Hell

A hell, according to many religious beliefs, is an afterlife of suffering where the wicked or unrighteous dead are punished. Hells are almost always depicted as underground. In Christianity and Islam, hell is fiery. Hells from other traditions, however, are sometimes cold and gloomy. Some hells are described in graphic and gruesome detail (for example, Hindu Naraka). Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell as endless (for example, see Hell in Christian beliefs). Religions with a cyclic history often depict hell as an intermediary period between incarnations (for example, see Chinese Di Yu). Punishment in hell typically corresponds to sins committed in life. Sometimes these distinctions are specific, with damned souls suffering for each wrong committed (see for example Plato's myth of Er), and sometimes they are general, with sinners being relegated to one or more chamber of hell or level of suffering (for example, Augustine of Hippo asserting that unbaptized infants suffer less in hell than unbaptized adults). In Islam and Christianity, however, faith and repentance play a larger role than actions in determining a soul's afterlife destiny.

Hells are often populated with demons, who torment the damned. Many are ruled by a death god, such as Satan, the Chinese Yama, or some other dreadful supernatural figure.

In contrast to hells, other general types of afterlives are abodes of the dead and paradises. Abodes of the dead are neutral places for all the dead (for example, see Sheol), rather than prisons of punishment for sinners. A paradise is a happy afterlife for some or all the dead (for example, see heaven).

Modern understandings of hell often depict it abstractly, as a state of loss rather than as fiery torture literally under the ground.

Hell in Doom
Hell is an important part of the Doom universe, being the source of all the monsters in the game. In the original and Ultimate Doom, all of Episode 3, Inferno, takes place in Hell, where it is depicted as predominately brimstone-covered with a fiery sky, complete with a demonic cathedral and pools of blood. Doom II's Hell levels are closer to subverted human buildings, with the exception of MAP28: The Spirit World and the last level, Icon of Sin. Other typical features of Hell in these games include copious numbers of mutilated bodies (presumably of the damned) and scatterings of satanic iconography. In Doom 3, the player ventures into Hell to obtain the Soul Cube (although, in the end, they have no choice). In Doom 3 Hell is a largely dark, claustrophobic, and cavernous plane (although 'outdoor' sections do appear), and is also a place where conventional rules of physics appear meaningless. Hell in Doom 3, unlike in Doom, is almost constantly noisy, typically with the crying and moaning of damned souls.

Hell is depicted in every Doom game as being located in another dimension, and is discovered following experiments in teleportation. In the original Doom teleporters notably have satanic symbols on them. In Doom 3, it transpires that teleporter technology has been developed based on documents left behind by an ancient Martian race; humanity fails to notice that this race also left warnings not to develop the technology, following a war with Hell. In every Doom game, Hell is also depicted as having developed advanced technology and biocybernetics, being able to create plasma guns and rocket launchers, and implant these into many of its demons.

The final battle with the Cyberdemon in Doom 3 takes place around an enormous portal to Hell located deep under the surface of Mars.

Without Hell
One of the primary criticisms of the Doom novels is that Hell was cut out and the monsters became aliens genetically engineered to scare humans instead.

A similar criticism was aimed at the Doom movie, where the monsters were created by a virus and lacked the projectile attacks of their game counterparts.