Doom 64's gameplay is similar to that of earlier Doom games. The player must advance through 28 story levels (and 4 secret levels) by battling demons, collecting weapons and keys, and activating switches to reach the level's exit while surviving deadly ambushes and traps. The Doom engine and gameplay elements were customized, and all visual assets such as weapon and monster graphics are unique to Doom 64.
Weapons
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All the weapons from Doom II are present,[1] but with new sprites and sound effects.[2] The chainsaw has two blades instead of one, the fists have bloodstained gloves instead of brass knuckles, the plasma gun has an electric core that emits a sparking sound, the rocket launcher has a small kickback, the shotgun's priming handle is at the grip instead of under the barrel, and the double-barreled "Super" shotgun reloads faster and causes kickback.
There is also a new weapon named the Unmaker, which uses hitscan but looks like a projectile weapon. It uses the same cell ammunition as the plasma gun and BFG 9000. It had originated in the Doom Bible in 1992, and was planned for the original Doom in 1993, but never appeared. Its appearance in Doom 64 is its only official appearance prior to Doom Eternal, in which it is spelled "Unmaykr". With the power of three ancient artifacts found throughout the game, it becomes more powerful by shooting three laser beams (at a quicker rate than default) instead of one. The first artifact increases the laser speed, the second artifact adds a second laser, and the third artifact allows the weapon to fire three simultaneous lasers which can automatically aim separately from one another, allowing the weapon to attack three different enemies at once with huge amounts of rapid damage.