I own this on Swtich and Steam but I decided to get this on GOG to have an extra DRM-free copy. Also it's a good remaster that's worth the money unlike Blade Runner "Enhanced" Edition (sorry Nightdive :( but you dissapointed me with that remaster).
I played Doom 64 on the Nintendo 64 back in 1998 or so and was puzzled at why this Doom was so vastly different than the Doom i originally saw for the first time on the 386er PC of a friend of my father back then. I quickly realized that this was an entirely new standalone Game from a different Developer who tried something different.
And indeed this game really already takes most of the things we later saw in Doom 3 a few years later. The whole creepy light aspect and making it look and feel a lot more eerie and downright scary. The soundtrack by Aubrey Hodges, who also did the Soundtrack for the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation version, really adds to the whole creepy vibe.
Gameplay wise there's no real difference between classic Doom and Doom 64. You still do the same keycard hunt and cannot look up or down or jump. Enemies are Spirites but absolutely wonderfully done and really looking creepy. The big shotgun, that we know from Doom II, is included again as well as the BFG. There's also one new gun that was only in Doom64
This PC port by Nightdive, is an absolute faithful conversion of the Nintendo 64 classic.
You can even chose the renderer API.
Either Vulkan, OpenGL 3.2 or DirectX11.
And the best thing is, NO DRM so i'm absolutely excited this game finally came to GOG. Bye Bye Bethesda.net forced login. Nobody is missing you. lol
This game really is the missing link between classic Doom and Doom³ and the creative level design is still something i appreciate the most after all those years. It definitely aged really well and now it is way better playable with mouse and keyboard on the PC than it was on the N64.
Doom 64 was largely forgotten, because it arrived when games like Quake, Goldeneye and Turok were eating up all of the attention. Doom 64, simply put, is the true Doom 3. Everything you loved about Doom 1 and 2 are ratcheted up an extra notch here. The monsters are meaner, the atmosphere is scarier, the weapons feel punchier, and the level design is more devious than ever. Not simple key hunts, some levels require you to radically alter their geometry to compete. Secret levels are actually important as they contain powerups to a weapon that makes beating the final boss, a less painful endeavor. Doom 64 looks fantastic on modern systems, and you can even turn of that ugly melted texture blur found in the original version of the game! There are quality of life improvements like modern controls, and a set of "lost" levels that continue the story. All this for five bucks.
As someone who got the Steam copy at launch I can 100% agree that this is the best way to play DOOM 64 next to owning an N64 copy (which I did, and stupidly gave away as a dumb child, I digress).
However, I do think it is worth noting that this game is VERY intense when it comes to flashing lights and photosensitive imagery. And as someone who was diagnosed with photosensitivity issues a few years ago, it was difficult to play it now than it was back then as a kid.
A very big example is the supercharge pickup which straight up flashes non-stop until the power ends. Of course the dark, contrasting lighting that makes this game's atmosphere so great can be visually grating when brighter contrasts make their way in.
If you are photosensitive but don't get seizures from flashing lights, please play with a light on, take breaks, drink plenty of water. Do all those things you don't want to do when playing a genuinely good game lol
Final thoughts. It's a very good game. Even what I could play of it before I had to stop, I knew that Nightdive, once more, did something special in bringing this back. But please beware those with epilepsy.
4 stars because it's still a banger of a game.