Newly surfaced images and animations from the canceled Doom 4 have given fans another look at id Software’s original vision for the franchise before rebooting it in 2016. The fourth entry in the original Doom run has fascinated fans for years, as it was allegedly the entry that would take the series in an entirely new, more mainstream direction before being scrapped.
Doom 4 entered production in 2007 and was announced in 2008 before being canceled in 2013 after id Software decided to reboot the project altogether, eventually taking what was left and creating what would become 2016’s Doom reboot. Reports of what Doom 4 could have been mention that it leaned toward being a grounded, military FPS similar to Call of Duty, which was gaining massive popularity at the time. The Doom community has even dubbed the canceled project “Call of Doom,” poking fun at the reported similarities between it and Activision’s hit shooter. While some footage of the canceled fourth entry has surfaced in the past, new, never-before-seen assets have started to appear online.
Newly Revealed Images Show What the Canceled Doom 4 Could Have Featured
Between July 11 and July 12, 2026, Twitter users Crispies and WadOverdose shared an extensive series of images and videos from the Doom 4 project, including concept art, weapons, vehicles, enemies, and more. Among the shared assets, fans can find plenty of neat 3D models that seem almost complete, such as imps, lava monsters, soul swallowers, hell cancers, and enemies that can merge with other monsters to create new ones, like in Cronos: The New Dawn. Both users have previously leaked assets and art from Doom 4, with Crispies apparently taking it upon themselves to archive unreleased material from the game, per their Twitter bio. Short clips of these conceptual enemies in action are also available on Crispies’ YouTube channel.
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Interestingly, it seems that a good number of scrapped assets from Doom 4 have made their way into the newer games, specifically the recently released Doom: The Dark Ages Revelations DLC. Among the released assets, fans can spot a Doom 4 assault rifle and minigun during the Doom Slayer’s flashback sequences, along with similar-looking urban-style environments throughout the DLC. Fans speculate that, although Doom 4 was never released, these assets could still indicate that it canonically occurred at some point in the current Doom timeline. At a minimum, fans speculate that id Software is well aware of Doom 4‘s continued leaks throughout the years and is having some fun with fans.
As the years pass, Doom 4 proves that a game’s existence can persist well beyond its cancellation, provided its community maintains interest in what it could have been. While the fourth installment in the original Doom run will likely never see a release, there is still plenty of value to be found in these leaks, which offer insight into the creative process for games and how much a game can change from concept to release, given the drastic differences between Doom 4 and 2016’s Doom. As more and more leaks emerge, it becomes clear that Doom 4‘s cancellation was less a failure and more a stepping stone into what Doom has become today.
In fact, many fans online think that id Software made the right call in scrapping Doom 4 in favor of the current version of the franchise. As more and more shooters sought to emulate Call of Duty following Activision’s success with that formula, 2016’s Doom offered a welcome change of pace in the market, ultimately becoming a huge hit, in part because it felt so true to the original winning formula. While today’s Doom is taking big risks and even getting medieval with its concepts, Doom 4‘s repeated leaks offer a glimpse of what the franchise could once have been.
- Released
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May 15, 2025
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence
- Publisher(s)
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Bethesda Softworks
