Just under 300 game developers, creatives and game fans from across The North as well as London and Scotland turned out for Dark and Doomy at WX in Wakefield on Thursday 19th March. The event formed part of Game Republic’s activities for 2026 supported by Official Partners Red Kite Games, Xsolla and Double Eleven and was supported by Creative Wakefield / Wakefield Council and WX Wakefield.
John Romero, godfather of first person shooters and creator of DOOM, Wolfenstein 3D and Quake, and Brenda Romero, BAFTA Award-winning designer of games including Wizardry and many role-playing games joined a fireside chat with Jamie Sefton sharing insights from the stories behind the major titles and innovations as well as the importance of chance encounters. The Romeros were later inundated at their stand as developers and fans got cartridges, consoles, books and posters signed.
The event also included Doom-inspired games which proved popular throughout the event with Lewis Rafter, founder of Ceratops getting John Romero himself to play the game Hazard Suits at the end of the night. Doom-inspired games included Hazard Suits, Ceratops Games, Team17 with Alien Breed 3D, Hardly Hyperbolic with Blood Game, Joshua Simpson brought his new game Voxelkeeper and Elliot Mann showcased his new VR game Conductor. Doom was also available for fans to play and all were showcased on PCs and monitors supplied by Wired2Fire.
Following the fireside chat, networking and signings, The Dark Room provided an outrageous set with volunteers playing the adventure game. A highlight was when John and Brenda Romero were ‘volunteered’ to do a two-player game which will go down as one of the funniest moments of this show and Game Republic events to date.
Enjoy a gallery of pics by photographer Yijia Zhang, student from University of Leeds and social posts
To find out about future events visit the events page.
If you are interested in becoming a Game Republic member you can apply to join Game Republic here.
If you are developing or supporting games in The North, you can join the Great Northern Games Discord here.
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