IF YOU FIND THE CAMERA NAUSEATING:
Go into Preferences, and then go into graphics and switch "Override FOV" on, with your desired amount.

Then, go into "Rendering Options," and turn on "3D Perspective" - I don't know why Aleph One doesn't have this on by default, but it changes the rendering into one that is much more modern, and less... drunk.

Also, if you want to change the H.U.D from the giant '94 version to something easier on the eyes, go into Preferences again, and select "Plug-Ins." It should come with a couple by default, but most people use the "Enhanced HUD 1.2" version due to it's similarity to the Marathon 2 Xbox port's HUD.

With that being said, I'm so happy the Aleph One team is bringing the Original Trilogy to Steam - Enjoy the Total Carnage, and never, *ever* leave a single BOB alive.

PC users had the original Doom. Mac users had Marathon. Like the original Doom, this game is over 30 years old. Unlike Doom, you could control your vertical aim, had multi-mode weapons, physics on your shots, and a long sprawling narrative. And it had a deep, long-lasting impact on me, left me stanning on Bungie products for a very, very long time.

Bungie eventually released the game's source code, and various folks have taken it onto themselves to update the game for newer systems. I used to lurk in the Usenet group, I volunteered some anti-aliasing code. I don't know what became of it and I didn't mind greatly either way.

Well, now we're here. It's been over 30 years. It's still the same game, except it runs on my Windows 10 PC. And it looks like a 30-year-old game. Things are 2D tiles, the terrain is 2.5D (for any given XZ coordinate, there is only one floor), the sounds are thin and low-bitrate, etc., etc. Dead critters rotate on the floor and barrels look absurd when you get close. But it's testament to how forward-thinking the original Bungie guys were that a lot of it is still... okay.

This game adds a few features, some of which nobody ever needed, some of which are insane, and some of which make no sense from a UX perspective. But that's open-source programming for you.

If you can get over the sheer shonkiness of a game that looks like a refugee from 1992 or thereabouts, you get to play one of the most significant games of the early 1990s for free. Assuming you like reading, you'll get a long, sprawling plot that's effectively a whole novel's worth of text. There's a lot of FPSin'. There's irritations here and there with only being able to save at select terminals, but it could easily be a whole lot worse.

But the first thing you need to do is get in there and change all the keybinds to something sane. Make sure the mouse acceleration is off. And, unintuitively, you'll want to go to the plugins section and choose Enhanced Hud 1.2. But it makes a huge difference if you're on a modern monitor.

I'm not sure I could go back to this. A half hour and a few levels is more than enough. I mean, I'm not keen on nostalgia, and the game is Very 1990s, but the plot was good. So if you haven't played this, and you're okay with reading a couple paragraphs at a time, try to get over the graphics and get in there! For you, it's a thumbs up.

Frog blast the vent core!