in Doom 2016.
7. "Too rough to be called music" is a reference to the famous Berserk quote about Guts' sword.
E1M5
1. The Argent plasma Extraction map is based on the Extraction map from Doom Eternal's Battlemode.
2. The Tree of Perdiition's various prophetic lines are inspired by the whispering tree's speech in the Kadingir Sanctum level of Doom 2016.
3. Furthermore, the Tree of Perdition also references the Perdition map in Doom 2016's multiplayer.
E1M6
1. The Sentinel bonfires are based on the famous bonfires from Dark Souls.
2. The Daedric warrior with a Dragonbone arrow in his knee references the similar Skyrim easter egg in Doom 2016's Kadingir Sanctum.
3. The Exorcist is inspired by Keanu Reeves' film version of John Constantine.
4. Similarly, the Exorcist's quote of "Passive. A perfect circle" references the song from the film. HOW DID NOBODY GET THIS.
5. The classified UAC FTL-capable ship "Event Horizon" is inspired by the film of the same name, which tells the story of another FTL ship lost in its maiden voyage in 2040, six years before the Phobos Event.
6. The Scrag enemy is taken straight out of Quake.
7. The "1337" in the maze map's upper-right corner is based on the leetspeak easter egg in Doom RPG.
8. The Slayer's flashback to his Phobos deployment - including the emergency transmission and "watching restricted flicks in the rec room" - is based on the plot synopsis from the classic Doom manual.
9. The fact that Hell Knights and Barons don't infight is based on the similar mechanic in classic Doom.
10. The Dark Claw rune takes its name and description from a mentioned weapon in the Doom Bible.
11. John Doe uses the famous "Kill me!" line from the Predator film.
12. John's "I'm the man" line comes from Brutal Doom.
13. The "imp by itself in multiple locations" line comes from Markiplier's playthrough of Doom 2016, also in the Kadingir level.
14. The Blur Artifact's operation and name is based on the classic partial invisibility powerup, though it also functions similar to the classic no-clip cheat.
15. The Blood Prism enemy is based on the Ramiel angel from the first Rebuild of Evangelion film.
16. John Doe's "barrels o' fun" line takes its name from a level in Doom II.
17. The Parasite Moons are inspired by the Brethren Moons in Dead Space.
18. The Drow offering cube is based on the spawn cube from Classic Doom.
19. The Iron Sight powerup takes its name from the eponymous mechanic in most shooter games, also meant to amplify their user's accuracy.
20. Lt. Rogers' line of "I don't want to turn" comes from Brutal Doom.
21. John Doe's line of "you're gonna be stupid and dead" also comes from Brutal Doom.
22. The 2700 series plasma cannon that the Slayer remembers using back in Phobos is based on the BFG 2704 mentioned in the Doom Bible and shown in an early Doom beta, a rapid-fire plasma chaingun.
23. The closing line of there being "Hell to pay" references both the miracleofsound and Five Finger Death Punch songs, the former of which is actually inspired by Doom 2016.
24. John Doe's line of "Burn motherfucker burn" references another FFDP song.
25. The Dark Claw's secondary function of turning demons into timed biobombs is based on a similar mechanic in Prototype 2.
26. The Slayer finding the mutilated bodies of his squadmates on Phobos (impaled or hanging) is based on the corpse props in classic Doom.
E1M7
1. The demonic Pilots and ATLAS mechs are heavily inspired by the Pilots and Titan mechs in the game series Titanfall.
2. The Pilot's fragboosting, slidehopping, and slingshotting are based on actual player movement techniques in Titanfall.
3. This chapter also features mech melee executions from Titanfall 2 - the Slayer sweeping the Northstar's Falcon's leg and killing the Pilot with a railgun, the Phalanx reaching into the Tone's Firebolt's cabin and pulling the Pilot out before crushing them, and the Phalanx using the Scorch execution of punching an enemy mech twice before raising its hands and destroying it with a flame wave.
4. Each locker the Slayer opens in the technician storage area references a player class in Team Fortress 2.
5. The pressure valves in the same area, caked shut with grime and releasing only steam, references TF2's publisher Valve and their notoriously slow release schedule.
6. The mysterious Europa base code-named Tei Tenga is based on an obscure location in classic Doom.
7. The Sentry Bot's Phalanx construct is inspired by the same-named Sentry Bot in Fallout.
8. The chapter's title - "Unto the Evil" - comes from a DLC in Doom 2016, which also introduced the Harvester enemy.
9. Hayden's line of the demon's "staking their claim on Mars" comes from the intro text screen in Doom 2016's 7th level, the destroyed Argent Facility (replaced in DoW with the Spaceport).
10. The waspid enemy are based on the aspid enemies in Hollow Knight.
11. The foul-mouthed UAC researcher Dr. Croshaw takes his name from famous Internet comedian, critic, writer, journalist (one of the good ones!), video game developer, and podcaster Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, most well-known for his video game review series Zero Punctuation (running since 2007!) and his...colorful use of the English language. Remember the PC Master Race meme? That was this guy. Furthermore, the data log in which the eponymous researcher criticizes the UAC deploying unpredictable bioweapons over simple and reliable firearms comes straight from Yahtzee's ZP episode of Resident Evil 8, in which he addresses that popular video game trope.
12. The artwork of the looming gateway planetoid is based on the depiction of Deimos in Hell from classic Doom.
13. Phillip Osborne's line of "Die motherfucker die!" is based on the eponymous Dope song (yes, Dope is the name of the band).
14. The demonic mimics are based on a similar enemy from the 2017 video game Prey.
15. The scene alluding the line "there's always a bigger fish" references Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
16. The Exo Zombies take their name from a game mode in the futuristic Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, also depicting augmented zombies.
17. DoW's Echo Drone by default produces a projection of Doomguy with the M2 Pulse Rifle (Doom 2016 plasma rifle), much like the actual in-game Hologram equipment item.
18. The first image is an early Doom 4 concept depicting a crashed space station on Mars. This concept had no name, so I titled it "UAC Valhalla," the name of another though possibly related early Doom 4 space station in orbit.
E1M8
1. SPENC_R, otherwise known as Spencer, is actually an early development concept of Samuel Hayden from our boy Emerson Tung. However, he looks... You know what? I'll just link it you.
2. The Hack Module is based on the eponymous items from Doom 2016's multiplayer, which rather functioned as consumable perks, but the name was too good to pass up.
3. The tram schedules are based on the release dates of the five mainstream Doom games, which was actually depicted in the ARC level of Doom 2016. D193 refers to Doom I which came out in 1993, D294 is for Doom II which came out in 1994, D304 is for Doom 3 which came out in 2004, and D416 is for Doom 2016 which came out in... 2016. The last line of tram D519 being delayed and passengers being transferred to D520 is a reference to how Doom Eternal was delayed from its initial release in 2019 to 2020.
4. The error messages the Slayer receives when trying to configure his Praetor Suit are actual error messages in GZDoom.
5. Not to mention the well-known Windows error message of us requiring administrator permission to delete files on computers we're the sole users of.
6. The "ancient machine dragon buried beneath the surface of Mars for thousands of years" is an easter egg of the mythical Void Dragon from Warhammer 40K.
7. You know, if I were to include a scene of a Satanic ritual interrupting a news transmission in my Doom fanfic, some assholes on the internet might call me out for being too "heavy-handed" with my imagery. Some assholes might say that if the exact same thing hadn't happened IN REAL LIFE ON AN AUSTRALIAN NEWS CHANNEL BACK IN AUGUST!!!
8. UAC Spokeswoman Brittany Miller's repeated usage of "There is no crisis on Mars" is a reference to similarly-spirited "There is no war in Ba Sing Se" from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
9. Hayden's line of "when the bombs fell and our world knew oblivion" is a reference to the song "Oblivion" by Aviators, a song that keenly describes the history of DoW's world and the nuclear exchange, known as The Night of a Thousand Suns, that happened in this story's Earth back in 1984. This is an event that bears close connection both to the Slayer and further elements of DoW, and will be an important plot element in the future.
10. Romero's line of "I love the kind of woman that can kick my ass" is lifted straight out of Cowboy Bebop.
11. The term Bloodstone is sometimes used to describe the Artifact from Doom 3, but I used it to describe a distinct gem-like substance that can expand one's Argent reserves and store excess blood.
12. The Smart Pistol, which automatically locks onto enemies and fires homing bullets, is a weapon from Titanfall 2.
13. The Skulltag grenade launcher is a reference to a weapon from the Skulltag port of Doom I and II, which also inspired the multiplayer-only grenade launcher from Doom 2016.
14. The Vinson grenade launcher that fires 4-round bursts of plasma grenades is another weapon from Titanfall 2.
15. The Super Grenade Launcher is a reference to the eponymous weapon from Project Brutality.
16. The corporation Iris Solutions is a reference to Aperture Science from the Portal games.
17. The OCULUS operators are inspired, visually and behaviorally, by the Personality Cores from Portal, though their abilities are more like the Monitors from Halo.
18. The Scout Bots are mentioned a few times in Doom 2016's Codex, and although I designed them after the UAC Asp armor set from Doom 2016's MP, P3 and A7 are directly based on P-body and ATLAS from Portal 2's co-op mode.
19. The dino-corvid chimeras appearing in Helix Labs are an easter egg for the crow chicks that appear at the end of Portal 2's co-op mode, which GladOS insidiously implies she will convert into "killing machines."
20. The material emancipation grids are also lifted from Portal.
21. "Triceratoptron" is the name of a song from Doom's SIGIL episode, though I've repurposed it here to refer to a type of ancient Martian war machine.
22. The chapter name "And Hell Followed" is based on the second DLC for Doom 2016, which saw the introduction of the Reaper weapon and the Cyberdemonic armor sets that the Griefers are based on.
23. If you couldn't tell by now, the Griefers are based on certain types of asshole players you'll find in shooter games, particularly the "realistic" military variety like Call of Duty. The Camper, the Hacker, the Spammer, the Gambler, etc.
24. The other Griefer killstreaks of Hellstorm Missile and air strikes are likewise based on COD killstreaks.
25. The "Door stuck" line is a famous meme originating from CS:GO.
26. The scene where the Slayer catches a thrown Griefer knife out of the air and returns it while falling, landing a seemingly impossible headshot on the same demon, is based on another improbable classic scene from Call of Duty history.
27. Several lines are taken from background text and Spokesperson dialogue in the Advanced Research Complex level, including "the future is now," "a step above the rest," "innovation you can trust," "the science of sanctity and the sanctity of science," "building a better world," "haptic workshop," "obfuscation through misinformation," and "all hail the dark lord." Yeah, you thought I was kidding. But it's real.
28. The scene where the Slayer and Hayden are awkwardly standing in an elevator as the Praetor Suit plays the classic track "A Healer Stalks" is based on the opening scene to Doom VFR.
29. The 4 opened Argenta coffins the Slayer comes across actually appear in the ARC level of Doom 2016, which I've described here as having contained the defeated "marauding Zealots." A little tidbit for future tales.
30. Brittany Miller's quote of there once having been an accident involving confusion between US and International units of measurement actually happened in real life, with the failed Mars Climate Orbiter mission back in 1998 (HA HA!), though I'm sure it wasn't because of an intern.
31. The Griefer's quote of the Praetor Suit looking like a lazy HALO suit rip-off is a reference to how when Doom 2016 came out, people were dunking on it for supposedly ripping off Halo's MJOLNIR armor. Ironic, given that it was the first Halo who copied off "green army space man" from Doom.
32. The line of the Marine's and Osborne's superiors preferring to watch them die rather than study their reports comes from the character Phobos' backstory in Quake 3 Arena.
33. Hayden's line of "save your ammunition" is stated in Doom 2016 if the player tries to shoot him before the long cutscene in his office starts.
34. The character Jessica Cudot, head of Human Resources, is the famous "Jessica from Human Resources" that is commonly brought up in Doom 2016 and Eternal.
35. I DID NOT COME UP WITH JACKIE PEREZ, UAC DIRECTOR OF EUGENICS RESEARCH! THAT SHIT IS IN DOOM 2016!
36. The other male names listed in the Complex's hall of achievement are references to Doom's concept artists, which include Alex Palma, Emerson Tung, Bryan Flynn, Jon Lane, and Collin Geller.
37. ActiVision sonar goggles are garbage, much like their real-life namesake.
38. The name Praeleanthor appears in Doom 3 in reference to the long-last ancient Martians.
39. The black Elite Guard safe with a red emblem is based on the classic Berserker packs.
40. Zoe Thompson's (also known as Zeta) design of black-and-red dress suit, lab coat, red eyes and white hair is inspired by the aesthetic of the demon girls in the video game Helltaker, particularly that of Loremaster. Zeta will be an important character in future DoW stories, though her exact origin and nature remains to be seen!
E1M9
1. The gag of Ruby thinking the Slayer must be a master of evasive maneuvering, only to immediately cut to him realizing how lost he is, is a callback to a similar joke in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
2. W8 is heavily inspired by the character of Wheatley from Portal 2. His being able to walk on 4 crablike legs is a reference to his meme depiction of "Wheatley crab."
3. W8's line of having once met a young female test subject for the portal guns, who only jumped when he asked her to say "apple," is a direct reference to Chell in Portal 2, along with his line of "minor case of serious brain damage."
4. Android Hell is likewise mentioned several times in the Portal games.
5. The line "The cake is…eh, not as good as it looks" is a reference to the popular Portal quote "The cake is a lie."
6. The "strange android lady down in Lazarus" that Iris built is a reference to Portal's GladOS, along with her having designed the 2nd-gen Scout Bots, the dino-corvid chimeras, and mentions of her temper and propensity for neurotoxins.
7. The character of R0-53, otherwise known as Rose, is inspired by the eponymous Botanical Core in the fan-made Portal animation "Meet the Cores 3," along with her having produced potato-mantis hybrids.
8. The OCULUS building a small white tripod turret with a bright red eye is based on the similar Sentry Turrets from the Portal games.
9. The orange propulsion and blue repulsion gels are also lifted from Portal.
10. The purple adhesion gel was actually a cut concept from Portal 2, removed because it likewise made playtesters nauseous, though it's also a reference to the atrocious purple goo in Doom Eternal.
11. The melting pots I mean, Diversity Furnaces are based on the likewise wildly-named mechanic in Portal.
12. The alien-like plants encountered in the Agricultural Labs are inspired by various flora from the video game Subnautica, including the membrain bushes, lantern trees, ghost weed, and Valve.
13. The Valve plant that "can't count to three" is a reference to the popular meme of real-life video game publisher Valve not releasing proper third installments to any of their popular franchises.
14. The "potato PC" hooked up to potato batteries, with less than spectacular performance, is a reference to the popular meme of suboptimal gaming computers.
15. The pale tree with red fruits on snake-like stems is based on the Biblical Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil from the book of Genesis.
16. The oranges, limes, lemons, and grapefruit in the Agricultural Lab are a reference to the infamous Citrus Scale, meant to describe the sexual explicitness of a fanfiction work. FUCK YEA, I INCLUDED THE CITRUS SCALE IN DAY OF WRATH.
17. The volatile lemon-based devices that burst into flames are also a reference to the "combustible lemons" quote from Portal 2.
18. That researcher's... questionable report involving themselves and the BFG-9000 is based on the BFG's Codex entry in Doom 2016 as well as the historical "Ecstasy of Saint Teresa." And yes, that last one is literally what you think it is.
19. "Astro Biological" is a company described in some Doom 2016 background posters.
20. The EPG-1 is a plasma rocket launcher from Titanfall 2.
21. The Chex cereal box is a callback to the non-violent first-person-shooter released by the real-life cereal company back in 1996, titled "Chex Quest."
22. The arcade machine Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3 also appears in the ARC level of Doom 2016.
23. The various movie posters the Slayer comes across come from concept art in Doom 2016.
24. "Star Beast" was actually the initial title for the 1979 film Alien.
25. Cyber Valor 13 and Black Dawn 15 are references (respectively) to Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Battlefield 1, which came out the same year as Doom 2016 and competed with each other during the busy holiday season. And yeah, those games are the 13th and 15th installments in their respective franchises.
26. The poster for Terminal Velocity 2 being hidden behind those of Cyber Valor and Black Dawn is a callback to how Titanfall 2 was overshadowed on its release by COD:IW AND BF1.
27. Furthermore, the name Terminal Velocity actually comes from a 1995 video game produced by Tom Hall, the same guy who designed Doom I.
28. The name Thalasin comes from a fictional drug in a short video of the analog horror genre.
29. Project Soulbreaker and its accelerator suit are inspired by the Haste powerup's Codex in Doom 2016, which describes the powerup as creating a powerful exoskeleton consisting of Soul-Breaker energy to accelerate the user's natural movement.
30. The Heart of Lothar is a mysterious artifact that was referenced in one of the earliest known screenshots of the original Doom.
31. The scene where the Slayer lands a triple collateral with a HAR headshot on 3 Griefers is likewise based on another classic COD scene.
32. The repeated lines of "BOOM! Headshot" is another meme associated with CS:S.
33. The "hall of mirrors" is a well-known graphical glitch in classic Doom.
34. The scene where 2 Griefers argue between the merits of railguns vs rocket launchers comes from a frequent discussion during the Quake days, in which rocket launcher users would blame railgun users of having poor movement skills while themselves being accused of having poor accuracy.
35. The line "your only call of duty is to pay your debts" comes from JT Music's Battlefield 1 Rap "The World's the War."
36. Betruger's quote of "I have such sights to show you" is based on a similar line from the film Hellraiser.
37. Betruger's other quote of "I will bring the world a new understanding of VIOLENCE" is spoken by Sigma from the video game Overwatch.
38. His other quote in which he asks the survivors to willingly give themselves over to keep their bodies from being too heavily mutilated comes from Doom 2016's Codex.
39. Ruby's line of "Stick around, I'm full of bad ideas" comes from Dead Space 2.
40. The BFG being "the prize of the military's arsenal" comes from the classic Doom manuals, though the line "the holy grail of firepower" comes from the infamous Doom comic.
41. "Argent Energy is stored in the cores" is based on the internet meme "Pee is stored in the balls." I have no shame.
42. Project Bastion and its robotic sentries are inspired by the character Bastion from Overwatch, a robotic unit who could transform from a mobile sentry to a static turret.
43. Project Darkstrom is a reference to the eponymous Darkstrom Division, with which the BFG is associated with in The Art of Doom.
44. This chapter describes the BFG as weighing 130 kg, or around 300 lb, just like the Doom 2016 UAC Handbook.
45. The track BFG_DIVISION_V2.0.1.6 is preceded by an 11, since the song is number 11 in Doom 2016's album.
46. Osborne's lines of "are you ready to face your deepest fears" and "let's give them a show they won't forget" come from Quake 3 Arena's character of Phobos.
E1M10
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
1. The Red Queen is obviously inspired by GladOS from Portal. References include her lines of STILL ALIVE, the previous mentions of neurotoxins and her developing dinocorvid chimeras, her implication of being a person mind-uploaded against their will, and her design of a bound woman. Oh! Spoilers if you didn't know that :/
2. The Sentry Turrets' appearance, voices, and lines of dialogue are also based on those of the eponymous robots from Portal.
3. Several elements of E1M10 are based on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. These include the Sentry Turret as the White Rabbit who welcomes Alice Ruby to Wonderland Lazarus before she falls down the "rabbit hole", the Red Queen, the Vorpal Sword, Betruger's singing at the end, and... a few others.
4. The Slayer's monologue of "he came, he saw, he kicked its ass" after he microwave beams a ghost is inspired by the line in Ghostbusters.
5. Betruger mentioning his cat disappearing in a teleporter accident to perhaps become fused with an assistant comes from a similar obscure element in Half Life 2. Said (telefragged?) cat never appears, but it is brought up by the characters and an untextured model even exists.
6. DoW's interpretation of Malcolm Betruger is heavily inspired by the modern Internet character of Trollge. Yeah, so what? Particularly his line of "ARE YOU MAD, AGENT?" which is based on the classic meme "u mad, bro?" Yes, I know that line is technically Trollface, not Trollge.
7. The Griefers' line of "Must have been the wind" comes from the video game trope where enemy NPCs nonchalantly return to being idle after being evaded by the player, often to comedic effect.
8. The Riot Shield argument between the Rager and Camper Griefers is based on the infamously colorful voice-chat argument from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
9. The Stalker Griefer that appears in this chapter is inspired by the infamous Sonic OC "Coldsteel the Hedgehog." These include its purple armor, its line of "nothing personal kid," its hilariously edgy behavior, and even it describing the "cold steel" of its Neural Knife.
10. The Hall of Tortured Souls is a creepy little easter egg in Microsoft Excel 95, a secret minigame built in an engine similar to Doom's, which lists the names and portraits of the devs of Windows 95. Aka the devs are referring to themselves as the "tortured souls." Programmer humor. Anyway, that's where the name, visual design, and maybe themes(!) of DoW's Hall comes from, as well as its official names of "Office 95" and "Lab X-CEL 95."
11. The sigils the Slayer read atop the demonic container being "subdue, confine, pacify"...yeah, cheeky reference to the SCP foundation.
12. The "Robocola" and "Thirsty Burst" soft drinks come from Doom 3
13. "Powerthirst" is an internet meme (along with its "menergy" tagline).
14. Anodyne Heartthrob is a reference to the fantastic Mystery Flesh Pit project, in which the fictional Anodyne corporation sold superorganism-love-juice as an aphrodisiac for Coca Cola's limited Coke Heartthrob line.
15. This chapter takes heavy inspirations from the Happy Meat Farms ARG, particularly its human trials video. References include the names, classifications, numbers, and designs of some of the chimeras, such as the morbidly obese subject, the liquified subject, the outsider who suffered a terrible unknown fate, the escaped spider-like entity (here taking the form of a human-based arachnotron rather than a mutated cow), and even a bit of HMF's Mother for the Mother Demon.
16. The Zeroth Protocol is inspired by the Zeroth Law of Robotics from Isaac Asimov's works.
17. Romero's line of "Do you feel like a hero?" comes from the brutal video game Spec Ops: The Line. Fun times. 10/10 would get PTSD again.
18. The D2005 Cyber Pinky variant (encountered attached to a cybernetic wheelchair) is based on the Doom film's depiction of the demon from 2005.
19. The audio file the Rambler Griefer plays over the facility speakers - labeled "dbstp.skrlx.2010" - is supposed to reference the often contentious music artist Skrillex and the dubstep genre. which he helped popularize. I myself don't mind it, but I thought it'd be funny if it drove the Slayer mad and he equated it with "audio diarrhea."
20. The Prowler's reveal scene was inspired by the Regenerator's debut in the original Dead Space, including entering the room to find it in a stasis tank, watching it break out, and the player's failed attempt to kill it followed by a chase sequence. Though the "moment of truth" atmosphere was also inspired by the Prowler's reveal scene in the Spiderverse film.
21. The human victim partially absorbed into the Hellgrowth, which Ruby puts out of their mercy, also appears in Dead Space.
22. The Biological Cryo-Storage deck is inspired by the Unitologist freezer section in Dead Space 2, which also has wall-mounted cryotubes, monsters that escape from these, and even a nightmarish vision in this area.
23. This chapter's title of "Resurrection of Evil" comes from the eponymous expansion pack from Doom 3, which debuted the Bruiser, Forgotten One, and the 3 Hell Hunters.
24. "Joe the skeleton" is inspired by a quirky bug (or easter egg?) in Doom 3 where a certain bloody skeleton would stand up and be identified as "Joe," for some reason. lol Gianni even made a meme about it
25. Various of the Slayer's flashbacks and lines of monologue come from Doom 64's synopsis, manual, and ending screen.
26. Some of his monologue is also based on cut Doomguy lines from Quake 3 Revolution. This includes "'Join the Marines, see the universe.'" "They all die, isn't that enough?" And "He said he didn't want to die, then he did."
27. Osborne's line of "I did what I did to preserve the human way of life" is based on a similar quote from the character Phobos in Quake 3 Arena.
28. The nickname "Fatso" appears in the Doom 2 manual when referring to the human-like Mancubi of Doom II - hence its use here as a nickname for the prototype of that Mancubus variant - and is even still used as that demon's summon ID in the ZDOOM engine.
29. The Carrion enemy is based on the player character from the eponymous 2020 video game from Devolver Digital. Recontextualized in DoW as a demonic mimic corrupted by Hellgrowth, the Carrion possesses several of the powers available in the game.
30. DoW's Carrion also seems to have escaped from a tube bearing the logo of a Relith Corporation, which appears in the Carrion game.
31. The Viscera Cleanup Drones are inspired by the 2015 video game Viscera Cleanup Detail, which among other comedic premises, also features sanitation of a scifi station following a gory and messy battle.
32. The Trites from Doom 3 are nicknamed "head-crabs" by Ruby, completing the "Valve crab trilogy" alongside the Spy-crab mimic from E1M7 and Wheatley-crab in E1M9.
33. The Trites are also described as heads that sprout bony finger-like legs after being decapitated, similar to the Spider-Head from the 1982 film The Thing.
34. The Falcon Knight - seen only in a stasis tank - is based on an unnamed Hell Knight-like monster that was cut from Doom 3, hence this creature being decommissioned by the UAC. Like the Falcon Knight, this monster was also nicknamed "Birdman."
35. The Bruiser Knight takes heavy design cues from Cyber-Cain in Robocop 2. These include its origin as a political dissident, its weaponry and full-body armor, its retractable face-screen, and its spectacular death following the removal and destruction of its brain unit.
36. The Sawcubus is redesigned with heavy inspiration from Denji's Hybrid Form in the manga (soon anime) Chainsaw Man. Shared features include a virile male physique, dual chainsaws bisecting its arms, and a brutal mechanical head (without the 3rd chainsaw).
37. Although the Forgotten Soul takes its name from the Forgotten One in Doom 3: RoE, and its design from Doom 3's Berserk pickup, its ability to discharge armor-bypassing psychic screams actually comes from the Lost Souls in an early Doom beta, which themselves looked a bit more metallic. These Lost Souls were redesigned, and their psychic screams cut out, hence the name "Forgotten Soul." I'm sure most of you didn't even know those existed.
38. The Mother Demon's redesigned head with 4 horns is a homage to Doom 64's classic pentagram-shaped skull logo, which has 4 horns.
39. The Screamer weapon, which is based on the classic Doom 64 Unmaker, is built from demon bones much how the original Unmaker was described as in the Doom Bible.
40. The fact that the Screamer is built from the 3 Hell Hunters is a reference to the 3 demon keys used to upgrade the Unmaker in Doom 64, which are also used to seal the 3 demon portals in the Mother Demon's arena.
41. The Spiritual Armor helmet and Health Potion flask that Ruby encounters in the Lazarus Labs are references to the pickup bonuses from the classic games.
42. The Slayer wondering what the hell the Screamer is when he picks it up is based on Doom 64's similar reaction upon acquiring the weapon: "What the !@#%* is this!"
43. If you're wondering why I renamed the Doom 64 Unmaker to the "Screamer," it's because the name "Unmaker" never actually appears in Doom 64 (only mentioned as an achievement in the 2020 re-release). In fact, no official name was ever given for the weapon in the official manual or strategy guide either, only vaguely described as a "laser," "superlaser," "demon laser," "alien gun/laser/weapon," etc. The title "Unmaker" was only ever fan-made and originated from the eponymous weapon concept listed in the Doom Bible, again, described as being made of demon bones and feeding on human souls.
44. The Sawcubus makes its return from the obscure Doom II RPG.
45. The Pinkinator also returns from the first Doom RPG.
46. Betruger's first distant taunt is actually just "Lorem ipsum," a nonsensical text meant to be used as placeholder text in real life.
47. Phillip Osborne was born in 1999, the same year the character he is based on, Phobos, debuted in Quake 3: Arena.
48. Lance Corporal Ashford (aka the upcoming Soulbreaker) was described as having been a member of the Australian Liberation Front, an insurrectionist militia that spread anarchy and chaos across an irradiated Australia. Said ALF was inspired by a similar group in the 2016 video game Overwatch.
49. Furthermore, Ashford was born on Australia's "Fury Road" in the year 2015, the same year the Australian post-apocalyptic film Mad Max: Fury Road was released.
E1M11
1. The chapter name "Absolution" comes from the final level of Doom 64 and was also the planned title of Doom 64's cancelled sequel.
2. The dark Tower that John climbs is a reference to the Tower of Babel at the end of classic Doom's episode The Shores of Hell, level E2M8 where the Cyberdemon is first fought.
3. Although the Nightmares are evidently based on the famous Alien/xenomorph, they are also a reference to Doom's original beginnings as an Aliens game.
4. The Slayer's reworked Clearsight power in the Nightmare Realm was inspired by the iconic Motion Tracker in the Aliens franchise.
5. The four color-coded Nightmares and their behaviors were inspired by the ghosts in Pacman, particularly in the remixed horror fan-game Pacman.exe.
6. The Giger Effect rune takes its name from this fantastic song inspired by the Aliens franchise, the name "Giger" obviously referring to the famous horror artist H. R. Giger that designed the xenomorph.
7. The method by which this rune is acquired was actually inspired by a real-life speedrunning bug in Doom 2016 known as a "grab," which involves using a weapon zoom to interact with objects from further than intended.
8. The alien language that appears in the Slayer's HUD when the Giger Effect rune is acquired is the Standard Galactic Alphabet, which debuted in the Commander Keen video games but also appears as the Minecraft enchantment table language. A translator can be found here.
9. The Moiré effect the Slayer encounters is based on a bug in classic Doom known as the Moiré error, which also fills the screen with a strange blue scanline effect.
10. The Demon Destruction game in Olivia Pierce's office can also be found in Doom 2016 in the identical location.
11. The Soul Cube can also be found in the in-game office as an easter egg, though in DoW only its pedestal is spotted in this location.
12. The plot element by which a blessed crucifix converts all water it touches into holy water - that is then used against demons - is based on a similar scene in the 2005 film Constantine. Cue Constantine turning into Doomguy with a golden cross-shaped shotgun.
13. Betruger's line of "Hell's mightiest warrior" referring to the Cyberdemon comes from Doom 3.
14. Betruger's phrase of "placid island of own ignorance" is based on a famous quote by H. P. Lovecraft.
15. Several of Betruger's other lines of dialogue also come from Doom 3, including "so you've made it this far" and "witness what will be unleashed on Earth."
16. Staff Sergeant John "Reager" Grimm is based both on the Doom 3 Marine and Karl Urban's character in the 2005 Doom film.
17. Grimm admitting his own ineptness with shotguns is a reference to Doom 3's notoriously SHITTY subpar shotgun. TWO POINT FUCKING BLANK SHOTS TO KILL A SINGLE FUCKING IMP
18. The Desolator's line of "sometimes cowards do survive" is spoken by Starscream in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
19. The BFG-2005 grenade launcher takes its design and operation from the 2005 Doom film's version of the BFG. Its unique Y-shaped design reappears as the BFG10K in the Skulltag source port, and a similar BFG grenade launcher is featured in Doom VFR.
20. The phrase "excessive amount of firepower" referring to the BFG comes from a BFG instructional video in Doom 3.
21. "Martian Buddy" also appears as a fictional internet company in Doom 3 that sends spam emails to UAC workers.
22. The quotes spoken by the Goetic Preachers are Bible verses.
23. Just like the Cyberdemon, the Minotaur of Greek mythology was also imprisoned in a Labyrinth.
24. The Cacospectre is actually an ultra obscure Doom monster that only ever appeared in the PSX port.
25. Several of the Cacospectre's lines, abilities, and features are inspired by the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, hence its other name of the Cheshire Caco.
26. The Cacospectre meets its end by what's known as a "barrel suicide," a rare bug in classic Doom in which demons will try to kill themselves if they get hurt when they destroy an explosive barrel.
27. The Evil Eyes return from classic Doom, this time as environmental hazards rather than mere decorative props.
28. Fireblu also returns as an environmental hazard instead of just a wall texture.
29. The Chainstrosity makes its return as an obscure monster from the Doom II RPG.
30. The Chainstrosity's visual design was inspired by the protagonist's full Devil Form in the Chainsaw Man manga/anime. Shared features include 4 chainsaw arms, organic black armor, and a fifth chainsaw protruding from the face.
31. The Mega Health reducing its user's life expectancy despite its temporary enhancements comes from the powerup's codex entry in Doom 2016.
32. The Doom 3 Cyberdemon returns as the Deraki Cybruiser, also known as the Extinctor of the Praeleanthor and the Cyberdemon of Mars.
33. Although the CRTerror's environmental effects were inspired by the infamous Sad Satan video game, its physical appearance was based on SCP-079.
34. Project Heaven Stairway of 2121 was inspired by the meme of the Heaven Stairway Incident of 2021, which set forth the internet "incident" trend which was later associated with the Trollge character that inspired DoW's Betruger.
35. The mechanism by which Tormented Souls spawn - zombie heads that tear themselves free and transform into Lost Souls - is based on the Lost Soul introduction scene in Doom 3.
36. The Goetic Preacher addresses the Goetic Disciples as "our faithful acolytes," since the Disciples are based on the Cultist "Acolyte" armor from Doom 2016's multiplayer.
37. Both the Slayer and John reference the iconic though apocryphal "to defeat the Cyberdemon, shoot at it until it dies" when fighting their respective Cyberdemon.
38. Classic Doom's iconic "wall of faces" texture returns with a twist, revealed to be plaster casts over living and screaming flayed faces, forever fused and trapped on a wall. Inspired by this short horror video from Youtube channel LIGHTSAREOFF.
39. The term "Iblis Realm" appears several times in this chapter, referring to an exceedingly power demon lord's personal Hellscape or pocket dimension where it holds absolute dominion. The name was inspired by SIGIL's secret level E5M9, "Realm of Iblis."
40. This chapter's closing words are lyrics from the song "I Will Fail You" by Demon Hunter.
E1M12
1. Deathclaw Barons are based on the titular monsters of the Fallout series.
2. The Dimensional Shambler, though originating from Lovecraft’s works, is referenced in one of the Doom II quit messages: “Don't go now, there's a dimensional shambler waiting at the dos prompt!”
3. Cygnis is canonically described as originating from a world destroyed by the Serpent Riders, the antagonists of Hexen/Heretic.
4. Hennya’s quote of being a “Warrior-Goddess originating from a hellspace where science and reason are illusions” is based on a Warframe synopsis.
5. Orinox the Dauntless is an expy of Optimus Prime from the Transformers franchise. Though his name is based on Optimus’ original canon name of Orion Pax, Orinox is described as “the first and the best,” which “Optimus Prime” is meant to imply. Several of his quotes come from Transformers, including “there’s a thin line between being a hero and being a memory,” “without sacrifice there can be no victory,” and “We charge together! Now, roll out!”
6. The Luminoth medic that attends to Grimm is inspired by the eponymous moth-like humanoid aliens from the Metroid franchise.
7. The Arena Eternal is based on a similar location from Quake 3: Arena.
8. Romero’s quote of “Doors and corners” is spoken by detective Josephus Miller in the TV show The Expanse.
9. The Slayer’s quote of “Suffer not the unclean to live” is a fairly well-known phrase from Warhammer 40k.
10. The Slaugth are one of the vilest yet lesser known xeno races from 40k, described as vaguely humanoid in shape yet composed of hundreds of writhing slimy maggots.
11. The Vadrigar are a species mentioned in Quake 3, described as masters of the Arena.
12. “Rhaich” is an Elven curse word from Tolkien’s works, with the Vril-ya/Hyperboreans being equated to Tolkien's Elves.
13. The hard-boiled imp eggs are based on the real-life Southeast Asian food called balut, a developing bird egg embryo that is boiled and eaten from the shell.
14. The scene in which the Warden banishes the Slayer “back to the Hell from whence he came,” along with the declarations that he is “nameless and faceless” comes from the badass scene in The Hobbit where Galadriel yeets Sauron back to Mordor.
15. The Slayer’s quote of the shrine maiden not surviving a minute with marines in a modern warfare setting is based on the Internet meme of modern kids not being able to endure the notoriously toxic lobbies of classic Call of Duty matches, particularly those of the original Modern Warfare 2 era. Hot tip: anyone ever tell you that, do like Reimu Rei and ask “Would you?”
16. Two other inspirational quotes “pierce the Heavens” and “Believe in the you that believes in you” come from the show Gurren Lagann.
17. Osborne’s dialogue in the Slayer’s vision takes elements from various songs, these being Disturbed’s “Hell,” Aviator’s “Into The Black,” and Black Math’s “Cover Me.”
18. Ashford’s dialogue in the same vision takes elements from Disturbed’s “Divide,” Pearl Jam’s “Do the Evolution,” and Goran Dragas’ “See the World Burn.”
19. The Slayer’s quotes of “feels like Heaven’s so far away” and “the world is so cold now that they’ve gone away” come from FFDP’s song “Gone Away.”
20. Various of the sexually-charged lines of dialogue in this chapter come from songs of the hard-rock band Poisonblack, such as “Exciter,” “Love Infernal,” and “Nail.”
21. Man, imagine how embarrassing it would be if I revealed that I got the rest of the sexy quotes from fanmade Helltaker thirst songs like MiatriSs’ “Take Me!,” Mox’s “Brat,” and Lollia’s “What the Hell”. Hahahaha! Yeah, as if I’d ever let them know XD
22. The Slayer’s questions if Dahlia was the one that poisoned his mind with desire takes elements from the song “Hellfire” from the 1996 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. You know, for a G-rated Disney film, this movie was FUCKING DARK.
23. The line describing Dahlia as overthrowing the Slayer with her beauty in the moonlight comes from Rufus Wainright’s song “Hallelujah.”
24. The Slayer’s thoughts of “If I looked you in the eye and showed the broken things inside” come from Nathan Wagner’s song “Lonely.”
25. Hiro Romero’s lines of him wishing he was better and strong come from Nathan Wagner’s song “The Hero.”
26. The Imperator’s lines of him describing the woman in his past (“princess who could have been a queen”) come from FFDP’s song “Question Everything.”
E1M13
1. The lengthy yet inspirational quote (“Do not let your fire go out…”) that Ruby recites to the Slayer in his vision comes from Ayn Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged.
2. Ruby’s line of “you’re a soldier fighting to be free once more” comes from Bryan Adam’s song “Sound the Bugle.”
3. The Slayer’s quote of “no grave can hold my body down” come from the song “Ain’t No Grave.” Hidden Citizens version best version.
4. Several lines in the following scene come from UNSECRET’s song “Born to Rule.”
5. The Slayer’s quote of “I’m back to rise” comes from the eponymous song, actually written by our boy Mick Gordon for the 2013 fighting game Killer Instinct.
6. The Slayer’s closing words of “They told me I could rule the world when Hell was frozen over” come from JT Music’s “Fight Like Hell.”
7. The brief words the Slayer hears before he wakes up (“we’ve been expecting you”) come from ShyGrell’s vocal cover of BFG Division.
8. John Grimm asking if nukage shouldn't be in barrels comes from a Doomguy quote in Quake 3 Arena.