Freedoom: Phase 1
An entirely free, all-original IWAD compatible with the original Doom engine. Same shape, none of the rights problems.
Tune in
Play Freedoom: Phase 1 →Opens in a new tab on the original host.
Controls: Arrow keys move, Ctrl fires, Space opens doors / activates switches.
Freedoom is the freest video game in the FPS canon: a complete, all-original IWAD — every sprite, every level, every sound effect — that runs in any Doom-compatible engine. The aesthetic is not Romero’s UAC; it’s a parallel-history military-science world with its own monsters, its own weapons, its own architectural grammar.
This matters more than it sounds. Doom-the-engine has been ported to every platform that has a CPU; Doom-the-content has not, because the original WAD is still copyrighted. Freedoom unlocks the whole emulation ecosystem for redistribution: web ports, fridge ports, calculator ports, all of it.
The first phase comprises 36 levels across four episodes. Pacing is faster and less claustrophobic than the 1993 original; the enemy roster includes a few designs that genuinely deserve more recognition than they get.
Why it’s on the guide: BSD-3-Clause for the lot. Demonstrably embeddable. A monument to the principle that the free-software community will, given enough time, recreate any beloved object it depends on.