It should almost go without saying now that Doom 2 is all things to all people, in the most literal sense. Thanks to 25 years of evolution in modding tools, it’s Donkey Kong, Resident Evil and even Heroes of Might & Magic now, among other things. The latest game to be swallowed by the all-consuming vortex of creativity that is the GZDoom-powered mod scene is Quake Champions. The arena FPS reboot may still be in public testing, but it’s already been systematically disassembled, stripped for parts, and launched today as Quake Champions: Doom Edition (or QC:DE for short), a mod for possibly the most enduring game in PC history. The latest project led by prolific modder DBThanatos (his previous work, Doom4: Death Foretold, mashes together 2016’s Doom and its old-school predecessor to spectacular effect), Quake Champions: Doom Edition isn’t so much a direct clone of the still in-development arena shooter, but rather an adaptation of many of its core concepts, plus a sprinkling of fun new ideas. Probably the biggest departure from Quake Champions’ design is the option to play both in single-player and co-op mode on almost any existing Doom level you can throw at it. Players use the full arsenal (12 weapons mostly from Champions, 13 characters from across a wider range of games) against a bestiary of monsters lifted from Quakes 1, 2 & 4; 3D beasties surprisingly well adapted into 2D sprite form. The description panel on the above trailer includes a long list of recommended levels… [Read full story]