Now, before diehards move in for a glory kill on us: Yes, we’re aware of the historical importance of level packs and expanded re-releases, many of which have been summoned over the years. That said, the Doom timeline is complicated to understand and explain, even if you stick to the mainline entries. That’s why we’re keeping things simple and focusing on the explicitly canon installments of the veteran FPS franchise.
The Doom games are widely known for taking players to futuristic science installations on Mars Earth
Doom Games in Chronological Order Putting extra level packs and upgraded re-releases aside, and looking at only the core mainline entries, the in-universe order of the entire Doom franchise is as follows:
Doom Doom II Doom 64 Doom: The Dark Ages Doom (2016) Doom Eternal Doom 3* *This takes place in a parallel universe.
1. Doom
(Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)
Platforms: PC, Linux, iOS, macOS, Android, Sega Saturn, PS1/3/4, Xbox 360/One, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo SwitchDeveloper: id Software
The plot in the original games is minimal and was mostly told through the instruction manual (remember those?) and short text descriptions that served as ‘cutscenes’ when moving to the next episode. The first Doom consists of three episodes: Knee-Deep in the Dead, The Shores of Hell, and Inferno. A fourth titled Thy Flesh Consumed was added in The Ultimate Doom, an extended cut of the game.
Long story short: In the future (no specific year), a marine is sent to Mars on a boring assignment after getting into a fight with a superior officer who ordered him to fire on civilians. There, the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) and the military are working on teleportation Phobos Deimos
2. Doom II: Hell on Earth
(Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)
Platforms: PC, Linux, iOS, macOS, Android, Sega Saturn, Tapwave Zodiac, PS1/3/4, Xbox/360/One, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo SwitchDeveloper: id Software
Set right after the events of Doom’s four episodes, Doom II: Hell on Earth deals with the invasion of our planet. By the time Doomguy arrives, the demons have already wiped out billions of people. The main character’s first mission is to liberate the spaceport from the hordes of Hell, allowing the surviving humans to escape and blast off into outer space.
An off-planet transmission informs Doomguy where the demons are emerging from: his hometown (what a coincidence). After battling through the town, he reaches a demonic base and enters Hell again to destroy the portal from the other side. Eventually, he finds the Icon of Sin monster and blows it up with rockets. Its demise devastates Hell, closing the portal to Earth too.
3. Doom 64
(Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo 64/SwitchDeveloper: Midway Studios, Nightdive Studios
Whether you consider Final Doom Doom 3
After the events of Doom II, humanity is trying to rebuild and the now irradiated UAC research installations have been quarantined and abandoned. Problems begin anew when a satellite sends a message back to Earth, reporting that an entity escaped destruction and has been resurrecting dead demons and human corpses at one of the installations. Doomguy, the only marine with enough experience to deal with the demons, is sent in alone and makes his way to Hell, again. With the Unmaker
4. Doom: The Dark Ages
(Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)
Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/SDeveloper: id Software
Here’s where things get hazy in the timeline as Doom’s (2016) lore was loose and its connections to the previous games ambiguous. However, Doom: The Dark Ages plans to bridge the gap between the old Doom games and the newer entries, showing us how the original Doomguy became the legendary Doom Slayer.
What we know for sure is that the Argenta (humans from a different dimension sharing a common origin with Earth’s humans) came across the Doomguy after he stayed in Hell. The Argenta welcomed Doomguy onto their planet, Argent D’Nur, and made him part of the Night Sentinels warrior caste. Good thing they did, because that’s when Hell attacks the Argenta.
Doom: The Dark Ages, a prequel to Doom (2016), seemingly puts players at the center of this sinister medieval invasion and expands on the events that Doom Eternal told us quite a bit about.
5. Doom (2016)
(Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo SwitchDeveloper: id Software
The Doom reboot takes place in a universe that’s different from the one Doomguy had fought for in Doom, Doom II, and Doom 64. After the events of The Dark Ages in the dimension of the Argenta and fighting his way into Hell, the demons somehow managed to trap the Doom Slayer in a sarcophagus for an unspecified (but very long) time. It should be noted that time in Hell works differently, and when he’s eventually brought into another Earth’s dimension, eons could’ve passed for him. In fact, we know that the ages of Hell are tied to the rulers there, and Doomguy’s rampage as chronicled in Doom (2016) placed his first visit in the First Age.
Without getting into the huge twists that play out in Eternal, the Doom reboot saw the Doom Slayer being awakened on Mars (yet again) by a different UAC to the one he once knew. This one aims to solve an energy crisis on Earth by refining raw Hell energy, which, unsurprisingly, doesn’t go great for mankind in this universe either.
Samuel Hayden, a UAC scientist who transferred his consciousness to an android, and the VEGA AI make things difficult for the Slayer, even though they do want to halt the demonic invasion. In the end, the demons are stopped, but Hayden traps and teleports the Slayer away so he doesn’t ruin his plans of harnessing the dangerous Hell energy.
6. Doom Eternal
(Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)
Platforms: PC, PS4/5, Xbox One/Series X/S, Nintendo SwitchDeveloper: id Software
Doom Eternal’s main events happen in the year 2163 (of this new universe), roughly 14 years after the events on Mars and the Doom Slayer’s disappearance. He’s reintroduced as a free warrior with a number of upgrades and even his own fortress in outer space he uses as his base of operations. The logical explanation here is that he was banished back to Hell by Hayden and fought his way back.
Eternal is by far the richest Doom game story and lore-wise. It explains a great deal of what went down with Doomguy after the events of the original games, and also why and how Hell has menaced a number of dimensions for eons. Moreover, it elaborates on how the hardened marine became the Doom Slayer and how ‘divine’ forces are key to the plot and to resolving the eternal conflict. There’s a lot of realm-hopping adventure in this one, and ending Hell’s invasion of this Earth isn’t nearly as simple as in Doom II.
The Ancient Gods expansion, broken into two hefty pieces of DLC, acts as a sequel that deals with the aftermath of Eternal’s events, Hayden’s true identity, and the figure of the Dark Lord. With the help of the remaining Sentinels and human forces, the Hell capital of Immora is attacked and the Slayer battles the Dark Lord. We won’t spoil the main plot here, but the entire Doom storyline is tied up with this end chapter… for now.
7. Doom 3
(Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)
Platforms: PC, Linux, macOS, PS3/4, Xbox/360/One, Nintendo SwitchDeveloper: id Software
We’ve saved Doom 3
The story starts in 2145 and follows a space marine as Hell literally breaks loose on Mars when the UAC tinkers with things it shouldn’t. That seems to be a multiversal constant, and, of course, there’s a Doomguy that can solve the problem.
Doom 3 is the most dialogue-heavy and grounded Doom game, and it mostly behaves like a survival horror FPS in that the player character is more vulnerable than the other marine (later Doom Slayer) we’d played as.
Expansion pack and direct sequel Resurrection of Evil
Doom games in release order
(Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)
Over the years there has been a huge number of Doom releases and re-releases, including all-new level packs and profoundly upgraded ports. So, if you want to stick just to the big mainline entries and their canon expansions in release order, this is the way to go:
Doom (1993) Doom II (1994) Doom 64 (1997) Doom 3 (2004) Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil (2005) Doom (2016) Doom Eternal (2020) Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods, Part One (2020) Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods, Part Two (2021) Doom: The Dark Ages (2025)
