It’s a classic, a masterpiece of FPS, a game without which the vast majority of today’s games would not be understood: ‘Doom 2’ is a marvel created by John Carmack and John Romero that, without being very different from its first part, has managed to make its way into the history of video games. And now, exactly thirty years after its release, someone has achieved a record that until now was considered impossible.
By a hair
This is, of course, a record set by speedrunners. You know, those people who go crazy trying to find an extra trick, a way to skip a level without being noticed, to complete ‘Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’ without touching a single shrine. And it’s not something new or an internet invention. Back in 1998, Thomas Pilger achieved a milestone that had remained unmatched until now: he completed the first level of ‘Doom 2’ in 5.97 seconds. And it doesn’t matter how many thousands of people have tried to surpass him, because it was considered unbeatable. Until now.
And it’s that a player named 4shockblast became obsessed with that level, reasonably short (anyone can finish it in a minute). He played it over and over again, trying to find the easiest routes, the hiding spots, trying to defeat Pilger 26 years later. And in the end, he succeeded with a technique as complex as it is successful (when mastered).
It’s about bouncing off one of the enemies at the beginning and using it to propel yourself a little faster around the corner. It’s a complicated move that doesn’t always work, but on April 6th, using all the strategies seen a thousand times in other speedrunners videos, he managed to complete this first level in 4.97 seconds, one second less than Pilger.
Maybe you’re thinking that your new goal in life is to achieve it in 3 seconds, but maybe you should reconsider: our hero only achieved his feat after 100,000 attempts. So yes, we could be facing an unbeatable record, but in the era of Internet you never know. The glory of the champion is always fleeting!
