Doom 3 was originally released for Microsoft Windows on August 3, 2004,[5] adapted for Linux later that year, and ported by Aspyr Media for Mac OS X in 2005.

The teleportation experiments open a gateway to Hell conducted by Doctor Betruger, resulting in a catastrophic invasion of the Mars base by demons.

Critics praised the game's graphics, presentation, and atmosphere, although reviewers were divided by how close the gameplay was to that of the original Doom, focusing primarily on simply fighting through large numbers of enemy characters.

Doom 3's more story-centered approach, however, means that the player often encounters friendly non-player characters, who provide key plot information, objectives and inventory items.

[9] In addition, the levels are regularly strewn with corpses, chopped body parts and blood, sometimes used in conjunction with the game's lighting to disorient the player.

Early in the game, during and directly after the event that plunges the base into chaos, the player often hears the sounds of fighting, screaming and dying through their radio transmitter.

The ambient sound is extended to the base itself through such things as hissing pipes, footsteps, and occasional jarringly loud noises from machinery or other sources.

Additionally, the PDA can be used to read e-mails and play audio logs or video discs that the player's character acquires during the game.

Other PDAs often contain e-mails and audio logs for other characters, which can provide useful information such as storage or door key codes, as well as significant plot details.

[16] As the player progresses through the game, they learn that the employees on the base are unsettled due to a large number of incidents involving hearing voices, unexplained sightings and increasing cases of paranoia and insanity, often leading to fatal accidents with the facility's machinery.

The antagonist in the story is Dr. Malcolm Betruger (Philip L. Clarke[17]), the head scientist of the UAC's enigmatic Delta Labs division, who is revealed to be working in collaboration with the forces of Hell to cause the subjugation of humanity, and his demonic voice frequently taunts the player as the game progresses.

The player encounters multiple scientists involved in the various research and development programs and archaeological digs through the UAC base, as well as fellow marines and security guards.

Sent to investigate multiple incidents involving the Delta Complex, Swann has a tense meeting with facility director Dr. Malcolm Betruger while the Marine reports to Master Sergeant Thomas Kelly for orders.

[19] The marine finds the scientist in a decommissioned communications facility, where he is frantically trying to send a warning to the UAC on Earth about Betruger's teleportation experiments.

[20] However, as he tries to explain the situation to the marine, another teleportation test takes place but loses containment, at which point the entire Mars base is swept with a shockwave.

As the Marine progresses through the base, he learns that Swann and Campbell have survived, and are also en route to the communications facility to prevent any messages being sent in order to contain the situation on Mars.

Upon arriving at the Delta Labs, the Marine learns of the details behind the teleportation experiments, expeditions into Hell to retrieve specimens and Betruger's increasing obsession with the tests, as well as of a xenoarchaeological dig under the surface of Mars.

[31] In June 2000, id Software's game engine designer John Carmack, posted an internal company plan announcing a remake of Doom using next generation technology.

Eventually, Nine Inch Nails' former drummer, Chris Vrenna, produced and fellow Tweaker band member Clint Walsh composed the game's soundtrack.

[46] According to John Carmack, the lead graphics engine developer at id Software, the technology of Doom 3 was supported by three primary features: unified lighting and shadowing, complex animations and scripting that showed real-time with fully dynamic per-pixel lighting and stencil shadowing, and GUI surfaces that add extra interactivity to the game.

[47] To increase the interactivity with the game world, id Software designed hundreds of high-resolution animated screens for in-game computers.

This allows for an in-game computer terminal to perform more than one function, from operating security door codes, activating machinery, toggling lights or unlocking weapons lockers.

[48] Other important features of the game engine are normal mapping and specular highlighting of textures, realistic handling of object physics, a dynamic, ambient soundtrack, and multi-channel sound.

[57] The expansion featured a new twelve-level single-player campaign, set two years after the original storyline, as well as three new weapons, one of which is geared towards manipulating the physics in the game.

[70][13] A number of reviewers also praised the attention paid to the game's premise and setting; GameSpot's Greg Kasavin described getting "the impression that Doom 3 takes place in a fully realized world"[14] while IGN noted that "the UAC base also has a very worn and lived-in feel that adds to the realism.

"[13] Eurogamer in particular pointed out that the game's opening sequence "feels like a fitting tribute to the excellent ideas" of Valve's genre-defining Half-Life.

[72] Many reviewers noted that Doom 3 stuck with a similar "run and gun" gameplay style that was successful with its predecessors, and the game was alternately praised and criticized for this element.

[12] In addition, several reviewers noted that the game's methods of conveying the story were "ineffectual", compounded by the lack of an identity for the player character.

[101] The game engine for Doom 3, id Tech 4, has been licensed out for the use of other developers, such as in Human Head Studios' Prey, Raven Software's Quake 4, Splash Damage's Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Raven Software's Wolfenstein, and Splash Damage's Brink; however id Tech 4 has not been widely licensed compared to Epic Games' Unreal Engine.

[105] Titled just Doom and powered by the id Tech 6, the game was released in 2016 by Bethesda Softworks for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 with cross-platform support in its "Snapmap" multiplayer mode.