James Pero

Gaming

Watch 'Doom' transform into a cardboard nightmare

Turns out 'Doom' really does run on everything, including cardboard.

Any kid above the age of three knows that a little bit of cardboard and some imagination goes a long way. Turns out when those kids grow up, the ability to create magic out of a cardboard box doesn't go away, it actually gets... well.

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More elaborate.

In this edition of "Games Made of Cardboard" on YouTube, Bill Thorpe, who lovingly recreates retro-tech and video games with cardboard props, brings Doom II: Hell on Earth to life.

In the 12-minute video, Thorpe recreates many of Doom II's best features, from the iconic level design to the hypnotic animations of player movement and of course, some good old-fashioned cardboard violence.

To achieve Doom's brand of virtual violence, Thorpe mixes in some different mediums, including liquids for blood and some post editing effects to mimic the game's pops of red when damage is taken.

During the video, players also have a run-in with a pain elemental demon while Thorpe waxes poetic inspired by the game's manual. In a theatrical blaze of real-life fire, the demon is felled with a rocket launcher in true Doom fashion.

One of the biggest surprises however is a cameo from one of Doom's creators, John Romero, who helped make developer id Software a gaming powerhouse.

Watching Thorpe blast through Doom's iconic demons is about as fun as it gets without playing the game itself and adds to his already impressive catalog of cardboard-ified creations like...

Alien

Or this Gameboy

Duke Nukem

Thorpe's elaborate cardboard creations are equally as time-consuming as they are fun to watch. For example, his recreation of Doom II apparently took a whopping nine months from start to finish.

For anyone who's just being alerted to Thorpe's work, we have some bad news. Later last year, he announced that he would be winding down the channel, meaning Doom II is his final cardboard masterpiece.

That's just more reason to go back into Thorpe's catalog and enjoy what's already there and be thankful Doom finally got the cardboard hellfire treatment you never knew it needed.

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