Game review
Freedoom Phase 2
7.8 / 10
- Developer
- Freedoom project (game data); Gregory Maynard-Hoare (Dwasm engine port); PrBoom+/PrBoomX team (engine)
- Publisher
- Freedoom project
- Released
- 1 January 2024
- Platforms
- phone, desktop
- Genre
- shooter
- Monetisation
- free
- Players
- false
The short version
Freedoom Phase 2's free, original-content take on the classic Doom-engine FPS runs well through the unofficial Dwasm WebAssembly port, and - unusually for this entire genre in this sweep - genuinely works on a phone. A real on-screen WASD cross, turn arrows, and dedicated fire/use buttons were confirmed to produce real movement and real ammo consumption, matched by equally solid keyboard-and-mouse controls on desktop.
Biggest strengths
- Controls confirmed genuinely correct on BOTH platforms through direct testing - on desktop, held WASD and arrow keys produced real movement and turning, and firing dropped the ammo counter from 50 to 49; on phone, a real held touch on the on-screen "W" button walked the player visibly across a room to a wall panel
- A rare fully touch-native FPS control scheme - an on-screen WASD movement cross, a turning arrow-pad, and dedicated fire/use buttons, all built from real DOM buttons dispatching genuine keyboard/mouse events into the engine, not a fragile overlay hack
- Completely free, original content - Freedoom's own game data (levels, textures, sprites, and sounds) is BSD-3-Clause, entirely independent of id Software's original Doom assets, so nothing here relies on a licensing grey area
Biggest weaknesses
- The on-screen touch control layer is functional but visually busy, occupying roughly the top and bottom thirds of the screen for buttons and leaving a squeezed middle viewport for the actual game - a real trade-off for full touch-native FPS controls, not a flaw exactly, but worth knowing going in
- Freedoom's own art, while completely competent, is intentionally a free-content replacement for id's original Doom assets rather than a distinct artistic vision of its own
- An age gate ("I am over 18") appears before play, standard for this kind of action content but an extra click before the game starts
Who it's for: FPS fans who want classic Doom-style run-and-gun action with fully free, original assets, on either a real keyboard or a phone.
Our recommendation: play
7.8 / 10
Opening
Freedoom Phase 2 is the second episode of the Freedoom project's free, original-content replacement for Doom's commercial game data - entirely free levels, textures, sprites, and sounds, playable through any Doom-engine source port. This installation uses Dwasm, an unofficial WebAssembly port of the PrBoom+/PrBoomX engine, trimmed here to offer only Freedoom Phase 2 (no shareware DOOM or unverified-license mods).
A rare genuine touch-native FPS
Classic first-person shooters are, almost without exception, a bad fit for a phone - keyboard-and-mouse controls (strafe, look, fire, use) simply don't map onto a touchscreen without real, dedicated design work. Dwasm is one of the very few exceptions found across a wide sweep of similar games: checking the touch checkbox brings up a genuine on-screen control layer - a WASD movement cross in the bottom-left, a turning arrow-pad in the top-left, and dedicated fire/use buttons in the bottom-right - built from real DOM buttons that dispatch genuine keyboard and mouse events into the engine underneath.
Controls, confirmed on both platforms
Both control schemes were tested directly rather than trusted on description alone. On desktop, a held "W" key walked the player forward down a corridor right up to a wall panel, a held Right-arrow turned the view to a different part of the room, and pressing Ctrl to fire dropped the ammo counter from 50 to 49 - three separate, unambiguous, correct responses. On phone, the same test was repeated through the actual on-screen touch layer: a real held touch on the on-screen "W" button walked the player from a corridor entrance to a wall panel, matching the desktop result exactly. This is genuine, verified touch input, not just a control scheme that exists on paper.
Completely free content, cleanly installed
Freedoom's game data is BSD-3-Clause and entirely independent of id Software's original Doom assets - no shareware files, no commercial IWADs, nothing borrowed. The install here is trimmed down from Dwasm's full multi-game demo page to offer Freedoom Phase 2 specifically, with no other IWAD or mod options that would carry unverified licensing.
Final Verdict
A free, fully playable Doom-engine shooter that does something almost nothing else in its genre manages: real, confirmed-working touch controls on a phone, alongside equally solid keyboard-and-mouse play on desktop. Recommended for FPS fans on either platform.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Controls confirmed genuinely correct on BOTH platforms through direct testing - on desktop, held WASD and arrow keys produced real movement and turning, and firing dropped the ammo counter from 50 to 49; on phone, a real held touch on the on-screen "W" button walked the player visibly across a room to a wall panel
- A rare fully touch-native FPS control scheme - an on-screen WASD movement cross, a turning arrow-pad, and dedicated fire/use buttons, all built from real DOM buttons dispatching genuine keyboard/mouse events into the engine, not a fragile overlay hack
- Completely free, original content - Freedoom's own game data (levels, textures, sprites, and sounds) is BSD-3-Clause, entirely independent of id Software's original Doom assets, so nothing here relies on a licensing grey area
- The Dwasm engine port itself is compact (roughly 10MB of engine, archive-extraction, and game-data files total) and loads and boots reliably with no console errors
- No third-party analytics found in any of the shipped files; the installed page has been trimmed to offer only Freedoom Phase 2 (no shareware DOOM or unverified third-party mods)
Cons
- The on-screen touch control layer is functional but visually busy, occupying roughly the top and bottom thirds of the screen for buttons and leaving a squeezed middle viewport for the actual game - a real trade-off for full touch-native FPS controls, not a flaw exactly, but worth knowing going in
- Freedoom's own art, while completely competent, is intentionally a free-content replacement for id's original Doom assets rather than a distinct artistic vision of its own
- An age gate ("I am over 18") appears before play, standard for this kind of action content but an extra click before the game starts