History VideoGame / BrutalDoom

* AFatherToHisMen: The player can be this if they're particularly diligent about keeping friendly Marines alive.

* RedShirt: Aside from the rescuable friendly Marines, there are other non-player Marines found throughout Extermination Day, particularly in the Battle of Los Angeles episode. Most of them stand guard and fire three-round bursts at enemies they see. These Marines come in helmet and helmet-less flavours, as well as several different combinations of race and sex. Strangely, they use the Former Human sound set, and will "flinch" if Doomguy walks past with friendly Marines in tow--[[invoked]]][[GoodBadBugs which almost makes it sound like they're cheering him on]].

* QuickMelee: You can strike enemies with a kick attack. If you've obtained a Berserk Pack, kicking a low-level enemy will send them flying backward with enough force to splatter them against the nearest hard surface.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: The fatality you can perform on the Archvile. Performing this fatality causes Doomguy to ''rip the Archvile in half, throw its upper torso to the floor,'' '''''curb-stomp its head against the ground''''' ''and then laugh in triumph.'' Damn.

* BoomHeadshot: ''Brutal Doom'' adds the ability to shoot enemies at specific spots that affects the damage you deal to enemies. Headshots are not only the best way to slay humanoid enemies and conserve ammo, but also give the satisfying destruction of your enemies' brains. On top of that, shooting a stronger enemy like a Baron of Hell in the head has a higher chance of causing them to flinch, making it much easier to avoid their attacks.

* BoomHeadshot: ''Brutal Doom'' adds the ability to shoot enemies at specific spots that affects the damage you deal to enemies. Headshots are not only the best way to slay humanoid enemies and conserve ammo, but also give the satisfying destruction of your enemies' brains. On top of that, shooting a stronger enemy like a Baron of Hell in the head will cause them to flinch, making it much easier to avoid their attacks.

* DiskOneNuke: Unlike the vanilla game's Pistol--which is never used once you get the Chaingun in the vanilla game unless for a SelfImposedChallenge--the Assault Rifle features decent damage output and the ability to accurately aim to headshot most demons, making it a very useful weapon to the end. Meanwhile, the Minigun that replaces the original game's Chaingun has a much higher rate of ammo consumption ''and'' a wider shot pattern, relegating its usefulness to close encounters.

* MookHorrorShow: In the ending of ''Brutal Doom 64'', Doomguy is able to scare off an entire army of monsters just by pumping his shotgun.

* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: In the updated version of the last act of the original Doom ''Thy Flesh Consumed'', [[spoiler: the Mother Demon from Doom 64]] inexplicably replaces the second Spider Mastermind normally encountered in the final level. On the other hand, it delivers the satisfaction of a brand new final boss fight.

* NintendoHard: Pretty much every enemy in the game has [[TookALevelInBadass taken a level in badass]] and gained new abilities to balance out the upgraded arsenal Doomguy has. There are also [[HarderThanHard three new difficulty levels]] that are tougher than Ultra-Violence.
** However, ballistic weaponry is no longer hitscan like in vanilla, which makes battles in wide open spaces more manageable.
** The greatly heightened threat of the enemies can play Hell with the intended difficulty level of certain third-party maps. ''Brutal'' is intended to turn the original ''Doom'' levels from somewhat hard to fairly hard, but if a map pack is tuned to be very hard in the original game it can become almost impossible to beat it in ''Brutal''--and occasionally downright so; see {{Unwinnable}} example below.
** As of v20b and the Starter Pack, the difficulty levels received a revamp. In place of ''Last Man on Earth'', there is now ''Realism Mode''. In this mode, Doomguy takes dramatically more damage--for example, at 100 health and no armour, a single Imp's fireball is a OneHitKill, and their pounce attack is also immediately lethal even if you've picked up a fresh piece of Heavy (Blue) Armor. Stepping into slime or other damaging floors is almost immediately lethal if your health and armour aren't well above 200. This causes some problems, as certain levels (even those in ''Extermination Day''!) require taking a fairly extended dip in the stuff--often ''without'' a Radsuit. And even ''with'' a radsuit, you might still die [[https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Damaging_floor#.22Leaky.22_radiation_suits if the suit leaks.]]\\
\\
On the flip side, there are fewer enemies compared to the easier modes. They're also much easier to kill; Former Humans, Imps, and Nazis die immediately to a headshot from the Assault Rifle, and most of the tougher enemies can't survive more than two direct hits from a rocket.
*** In v21, Realism Mode's speed nerf was removed--instead, players can now opt to use a sprinting mechanic regardless of difficulty level.
** For those who still think this is too easy, there's the ''Maps of Chaos'' mod, which expands existing Doom and Doom II levels and adds a ''lot'' of enemies.
** ''Still'' not satisfied? ''Maps of Chaos'' has an ''overkill'' version that massively increases enemy spawning and makes the difficulty downright grotesque. The smallest room invariably has a dozen enemies at least, every significant item is guaranteed to open trap walls with swarms of demons, and there are teleport triggers every which where so just stepping into your average corridor can spring a flood of enemies into a part of a level you thought you'd cleared, and many maps start you off with crowds of monsters already targeting you. Oh, and later in the game high-level enemies like Hell Knights get the same spawn rates as medium enemies earlier on - and there are several instances where you fight more than one super-enhanced Cyberdemon ''at the same time''. Good luck.

* StarterGearStayingPower: Thanks to how the pistol is replaced by the assault rifle, which can be used to easily target enemies head, and the minigun that replaces the chaingun being high on spread, rate of fire, and tend to be ammo-wasting.

** As of [=v21RC3=], explosive barrels no longer explode when taunted even with the Berserk pack, or even with Skulltag damage powerups given via the command console ... ''However'', on the ''Extermination Day'' level "The Air Base," the two massive aviation fuel storage tanks out on the airfield '''will''' explode with a flip of the bird.

* EvilTaintedThePlace: In a clever and subtle nod to the original ''[=DooM=]'' episodes, ''Extermination Day''[='s=] episodes gradually play out this trope. In the Mars base, you'll come across quite a bit of corpse mutilated by the demonic invaders, but nothing too bizarre. Later, mirroring what happened to Deimos Base in ''The Shores of Hell'' and Earth in ''Doom II'', the further you advance through Los Angeles the more you'll notice the city ''itself'' turning into an eldritch hellscape. At first, it's just evidence of horrific Satanic rituals--but then you'll come across rooms which give way to [[MeatMoss walls of writhing flesh]] and streets parted by rivers of lava and blood...

* EveryCarIsAPinto: Originally averted on Extermination Day, as all cars and vehicles were simply part of the map geometry. Played straight in v21, however: as part of [=Sergeant_Mark_IV's=] ongoing effort to make the levels more interactive, he made it possible to damage and destroy most vehicles. After taking enough hits, they'll catch fire, and after a few more they'll explode.

* ManualLeaderAIParty: On Extermination Day, if Doomguy manages to find every friendly Marine and keep them alive he'll have about two squads' worth of soldiers at his command.

* ModernStasis: ''Extermination Day'' takes place in the mid-22nd century. While humanity has established settlements on Mars and [[PlasmaCannon Plasma Rifles]] are issued to soldiers, civilian technology on Earth appears to be the same as present-day. Some of the military aircraft seen in the campaign would be 250 years old by the time ''Extermination Day'' takes place. Vehicles in v20b did have a more futuristic look to them, but as of v21, they've been changed to resemble cars and trucks from the 1970s to the 1990s.

** In an instance that probably qualifies as a [[GoodBadBugs Good Bad Bug]], you can use ''Doom II'''s Super Shotgun in ''Doom I'' wads via a rare drop. You have to find and free a friendly Marine, hope they're armed with the Super Shotgun and either have them die or kill them yourself. Grab the dropped Super Shotgun and you're in business. Needless to say, this very rarely happens in normal play without SaveScumming (Marine weapons are randomized).

* RedShirt: Aside from the rescuable friendly Marines, there are other non-player Marines found throughout Extermination Day, particularly in the Battle of Los Angeles episode. Most of them stand guard and fire three-round bursts at enemies they see. These Marines come in helmet and helmet-less flavours, as well as several different combinations of race and sex. Strangely, they use the Former Human sound set, and will "flinch" if Doomguy walks past with friendly Marines in tow--[[GoodBadBugs which almost makes it sound like they're cheering him on]].

* AdaptationDistillation: ''Extermination Day'' retells the plot of ''Doom'' and ''Doom II'', with events shifted around (equivalents of "Deimos Anomaly" and "Unholy Cathedral" take place during what would be the final third of ''Doom II'', early versions had a version of ''Doom II''[='=]s "Dead Simple" during the opening Mars portion, etc.) or excised (Doomguy finds a portal which works and sends him straight back to Earth, skipping from the end of the first episode straight to the middle portion of ''Doom II'') and some elements of [[Film/{{Doom}} the movie]] added in (particularly, the first level originally used the music from the movie's infamous FPS sequence near the end, and footage of the sequence also shows up in the theatre in the first secret level). The first episode, ''Hell on Mars'', takes place at a UAC research facility on the red planet rather than on Phobos and Deimos. The second, ''Battle of Los Angeles'', takes the action to Earth as Hell invades--but rather than the entire planet being overrun, the fighting's contained to the eponymous city. The third episode, ''Behind Hellish Lines'', takes place in Hell itself as Earth's forces attempt to stop the invasion.

** As of [=v21RC3=], explosive barrels no longer explode when taunted even with the Berserk pack, or even with Skulltag damage powerups given via the command console ... ''However'', on the ''Extermination Day'' level "Return to Earth," the two massive aviation fuel storage tanks out on the airfield '''will''' explode with a flip of the bird.

* GroinAttack: Kicking Former Human Commandos and Hell Knights/Barons of Hell will cause them to hold their crotches and groan. (Some other attacks, like throwing body parts from enemies you've brutalized with a Berserk Pack, also elicit this reaction from the hell nobles.)

* ManOnFire: Played straight by the former humans (any of them) as well as Waffen-SS Nazis and Ubersoldats, Imps, Pinky Demons, Cacodemons, and the Marines (including Doomguy himself) if they are killed by fire weapons. Marines and the Waffen-SS go through a death animation in which they flail about as they burn to ash. However, all of the Former Humans and the hellspawn mentioned previously will instead run (or fly, in the Cacodemon's case) about while on fire. They deal collision damage in this state, so it's advisable not to get too close to them--however, if you're close enough and you can gib them while they're still alive, you'll receive a Cruelty Bonus for doing so.

** The greatly heightened threat of the enemies can play hell with the intended difficulty level of certain third-party maps. ''Brutal'' is intended to turn the original ''Doom'' levels from somewhat hard to fairly hard, but if a map pack is tuned to be very hard in the original game it can become almost impossible to beat it in ''Brutal''--and occasionally downright so; see {{Unwinnable}} example below.

** ''Still'' not satisfied? ''Maps of Chaos'' has an ''overkill'' version that massively increases enemy spawning and makes the difficulty downright grotesque. The smallest room invariably has a dozen enemies at least, every significant item is guaranteed to open trap walls with swarms of demons, and there are teleport triggers every which where so just stepping into your average corridor can spring a flood of enemies into a part of a level you thought you'd cleared, and many maps start you off with crowds of monsters already targeting you. Oh, and later in the game high-level enemies like hell knights get the same spawn rates as medium enemies earlier on - and there are several instances where you fight more than one super-enhanced Cyberdemon ''at the same time''. Good luck.

*** The Railgun zooms in and becomes the ultimate sniper rifle from hell.

* QuickMelee: You can strike enemies with a kick attack. If you've obtained a Berserk Pack, kicking a low-level enemy will send them flying backward with enough force to splatter them against the wall.

The end result was ''Brutal Doom'', a mod that takes the original game (or ''VideoGame/DoomII'', or pretty much any IWAD you throw at it[[note]]Yes, even freakin' ''VideoGame/ChexQuest''. Just ask WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd.[[/note]]) and pumps new life into the MS-DOS classic. Taking cues from the infamous ''Doom'' [[ComicBook/{{Doom}} comic book]], ''Brutal Doom'' allows Doomguy to perform all manner of new tricks on the forces of Hell, and for them to respond in kind. Ever since its first release in 2012, the mod's continued to receive updates and additional content.

On New Year's Eve of 2016, [=Sergeant_Mark_IV=] released the ''Brutal Doom Starter Pack'' along with Version v20b. This campaign--which initially was called ''Hell on Earth'' but officially renamed to ''Extermination Day'' as of v21--is a three-episode standalone campaign which acts like a [[AdaptationDistillation distilled retelling]] of the original two games. The first episode, ''Hell on Mars'', changes the setting of the original ''Doom''[='=]s first two episodes to a UAC research base on Mars. The second episode, ''Battle of Los Angeles'', retells the events of ''Doom''[='s=] fourth episode and the first half of ''Doom II''. The third episode, ''Behind Hellish Lines'', takes the action directly into Hell in a new take on the final levels of ''Doom II''[='=]s campaign.

In November 2016, a remake of ''VideoGame/Doom64'' called ''Brutal Doom 64'' was also released. Unlike ''Brutal Doom'' itself, the mod only focuses on remaking ''Doom 64'' with enhanced ''Brutal Doom'' visual effects and other additions, lacking the over the top brutal moves seen in ''Brutal Doom''.

In November 2018, ''[[https://www.moddb.com/mods/brutal-doom/downloads/bolognese-gore-mod-v20 Brutal Bolognese]]'' has been released, allowing the LudicrousGibs effect of ''Brutal Doom'' to be used by many, many other mods. It was a more cross-script friendly version of "Ketchup" released earlier that removes monster coding dependency, thus allowing all monsters, including those from other mods, to be gibbed without changing the monster script.

* ActionGirl: Female UAC Marines appear in several of ''Extermination Day''[='s=] levels, notably "Industrial District" (as part of the guard detail for an evacuation center) and "Push" (as part of the invasion force). Amusingly, they share the same Former Human sound set as their male counterparts.

* AdaptationDistillation: ''Extermination Day'' retells the plot of ''Doom'' and ''Doom II'', with events shifted around (equivalents of "Deimos Anomaly" and "Unholy Cathedral" take place during what would be the final third of ''Doom II'', early versions had a version of ''Doom II''[='=]s "Dead Simple" during the opening Mars portion, etc.) or excised (Doomguy finds a portal which works and sends him straight back to Earth, skipping from the end of the first episode straight to the middle portion of ''Doom II'') and some elements of [[Film/{{Doom}} the movie]] added in (particularly, the first level originally used the music from the movie's infamous FPS sequence near the end, and footage of the sequence also shows up in the theater in the first secret level). The first episode, ''Hell on Mars'', takes place at a UAC research facility on the red planet rather than on Phobos and Deimos. The second, ''Battle of Los Angeles'', takes the action to Earth as Hell invades--but rather than the entire planet being overrun, the fighting's contained to the eponymous city. The third episode, ''Behind Hellish Lines'', takes place in Hell itself as Earth's forces attempt to stop the invasion.

* AllUpToYou: While the second and third episodes of ''Extermination Day'' are bridged by a ''fantastic'' [[TheWarSequence War Sequence]] level, after that point you're alone once again--barring any friendly Marines who survived up to that point. Intermission text explains at a few points that large forces attract more attention, which is why you're sent on your own towards the portal after the first time you meet up with live and friendly Marines. Earth's invasion force is tangling with Hellish reinforcements once you do go through the portal, so Doomguy decides to go it alone, reasoning that a lone Marine would attract less attention. A few levels later, Doomguy learns the UAC forces have suffered thousands of casualties and were forced to pull back to Earth and hold the line there.
* AnArmAndALeg: It's possible to shoot off limbs of the basic enemies. You can blow off a Former Human's arm off and watch him fall to his knees screaming in agony, or shoot off an Imp's leg [[BloodyHilarious and watch it hop around]] before it bleeds to death.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Friendly Marines [[ArtificialStupidity have a bad habit of getting lost]], not helped by the fact that their movement speed is much slower than Doomguy's. In a case of RubberBandAI working to your favor, these Marines will automatically teleport to Doomguy if they've been ordered to follow him and get too far away.

* ArtificialStupidity: Friendly Marines are totally oblivious to the notions of cover and stealth, eagerly squaring up with enemies no matter their size or number. They'll even run directly in front of you even while you're hosing down the room with the BFG 10000--which, considering your shots ''won't'' pass through them while they're in combat, can mean a very unfortunate end for both you and them.

* ArtEvolution: Aside from the add-on mutator mods providing higher-definition textures and sprites, there's also cases of this in the base mod--

Extermination Day also aims for a more believable architecture, providing visual context for certain locales. For example, the level "Marine HQ" really ''does'' look like an administration building, complete with office spaces, bathrooms, barracks, armory, and cafeteria. This attention to detail is ''especially'' noticeable in the second episode--massive, sprawling urban zones that allow you to enter almost every building for door-to-door combat with Hell's legions.

* AwesomeButImpractical: There's a few cases of this.
** On paper, the Mancubus Flame Cannon is far from VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck--while the primary fire is short-ranged, it has a much wider range of effect vertically. You can shoot it out a doorway, window, or over a ledge and torch enemies above and below the blast. The flames drop loose flame onto the ground which cause further damage. Enemies caught in the stream of fire [[{{Knockback}} flinch constantly]]. Some foes can even be set ablaze, making them run about and damage other monsters, cause infighting, or set off explosive barrels.\\

*** v21 improved the tracking and homing behavior of the Hellish Missile Launchers, also allowing them to be fired without first having a lock on something. Still, they still have a tendency to veer into a floor or ceiling if not homing in on something.
** As of v20b, the Plasma Rifle has SplashDamage of its own. While that gives it great crowd control potential, it also means that Doomguy ''will'' get hurt if he tries firing it too close too monsters or obstructions. Given the size of the projectiles, this means it's only safely usable in open areas. This issue also extends to friendly Marines wielding Plasma Rifles, as they can wind up hurting Doomguy with the splash damage. v21 makes Doomguy immune to the splash damage from his own Plasma Rifle, and Release Candidate 3 also made him immune to the splash from friendly Plasma Rifle-wielding Marines.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Prior to v21, rescuable Marines all wore the same standard UAC green armor that Doomguy (by default) does. As of v21's public beta, the Marines have different color uniforms depending on the weapon they have, which also mirrors those worn by the Former Humans. For example, Marines with Miniguns now have blood red armor (and, like the Former Human Commandos, dark skin) while Marines with Shotguns have grey armor. Rocket Launcher-wielding Marines have tan armor, while Plasma Rifle-wielding Marines wear bluish-aqua armor.

* DieChairDie: Many of ''Extermination Day''[='s=] static props (trees, chairs, and the like) can be destroyed, and [=Sergeant_Mark_IV=] continues to add interactivity of this sort with each update. v21, for example, included the ability to destroy vehicles left sitting on the road in the ''Battle of Los Angeles'' episode, and introduced the ability to destroy the house appliances and wooden fences seen in the level "Twisted Neighborhood."
* DifficultButAwesome: The fatality attacks leave you open to enemy attacks and for inexperienced players it will consume more health than you can recover but used well with skill, you can becoming a barehanded badass ripping and tearing demons guts and accumulate health up to 200.
* DirectContinuousLevels: While the vanilla game's levels frequently start the player off in a completely random spot, ''Extermination Day'' is designed to give a sense of flow from map to map-the door, lift or other means of exiting the level will be visible when starting the next level.

* EasierThanEasy: ''Power Fantasy'' is an odd case-the enemy count is the same as vanilla Doom's Ultra-Violence and Nightmare difficulties, but the amount of the damage the player takes is reduced by 70%. The description text describes it as being made for [[TakeThat game journalists]].

* EldritchAbomination: The FinalBoss of ''Extermination Day'' is no longer a wall with demon head with hole on it, but a titanic demon that's literally called "Eldritch Abomination" if it manages to kill the player.

* EvilLaugh: Prior to v21 Release Candidate 3, if an Evil Marine managed to kill Doomguy, the Evil Marine would throw his head back (using the "flinch" sprite) and laugh in triumph. This was taken out in [=v21RC3=] concurrent with the changes in armor color and voice clips used.
* EvilTaintedThePlace: In a clever and subtle nod to the original ''[=DooM=]'' episodes, ''Extermination Day''[='s=] episodes gradually play out this trope. In the Mars base, you'll come across quite a bit of corpses mutilated by the demonic invaders, but nothing too bizarre. Later, mirroring what happened to Deimos Base in ''The Shores of Hell'' and Earth in ''Doom II'', the further you advance through Los Angeles the more you'll notice the city ''itself'' turning into an eldritch hellscape. At first it's just evidence of horrific Satanic rituals--but then you'll come across rooms which give way to [[MeatMoss walls of writhing flesh]] and streets parted by rivers of lava and blood...
* EveryCarIsAPinto: Originally averted in Extermination Day, as all cars and vehicles were simply part of the map geometry. Played straight in v21, however: as part of [=Sergeant_Mark_IV's=] ongoing effort to make the levels more interactive, he made it possible to damage and destroy most vehicles. After taking enough hits, they'll catch fire, and after a few more they'll explode.
* ExplodingBarrels: Aside from standard barrel behavior from the original ''[=DooM=]'', non-flaming barrels can be picked up once you have a Berserk pack and thrown for a ''massive'' boom. You can also push them around by walking into them. Flaming barrels can be kicked over, leaving behind a trail of flames as they roll on the floor--or, you can hit them with a rocket to make them explode like standard ones.

** In v21, [=Sergeant_Mark_IV=] introduced some additional first person view finishing moves. One example: if you knock an Imp down with an attack that hasn't killed it, you can walk up to the Imp and stomp it to death with a kick.
* FlippingTheBird: You can flip off (and insult) whatever is stands in your way with a simple push of a button, and it's conveniently mapped to the F key by default no less. It is actually a useful way to wake up unaware enemies without wasting ammunition. It also sends certain enemies into BerserkMode. In v20, using the command with your fists out causes Doomguy to flip off the enemy with both hands.

* GameMod: ''Extensively''. New graphics and visual effects, new weapons, new features like finishing moves and being able to pick up monster weapons, remixed music, LudicrousGibs taken up to eleven (complete with objects like flesh chunks and blood splatter persisting in the world and reacting to things like explosions even after death), and new enemy attacks and behaviors to balance out all the changes for the player (as well as higher difficulties beyond the Ultra-Violence level).

** There's also (as of v20) an unused feature in which Friendly Marines will give Doomguy stimpacks when he's low on health. This can only be invoked in-game by summoning Marines performing the action via console commands.
-->"Sarge, you aren't looking too good. Have a stimpack."

* GrievousHarmWithABody: With a Berserk pack, you can grab Lost Souls and chuck them at whatever you please. After certain {{Finishing Move}}s, you can also throw (what's left of) Imps and Former Humans as well. (You can can also simply grab one to throw at your enemies, or use them as {{human shield}}s first.)

** If you're playing in Tactical Mode as of v21, the game won't allow you to dual wield certain weapons. You'll get a message telling you that you can't dual wield them because "Real operators never try to look cool in a firefight."

* HeartContainer: Health and armor bonuses can still boost your stats beyond 100 as they normally would, however, they can go beyond vanilla ''[=DooM's=]'' cap of 200. Prior to v21, it could go well beyond, into the thousands. And depending on difficulty level, you're gonna need that much health and armor to survive the FinalBoss. As of v21, it's been capped to 300% instead.
** As mentioned above, performing fatalities--either by killing enemies with your fists while the Berserk Pack/Demon Strength Rune is active, or by finishing off dying enemies in specific ways and earning a Cruelty Bonus--also boosts Doomguy's health and sometimes armor in the case of Cruelty Bonuses. In [[HarderThanHard Realism Mode]], learning how to consistently earn Cruelty Bonuses from susceptible enemies is a necessary survival skill.

* {{Hitscan}}: Averted unlike the vanilla for both the player character and the enemies, where projectile weapons will have spread at longer ranges and sustained automatic fire, though one may occasionally see enemies enter their death animation before your shot reaches them.
* HumanShield: If you get a Berserk pack, it's possible to grab Former Humans (including Evil Marines!) as well as Imps and Nazis. Once Doomguy has them by the neck, he use them as a shield via SecondaryFire--he can only use sixteen shots from his pistol while doing this, though. Once the gun's out of ammo (or upon using SecondaryFire again) Doomguy will [[GrievousHarmWithABody throw his "volunteer" as a weapon unto themselves]].

*** ''Realism Mode'' (Enemies have much less health, player takes much more damage)

** Brutal Doom also gives the myriad Former Humans very human reactions to injury, despite being "zombiemen." Minor damage aimed at their head or face will cause Former Humans and Sergeants to temporarily hold their head. Former Human Commandos wince and grab their crotch if subject to a GroinAttack. Many of the Former Human variants also scream in agony if lit on fire, lose a limb, or are in the process of being brutalized by a berserk Doomguy.

** The latest versions of ''Brutal Doom'' have a slider in the options that lets you go from no blood at all (why would you ever want that is anyone's guess) up to a hilarious - if somewhat impractical - "OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank", which causes enemies to release ''fountains'' of blood when you kill them.

* ManOnFire: Played straight by the former humans (any of them) as well as Waffen-SS Nazis and Ubersoldats, Imps, Pinky Demons, Cacodemons, and the Marines (including Doomguy himself) if they are killed by fire weapons. Marines and the Waffen-SS go through a death animation in which they flail about as they burn to ash. However, all of the Former Humans and the hellspawn mentioned previously will instead run (or fly, in the Cacodemon's case) about while on fire. They deal collision damage in this state, so it's advisable not to get too close with them--however, if you're close enough and you can gib them while they're still alive, you'll receive a Cruelty Bonus for doing so.
* ManualLeaderAIParty: In Extermination Day, if Doomguy manages to find every friendly Marine and keep them alive he'll have about two squads' worth of soldiers at his command.
* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Just as your enemies can be killed in brutal ways, the same applies to you if you are pathetically unfortunate enough. Demons can bite your head off, Former Commandos can blow a hole into your torso, your body melts if you die in pit of nukage/lava/blood, Hell Knights will throw you to the ground and curbstomp your head like ''Film/AmericanHistoryX'', but much more gorier, Barons of Hell will tear your body in half vertically, and then some.

** "Necropolis" now has a lot of outside areas, and the level doesn't end with the battle against the Cyberdemon; that now continues to underground caverns leading to a large open-area arena outside the city gates of the next level, "Dis."
** "Sacrificial Grounds" receives a ''massive'' expansion, including an entire section of swamp that leads to an abandoned UAC facility!
** [=v20's=] "Bloodfalls" underwent a near-total transformation into "Lavafalls." The level involves plenty of open-air fighting against enemies high and low amidst the crags of the eponymous lava-filled canyon, with some of the previous iteration of the map remaining intact.
* MercyKill: Those mutilated Marines impaled on posts or hanging from the ceiling, moving and somehow still alive? In one of the few changes that makes the game ''less'' disturbing, ''Brutal Doom'' lets you kill them, putting them out of their misery.
** Many of the ways in which you can earn a Cruelty Bonus come off more like a Mercy Kill instead. For example: blowing the head off an Former Human, Imp, or Demon that's just lost an arm (or a leg) rather than leaving them to suffer an agonizing death.

* ModernStasis: ''Extermination Day'' takes place in the mid-22nd century. While humanity has established settlements on Mars and [[PlasmaCannon Plasma Rifles]] are issued to soldiers, civilian technology on Earth appears to be the same as present-day. Some of the military aircraft seen in the campaign would be 250 years old by the time ''Extermination Day'' takes place. Vehicles in v20b did have a more futuristic look to them, but as of v21 they've been changed to resemble cars and trucks from the 1970s to 1990s.

** Cacodemons that take a Shotgun/Super Shotgun blast at close range will sometimes fall to the ground, visibly blown open but still twitching. If you keep firing on them with the shotgun while they're not-quite-dead, you'll continue to blow pieces off of them, eventually earning you a Cruelty Bonus.

* NightVisionGoggles: Prior to v21, ''Brutal Doom'' used Skulltag's take on the Light Amplification Visor. Instead of simply changing the lighting of a map to maximum level, it instead mimics an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_intensifier image intensifier]] by brightening everything with a green monochrome appearance. However, the visor also displays most monsters (and some other things, like light sources) in an inverted, bright green color palette--evocative of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermographic_camera thermographic cameras,]] a ''very'' different sort of technology.
** As of v21, the Light Amplification Visor now behaves the way it did in vanilla ''Doom''. However, the Rocket Launcher and Railgun have been given a scope feature which uses the Skulltag-like hybrid image intensifier/thermographic camera effect.

** As of v20b and the Starter Pack, the difficulty levels received a revamp. In place of ''Last Man on Earth'', there is now ''Realism Mode''. In this mode, Doomguy takes dramatically more damage--for example, at 100 health and no armor, a single Imp's fireball is a OneHitKill, and their pounce attack is also immediately lethal even if you've picked up a fresh piece of Heavy (Blue) Armor. Stepping into slime or other damaging floors is almost immediately lethal if your health and armor isn't well above 200. This causes some problems, as certain levels (even those in ''Extermination Day''!) require taking a fairly extended dip in the stuff--often ''without'' a radsuit. And even ''with'' a radsuit, you might still die [[https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Damaging_floor#.22Leaky.22_radiation_suits if the suit leaks.]]\\

On the flip side, there are less enemies compared to the easier modes. They're also much easier to kill; Former Humans, Imps, and Nazis die immediately to a headshot from the Assault Rifle, and most of the tougher enemies can't survive more than two direct hits from a rocket.

** ''Still'' not satisfied? ''Maps of Chaos'' has an ''overkill'' version that massively increases enemy spawning and makes the difficulty downright grotesque. The smallest room invariably has a dozen enemies at least, every significant item is guaranteed to open trap walls with swarms of demons, there are teleport triggers every which where so just stepping into your average corridor can spring a flood of enemies into a part of a level you thought you'd cleared, and many maps start you off with crowds of monsters already targeting you. Oh, and later in the game high-level enemies like hell knights get the same spawn rates as medium enemies earlier on - and there are several instances where you fight more than one super-enhanced cyberdemon ''at the same time''. Good luck.
* NoOSHACompliance: ZigZagged in ''Extermination Day'' depending on the level (and version of the game). For example, "Nuclear Power Plant" provides evidence that the facility ''was'' OSHA compliant until the demonic invasion left it a mess--there are platforms with guardrails, the reactor core must be accessed via an airlock with a built-in decontamination shower, and there's a locker room nearby that supplies radsuits.
** Prior to v21, "Nukage Processing" had ''no'' safety measures to keep someone from falling into the pools of nukage outside, and there were no radsuits in sight. However, as [=Sergeant_Mark_IV=] continued work on the map pack, later versions included a small radsuit locker and decontamination shower as well as guard rails for the outside walkways. This also made it possible to get all the secrets in Realism Mode.
* NonIndicativeDifficulty: The theoretically easiest difficulty level (''Power Fantasy'') gives you the enemy frequency of ''Ultra-Violence'' and ''Nightmare!'' However, the enemies only deal 30% their normal damage, allowing you to mow down hordes of monsters with impunity.

* OffWithHisHead: If you're unlucky enough to have Imps claw you to death, they might tear your head off your body. You can also rip the head off of Zombie Sergeants and throw it, if you get the right kill move.

** In v21, if you use the Super Shotgun's alt fire to only fire one barrel and then reload, you will still see an unused shotgun shell in the other chamber and Doomguy will only eject the other spent shell.
* OneHitKill: If you let a Baron of Hell grab you (without having overcharged health), it will rip you in half, killing you instantly. The Cyberdemon has also gained a stomp attack that is instant death if you get too close to him. The main gun from enemy tanks is also ''very'' likely to destroy you outright, especially after v21 put a cap on how much health and armor you can have.

* PaintItBlack: As of v21's beta, captured Marines who turn into Evil Marines will have their armor turn black. v21 Release Candidate 3 changed it to olive drab instead.

** v20c made it possible for Doomguy to also melee with the Assault Rifle and Pump-Action Shotgun. If he's [[SecondaryFire aiming down the weapon's sights]] and attempts a kick, he'll perform a buttstroke instead. This was removed by v21 in favor of just kicking at the enemy.
** One of the fatalities for the zombieman has Doomguy ripping their rifle out of their hands and beating them to death with it.
* PowerUp: Most of the classics return but are accompanied by new ones such as the Demon Strength Rune, which provides Berserk strength with a Stimpack level of health recovery, dropped occasionally by demonic enemies. There's also a Demon Sphere transformation power-up, which forcibly warps Doomguy into a Revenant (or a Baron of Hell!) for a short period of time.
* QuickMelee: You can strike enemies with a kick attack. If you' ve obtained a berserk pack, kicking a low-level enemy will send them flying backward with enough force to splatter them against the wall.

* RareRandomDrop: The Demon Strength Rune, which provides Doomguy the same effect as a Berserk pack sans the healing effect, occasionally drops from the demonic enemies like Imps and Demons.

** In an instance that probably qualifies as a [[GoodBadBugs Good Bad Bug]], you can use ''Doom II'''s Super Shotgun in ''Doom I'' wads via a rare drop. You have to find and free a friendly Marine, hope they're armed with the Super Shotgun and either have them die or kill them yourself. Grab the dropped Super Shotgun and you're in business. Needless to say, this very rarely happens in normal play without SaveScumming (the Marine's weapon is randomized).

* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: If you happen to play v21 with Doom II or the ''Recurring Nightmare'' wad, you'll get a nasty surprise in the Wolfenstein level ... an Evil Marine-type enemy wearing red armor and a black helmet named "[=MrX=]," toting a plasma rifle and much more health than Evil Marines.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: ''Brutal Doom'' changes the appearance of Spectres. In the unmodded games, they look like a highly visible pinky-shaped smoke or shadow. In the mod they are invisible until they attack, except for a pair of glowing red eyes.
* RedShirt: Aside from the rescuable friendly Marines, there are other non-player Marines found throughout Extermination Day, particularly in the Battle of Los Angeles episode. Most of them stand guard and fire three-round bursts at enemies they see. These Marines come in helmet and helmet-less flavors, as well as several different combinations of race and sex. Strangely, they use the Former Human sound set, and will "flinch" if Doomguy walks past with friendly Marines in tow--[[GoodBadBugs which almost makes it sound like they're cheering him on]].

* RevolversAreJustBetter: Although still dummied out as of v21 Release Candidate 3, several versions of Brutal Doom included a revolver which was capable of using either rifle cartridges or shotgun shells and could switch between the two with its alt fire mode. Per the trope, it's capable of greater per-shot damage than some of the weapons which use either ammunition type.
* RoadRunnerPC: Doomguy moves blazingly fast in ''Brutal Doom''. In v20b, the difficulty setting Realism Mode cuts down his speed to a more believable level (he runs as fast as he walks in other difficulty settings) ... but in v21, [=Sergeant_Mark_IV=] removed this speed nerf in favor of implementing a "Tactical" game mode with a sprinting mechanic, usable with any difficulty level.

* RocketTagGameplay: Realism mode in a nutshell-the player deals twices as much damage as normal, but enemy attacks are ''nine times'' stronger. Unless you're constantly on the move, you will die.

* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: The Super Shotgun, which was already ''dripping with awesome firepower'' in the base game, benefits from ''Brutal Doom's'' gameplay overhaul. It is very powerful, has fairly good range, and has an enormous spread. Hit someone at close range with it, and they will be no more than demon meat.
** v21 saw the inclusion of an Assault Shotgun (which [=Sergeant_Mark_IV=] alternatively called the [=AA12=] in his dev videos) into the base mod. Initially it was only going to appear at random on difficulty settings with Skulltag weapons enabled. Instead, it became a general RareRandomDrop as of v21.

** Doomguy also has to ''fight'' tanks a few times in ''Extermination Day''. The second episode's level "Warzone" has one such tank crewed by Former Humans guarding the way to the exit. In the secret ''Wolfenstein''-themed level, the Nazis have two tanks of their own in the castle's courtyard. The only way to survive a direct hit from any one of these requires having health and armor well into the thousands.

** v21 Release Candidate 3 changed the tanks into full 3D models, albeit of a low polygon count roughly comparable to 90's-era games. The tanks are now simply known as the "Main Battle Tank" and "Artillery Tank" in this version (at least in the console) with the Artillery Tank receiving homing missiles in addition to the quad cannon.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: The fatality you can perform on the Archvile. Performing this fatality causes Doomguy to ''rip the Archvile in half, throw its upper torso to the floor,'' '''''curbstomp its head against the ground''''' ''and then laugh in triumph.'' Damn.

** As of v20b, they're back as part of the Starter Pack campaign. This time they're accompanied by guard dogs (who, in Realism Mode, can OneHitKill Doomguy even if he's at 100 Health and wearing armor!) as well as ''tanks''.

** After the Pistol was replaced by an Assault Rifle, its common ammunition shared with the Chaingun (now Minigun) finally made sense. On the other hand, versions prior to v19 (and after v20b) also have the [=MP40=], which in-game fires the same ammunition used by the M16-shaped assault rifle. One of the points that identifies a submachine gun (which the [=MP40=] is, "MP" being short for "Maschinenpistole"; the German term for an SMG) as such is that it is an automatic weapon firing ''pistol'' ammunition; we're pretty sure the assault rifle and the minigun aren't firing the same 9x19mm rounds as the [=MP40=]!

* UnstableEquilibrium: In the unmodded games, the Health Bonus and Armor Bonus both gave a +1 bonus to either health or armor, allowing to have up to 200 in both stats. In ''Brutal Doom'' this cap was removed, up until v21. As a result, skilled enough player who managed to find enough Health and Armor bonuses--or earned enough Cruelty Bonuses--while avoiding damage would eventually have obscenely high health and armor after enough levels. It's very easy to get armor and health stats up into the ''thousands'' this way!

* {{Unwinnable}}: The mod is made for the original ''Doom'' levels, and it's optimized for a small number of other mods as well. But every map-replacement mod ever made for ''Doom'' can be played with ''Brutal'' as well, including some that make assumptions about gameplay that are no longer true with ''Brutal Doom''. For instance, a map that spawns a Cyberdemon in a relatively small enclosed room and relies on the player's reflexes to dodge its rockets can easily become unwinnable, because the ''Brutal'' Cyberdemon fires much faster and its rockets have massively increased area damage. And if the player tries to attack at melee range in order to prevent the Cyberdemon from firing rockets, they'll be squished to death instantly thanks to his new stomp attack.

** Prior to v21, the "Cruelty Bonus" (a health or armor boost) is granted when you kill enemies in a particularly creative fashion--usually those whom you've just dismembered or set on fire. Bonuses that aren't caused by melee fatalities are instead triggered through close-range {{Mercy Kill}}s, though, downplaying the trope. As of v21, most of these were removed in favor of having enemies drop bonus health vials and/or armor shards in situations where a Cruelty Bonus would have been awarded.
** It can take some effort to master killing monsters with fatalities--if you go about it the wrong way, punching an enemy to death is likely to rob you of more health than the fatality gives you back, to say nothing of armor. But watching the bad guys being torn to bloody shreds by the Doomguy makes it ''so worth it''.

* UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay: The "Brutal" part of the mod's title comes in from the wide and various ways enemies will respond to injuries, as shooting a zombie in the arm will cause it to lose it's weapon and pull out a sidearm instead, or how you can blow a Revenant in half, causing it to crawl after you, still firing it's rockets at you. Certain injuries will also cause enemies to keel over in agony, and eventually bleed out.

* WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody: Revenants can be blown in half and their upper half can be just as capable of hurling rockets at you while their legs will amusingly waddle around aimlessly before falling over. Wounded legless soldiers will sometimes shoot at you with their pistol for a few seconds before dying. Pinkies who get their side shot off will sometimes resist for a while before succumbing to blood loss and keep trying to attack you (killing them in this state sometimes rewards you with a cruelty bonus).
* YourHeadASplode: Much like the vanilla game's gibbing mechanic, a headshot that reduces the enemy's health to their starting health times negative one will result in their head exploding in a shower of blood and brain matter.
* YouNukeEm: v21 Release Candidate 3 has the Nuclear Rocket Launcher. It's available in the test map, but is otherwise unused in that version.

* AdaptationDistillation: ''Extermination Day'' retells the plot of ''Doom'' and ''Doom II'', with events shifted around (the equivalent of "Deimos Anomaly" takes place during what would have been the final third of ''Doom II'', early versions had a version of ''Doom II''[='=]s "Dead Simple" during the opening Mars portion, etc.) or excised (Doomguy finds a portal which works and sends him straight back to Earth, skipping everything in the first game from its second episode onwards and only actually visiting Hell during the final third) and some elements of [[Film/{{Doom}} the movie]] added in (particularly, the first level originally used the music from the movie's infamous FPS sequence near the end, and footage of the sequence also shows up in the theater in the first secret level). The first episode, ''Hell on Mars'', takes place at a UAC research facility on the red planet rather than on Phobos and Deimos. The second, ''Battle of Los Angeles'', takes the action to Earth as Hell invades--but rather than the entire planet being overrun, the fighting's contained to the eponymous city. The third episode, ''Behind Hellish Lines'', takes place in Hell itself as Earth's forces attempt to stop the invasion.

* AnAxeToGrind: v21 introduces a new type of enemy for at least Doom, the Zombie Civilian: labcoat-wearing zombies who move extra swift and attack you viciously with a fireaxe, which you can take for yourself as an additional melee weapon along with the chainsaw. You can easily behead or dismember enemies and even charge the attack to strike at the right moment and with enough strength.

* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: In the updated version of the last act of the original Doom ''Thy Flesh Consumed'', [[spoiler: the Mother Demon from Doom 64]] replaces out of nowhere the second Spider Mastermind normally encountered in the final level. On the other hand, it delivers the satisfaction of a brand new final boss fight.

* NowLetMeCarryYou: In the ending cutscene on Extermination Day, the Marines rescue you after you kill the FinalBoss.

* ItCanThink: Former Humans are much more dangerous here. They fire in bursts, can roll to avoid attacks, and ''Extermination Day'' reveals that they can drive tanks and pilot attack choppers and ''mechs''.