| 1 | Freedoom is a real - time first - person shooter ( FPS ) . |
| 2 | You 'll be exploring a series of levels , in each one trying to find the way to the exit . |
| 3 | An assortment of monsters will try to stop you , and you 'll need to use weapons to defend yourself . |
| 4 | Portions of the levels may be inaccessible until you find a particular key , or find a switch to open a locked door . |
| 5 | This gives a puzzle element to the game in addition to the action . |
| 6 | By default , the keyboard cursor keys will move forward and backward , and turn left and right . |
| 7 | The Control key fires the current weapon , and the spacebar will open doors and activate switches . |
| 8 | All source ports allow you to rebind these keys to a setup that you find more comfortable . |
| 9 | You 'll also want to look into using the strafe ( sidestep ) and run keys to better control over your movement . |
| 10 | If you have n't played Freedoom before , take a few minutes when you start the game to get familiar with the controls , and reconfigure controls as you find makes it more comfortable to play . |
| 11 | Practice moving around and firing the weapon . |
| 12 | You may encounter some low - level monsters , but those encountered in the first level do not present much of a challenge and they 're a good opportunity to practice taking shots at . |
| 13 | Within the game you 'll encounter various collectible items and power - ups . |
| 14 | These will typically give you more ammunition for your weapons , more health or more armor . |
| 15 | You can also find new weapons and some rarer power - ups which give you special abilities . |
| 16 | Picking something up is a simple matter of walking over it -- an on - screen message and a brief flash of the screen indicate that you 've done so successfully . |
| 17 | If you do n't pick it up , it 's likely you do n't need it right now ( for example , you ca n't pick up a health pack when you already have 100 <percnt> health ) . |
| 18 | Tactical tips |
| 19 | If you 're struggling with the difficulty of the game , one option is to change to an easier skill level . |
| 20 | Alternatively , you can try some of these tactical suggestions : |
| 21 | Firstly , put some time into setting up your controls . |
| 22 | Most players find that a mouse and keyboard combination is the most effective , where the mouse is used to turn while the keyboard is used to move around . |
| 23 | In particular , make sure that you have set up strafe ( sidestep ) keys . |
| 24 | Many of the enemies in the game launch projectiles which must be dodged . |
| 25 | Sidestepping these projectiles is an important skill to learn . |
| 26 | You 'll know you 've mastered this skill when you can easily circle around an enemy and dodge its projectiles while simultaneously keeping your weapon trained on it . |
| 27 | Play with headphones . |
| 28 | The game 's stereo separation can give helpful audio cues about the positions of enemies and alert you to incoming projectiles . |
| 29 | Headphones give you a more precise way to pick up on these cues . |
| 30 | Take cover ! |
| 31 | Monsters only attack when you 're in their line of sight . |
| 32 | You 'll want to find walls , pillars and other forms of cover you can hide behind while your weapon reloads . |
| 33 | This advice is particularly important when facing certain monsters which can “ lock on ” to you ( minigun zombie ; necromancer ) ; hiding from these is a crucial skill . |
| 34 | Many of the levels are littered with exploding barrels . |
| 35 | While these can pose a danger to you , they 're equally dangerous to your opponents . |
| 36 | A single , well - timed shotgun blast aimed at a barrel can take down several enemies at once . |
| 37 | One barrel explosion can trigger another , so it can sometimes set off a chain reaction that takes down a whole crowd -- but be careful that does n't include you ! |
| 38 | If a monster gets injured by another monster , it 'll retaliate against the one that injured it ( this is called monster in - fighting ) . |
| 39 | If faced with a crowd of enemies , an effective strategy can be to stand in just the right place so that those at the back shoot those at the front . |
| 40 | Do it right and they 'll spend more time fighting each other than fighting you , and the survivors will be significantly weakened . |
| 41 | Be aware though , that a monster can not be injured by a projectile launched by another of the same species . |
| 42 | Sometimes you 'll face crowds of monsters , which can be overwhelming and also drain your ammo supplies . |
| 43 | Learn to master crowd control . |
| 44 | The primary instinct of all monsters is to move towards you . |
| 45 | Circle around the crowd continually -- this encourages them to cluster in a single spot that 's easier for you to target . |
| 46 | It also encourages monster in - fighting ; if done effectively , they 'll spend their energy killing each other and you 'll save on ammunition . |