Doom vs Wolfenstein 3D: which classic shooter wins?
Updated October 27, 2026
Total votes for each game on Gamerater. Ranks are live.
Same studio, one year apart, and between them they gave us the first-person shooter as we know it. Wolfenstein 3D came out in 1992 and showed that you could run through a corridor and shoot in first person on a regular PC. Doom followed in 1993 and blew the doors off: bigger levels, stairs and elevators, darkness and demons, and deathmatch with your friends over a network.
The case for Wolfenstein 3D: it started everything. Fast, simple, and nobody had played anything like it. The case for Doom: it took that idea and made it great, and its mods and level editors kept it alive for decades.
Right now the community has Doom ahead of Wolfenstein 3D. The ranks above are live, so they move with every vote. Is that fair to the game that started it all?
Pick a side.

