From Doomguy to Dali
When Doom came out in the 1993, the OG first-person shooter received endless backlash for its perceived extreme violence and potential bad influence on children. Apparently, using a chainsaw as a weapon against the undead was seen as unreasonable. But for those parents who bit their fingernails to the quick worrying that their little Jimmy was going to go full Leatherface on them can rest assured with an all new version of Doom that was just released online.
Created by Filippo Meozzi and Liam Stone, Doom: The Gallery Experience is a full recreation of the original Doom game but instead of a chainsaw, Doomguy holds a glass of red wine (perhaps a Château Margaux?) and instead of stealthing around the moons of Mars, he sashays around an art gallery opening. With Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 as a soundtrack, Doomguy can approach the works of art on the wall and contemplate their majesty. “Ah,” he thinks, standing before a faithfully low-quality rendering of Fra Angelico’s The Crucifixion from ca. 1420, “How the gold leaf imbues the work with a celestial light and resonance that accurately reflects the divine scene depicted!” Or, perhaps, he gazes in wonder at the vivid ultramarine of the Virgin Mary’s shawl in Filippino Lippi’s Madonna and Child, the raw lapis lazuli used to create that specific hue of blue being one of the most expensive raw materials in the world at the time.
He observes. He sips some red wine. He gains XP by picking up an hors d’oeuvre. The game’s creators, Filippo Meozzi and Liam Stone, claim the game was created as “an art piece designed to parody the wonderfully pretentious world of gallery openings.” At least the worst thing that could happen from your kid playing this version of Doom is that they get a taste for Camembert.