Heretic
4 ports
GZDoom
ZDoom/gzdoom
GZDoom: a “feature-centric” port for all Doom engine games, based on ZDoom, which adds an OpenGL and Vulkan renderer and scripting capabilities aimed at modders. The code is released under the GPL v3, with copyright held by the ZDoom and GZDoom teams since 1998 and their contributors; the original Doom code belongs to id Software, Raven Software, and contributors. The latest release, 4.14.2 (May 3, 2025), has builds for Windows and macOS and .deb packages for amd64 and arm64; the repository is still receiving changes (the latest commit reviewed is from August 2026). To build it, the README points to the ZDoom wiki.
You needThe WAD files from your own copy of whichever Doom engine game you want to play; the README doesn’t list them. Windows, macOS, or Linux.
Doomsday Engine
skyjake/Doomsday-Engine
Doomsday Engine: a port of id Software’s Doom and Doom II and Raven Software’s Heretic and Hexen with enhanced graphics, meant to refresh these games’ technology while keeping their gameplay. It’s written in C++ on Qt 5 and OpenGL, and the three games’ extensions live together in the libgamekit library. It has game profiles with add-on selection, an in-game overlay with settings and the console, particle effects and dynamic lights, bloom and vignette, geometry-based ambient occlusion, 3D models for objects (FBX and MD5), skyboxes, an upscaling texture filter, and stereoscopic rendering modes. 3D sound with reverb comes through the FMOD plugin, and it supports MP3 music and MIDI with FluidSynth (Unix only). In multiplayer it discovers LAN servers, has a master server for public games, and a tool for running servers in the background. The latest stable release is 2.3.1, from February 2021; 2.3 improved support for the original Doom render hacks used by TNT: Evilution and The Plutonia Experiment and expanded Doomsday Script, its scripting language. Since then only 2.3.2 candidate builds have come out, and the latest commit is from January 2024. There are builds for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
You needThe data files (IWADs) from your own copy of one of the games, such as Doom II; it can find the Steam and GOG releases of The Ultimate Doom, Doom II, Final Doom, Heretic, and Hexen on its own. Plus a graphics card with OpenGL 3.3 and Windows, macOS, or Linux.
EDGE-Classic
edge-classic/EDGE-classic
EDGE-Classic: a Doom source port that revives the EDGE 1.35 codebase for modern systems, with advanced features, easy modding, and attractive visuals while keeping hardware requirements modest. Besides Doom and Doom II it runs Heretic, Chex Quest and Chex Quest 3, HacX 1.2, Harmony, and REKKR, plus the free Freedoom and Blasphemer IWADs. Compared with EDGE 1.35 it adds an uncapped frame rate, a new renderer with OpenGL 3.3 and GLES3 alongside the legacy OpenGL 1.3 one, multithreaded BSP traversal, Dehacked support up to MBF21, DSDehacked, Boom, UDMF, and UMAPINFO, Lua as its main scripting language (with a COAL compatibility layer), expanded DDF and RTS, an inventory system, widescreen status bar, intermission, and title screens, optional dynamic reverb, soundfont MIDI, OPL emulation, many more music and sound formats, and MPEG video. Its README showcases mods made for it, such as Operation: Arctic Wolf Revisited and Aliens: Stranded. The latest release is 1.53 (July 11), with downloads for 32- and 64-bit Windows and for Linux; on macOS and the BSDs you build it from source. Its website also has a browser version, which comes with Freedoom Phase 2 and Blasphemer.
You needThe data files (IWADs) from your own copy of Doom, Doom II, Heretic, or another supported game; with the free Freedoom or Blasphemer IWADs no copy is needed. Plus Windows 7 or later, Linux (x86 or ARM), macOS (Intel or Apple silicon), or BSD.
Doom / Heretic / Hexen (Russian Doom)
Russian-Doom/russian-doom
Russian Doom: a limit-removing source port of Doom, Heretic, and Hexen. It continues the Russian Doom and International Doom codebase maintained by Leonid Murin (Dasperal), builds on Chocolate Doom and Crispy Doom with significant additions from Doom Retro, and is distributed with their authors’ approval. It fixes numerous bugs of the original games, renders at enhanced 640×400 and 1280×800 resolutions, has improved palettes and many optional aesthetic enhancements, and offers the most complete translation into Russian possible. The latest numbered version is 6.3 (October 29, 2023), which gathers the changes made before International Doom 7.0 abandoned this code; its builds are for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows, and on Linux there is an AUR package or you compile it. The repository is still active (last change on May 11, 2026). A separate version exists for DOS. Besides the code, the repository includes about twenty WAD files in src/base with resources for the three games; among them, doom-beta.wad, doom-jaguar.wad, and hexen-psx.wad (4 to 6 MB each) carry maps and graphics from the Doom beta, Doom for the Jaguar, and Hexen for the PlayStation. test_data also holds three test WADs (DOOM1.WAD, HERETIC1.WAD, and hexen.wad, about 19 MB).
You needThe files (IWAD) from your own copy of Doom, Doom II, Heretic, or Hexen, depending on which game you want to play; the README points to the project’s wiki for details. Plus 32-bit or 64-bit Windows, or Linux.
Installs with
Questions
What projects are there for Heretic?
The catalog has 4 ports for Heretic, all on this page with their status.
What do I need to play it?
Your own copy of Heretic (DOS). Recompendium only links projects that don’t distribute the game, and each entry says which version or region you need.
Which one is the most popular?
GZDoom, with 3,123 stars on GitHub.