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Crank Up the Gore With ‘Brutal Doom’, Available Now
It’s been over twenty years since id Software’s hellish first person shooter Doom made its gory debut, and there’s still an active community that’s devoted to who keeping it alive through mods like the ultra-violent Brutal Doom v20.
About a week ago, I asked what Doom means to you, because I think this series suffers from an identity problem — or, more specifically, a problem in which no one seems to really know what its identity is now. The Brutal Doom v20 mod may be the answer to this, as it focuses on improving only the most important things, such as the gore, violence and dual-wielding middle fingers.
This free mod can be found over at ModDB, just make sure you have a copy of Doom first, otherwise you’ll just look silly. Instructions for installing are over here.
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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