Doom creator adds new levels in free Sigil expansion

To celebrate Doom's 25 anniversary, John Romero is releasing a spiritual successor to the original's fourth chapter.

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1993's demon-slaying shooter Doom is getting a big new mod from one of the original creators. Hand-crafted by Romero himself, Sigil is a new free mod that expands the old-school bloodbath FPS with nine new singleplayer levels and nine multiplayer maps. Slated for release in mid-February 2019, the "megawad" directly continues Doom's story arc and carries the series forward (unofficially, of course) by taking players back to a monster-infested hell.

"After killing the Spiderdemon at the end of E4M8 (Unto the Cruel), your next stop is Earth - you must save it from hellspawn that is causing unimaginable carnage," Romero said on the announcement page. "But Baphomet glitched the final teleporter with his hidden sigil whose eldritch power brings you to even darker shores of Hell. You fight through this stygian pocket of evil to confront the ultimate harbingers of Satan, then finally return to become Earth's savior. In summary, rip and tear!"

Although Sigil will be free, Romero Games is offering two special edition boxes to commemorate 25 years of chaos: a $40 standard edition box set, and a huge $166 Beast Box set.

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The Standard Box Edition of SIGIL includes the following:

• A beautiful demonic standard-sized "big box" featuring the artwork of Christopher Lovell.
• A 16GB 3 1/2-inch floppy disk themed USB drive that includes the free megawad data and extras.
• A 2-disc jewel case that includes the free megawad data and soundtrack by Buckethead.
• 2 stickers: 1 SIGIL and 1 Romero Games.

The Beast Box Edition of SIGIL includes the following:

• A beautiful demonic over-sized box, inspired by the id Anthology box, individually numbered and signed personally by John Romero and featuring the artwork of Christopher Lovell.
• A 16GB 3 1/2-inch floppy disk-themed USB drive that includes the free megawad data and extras.
• A 2-disc booklet styled case that includes the free megawad data and full soundtrack by Buckethead and behind-the-scenes information on the original game and the megawad's development.
• A beautiful 8" x 10" art print signed by the illustrator, Christopher Lovell.
• A SIGIL-themed coin.
• A pewter statue of John Romero's head on a spike.
• An XL-sized SIGIL T-shirt.
• 2 stickers: 1 SIGIL and 1 Romero Games.

Oddly enough no gameplay footage has been released for Sigil...so I'd probably hold off on buying the special editions before we actually see what it has to offer.