John Romero first announced the DOOM mod/expansion SIGIL following the 25th Anniversary of the original 1993 release DOOM last December. According to the announcement, the megawad file will feature nine single-player levels and nine multiplayer maps. The physical edition was manufactured by Limited Run Games, with two versions of the mod bundled into what they called fan boxes. The megawad file will still require a registered copy of the original 1993 DOOM to play, but will be entirely free to download otherwise. Romero had a streaming preview of SIGIL on Twitch back in December (now available on YouTube).
After a series of delays, first in February, then in April, and finally in May, SIGIL is finally approaching its release. The delays were mostly due to issues in production with the Beast Box edition, which includes a replica of Romero’s head on a pike, the Easter egg found in Doom II map “Icon of Sin,” as well as the coin featuring the Baphomet picture that features in SIGIL‘s theme art. Last week Romero announced that the fan boxes were expect to ship that week, and it looks like everything went according to plan, as the final release of SIGIL has been confirmed for May 31.
The SIGIL page on the Romero Games website includes a short interview with Romero that's worth checking out. His statement on the legacy of DOOM is particularly interesting.
I don’t think any of us knew that DOOM® would have the impact that it has had. That people were asking me to make a full episode more than 23 years later? Genuinely, it’s an incredible honor. Aside from the impact it had on what would become the FPS genre, I believe the most important legacy of DOOM® is its community, the people who have kept it alive for 25 years through the creation of mods and tools. It’s not at all lost on me that I have gone from a creator to a part of the community in that space of time, and I love that. My whole life has been about games, and if I hadn’t been a part of DOOM®’s creation, I would have absolutely been a hardcore member of its community. Another thing that’s been wonderful for me is a story I’ve been hearing a lot lately when I meet fans at tech conferences — they talk about having grown up playing DOOM® with their moms or dads and saying what wonderful memories they have. It’s a sign of DOOM®’s age, for certain, but it’s also a sign of its longevity. There are also so many people who got into tech because of DOOM®.It's definitely nice to see how DOOM remains a highly influential game and that there's still an audience for a mod such as SIGIL. So if you've been waiting for it all this time, it's only a few more days until Friday, May 31, when you'll be able to download and play SIGIL for free (as long as you own DOOM).
Are you excited for the final release of SIGIL? Did you order one of the fan boxes? Lets us know in the comments below!
