Over the past few decades, we’ve seen Doom run on just about anything and everything… but not Windows Notepad yet. If you think the game would be unplayable on the utility, think again: developer SamNChiet has managed to create a stable version of the cult title within the application. On the other hand, we see nothing.
An Ikea light bulb, a connected fridge and even a calculator powered by potatoes, we thought we had seen everything from the crazy experiments of hackers on Doom. It’s now a real well-known tradition on the web: it’s up to whoever manages to run the cult FPS on the most improbable machine possible. After years of proposals all more far-fetched than the others, we thought we had seen everything.
But, as often on the Internet, we were wrong since a developer went even further. SamNChiet, here’s the handle of this hacker who revealed what is arguably the most counter-intuitive (and, admittedly, least convenient) way to play Doom to date. The latter has indeed managed to run the game directly on Windows Notepad.
Related: Doom Creator John Romero Is Working on a New Unreal Engine 5 FPS
Doom on Notepad: we can’t see anything, but it exists
This is no joke. In a short video posted on his Twitter account, then on YouTube in better quality, we actually see the developer playing Doom in the small Windows historical utility. The game is transcribed via a sequence of characters which, we will agree, does not make it possible to obtain the best graphics in history – unlike the ray tracing mod which is much more pleasing to the eye.
But no matter, it is of course the challenge more than the result in itself that is impressive. Especially since the game runs in 60FPS, which is a detail surprising enough to be noted. SamNChiet also specifies that he did not have to modify the Notepad code to accomplish this exploit. Despite everything, we recommend the latest installments in the saga if you prefer a more “playable” experience. These are available in the Xbox Game Pass.