Thatcher’s Techbase Doom mod returns in a blaze of “politics”-free malicious compliance

Satirical Doom WAD Thatcher’s Techbase has returned to Bethesda’s official mod browser – now shorn of Maggie and anything else that might conceivably be deemed offensive – after initially being booted for daring to dabble in “real-world politics”.

Thatcher’s Techbase – which sees players descending to the Tenth Circle of Hell in order to thwart the return of “one of humanity’s greatest threats” – has been around for a while, originally launching in 2021. However, when Bethesda’s official community published mod support arrived for Doom in August, developer Jim Purvis opted to take advantage of it, giving console owners the chance to play the WAD for the first time.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Bethesda stepped in, yanking Thatcher’s Techbase from its browser after telling Purvis the mod had been reported for “real-world politics”. Purvis was also instructed to “educate” himself on modding guidelines and community rules.

And with his education now complete, Purvis has restored the mod to Bethesda’s browser in a new passive-aggressively inoffensive form. “To celebrate its 3rd birthday,” he wrote on X, “I am rereleasing Thatcher’s Techbase for Doom 1 & 2! However, in light of the recent Educational Notice received from Bethesda, all real-world politics have now been removed.”

“The team here at 3D: Doom Daddy Digital has worked tirelessly to remove all references to real-world politics from Thatcher’s Techbase,” Purvis continued, “and create a Doom WAD that can be enjoyed by all gamers, regardless of political persuasion.”

To that end, the mod, in a blaze of malicious compliance, is now known as ███████’█ Techbase, while its accompanying logo has been altered with the absolute bare-minimum of effort, its “Thatcher’s” bit half-heartedly doused in a splotch of red digital paint. In-game, meanwhile, changes include tweaks to signage, with one picture of Maggie now obscured by a jolly smiling face, its caption altered from “PURE EVIL” to “PURE NICE” (the ‘nice’, incidentally, has been rendered in jaunty Comic Sans, instantaneously making this whole enterprise infinitely more offensive than the original).

Elsewhere, a whole bunch of fliers have been replaced, with one notably changed from “No pit closures” to “No politics, no religion, no drama”. And perhaps best of all, an area designed to resemble the House of Commons has been gracefully robbed of its capacity to offend by removing every single one of its textures.

But that isn’t quite everything. Composer Barry “Epoch” Topping (of Paradise Killer fame, among other things) has also reworked the soundtrack for ███████’█ Techbase “to ensure no politically-motivated rhythms can be heard by players”. Now, as you’re descending into hell to confront whoever the milk snatcher has been replaced with, you can enjoy a more uplifting version of the soundtrack, played in a major rather than minor key.

███████’█ Techbase is available to download right now via Bethesda’s official Doom mod browser, but if you really must sully yourself with all that “politics”, the original version remains available to play on PC players through the usual, non-Bethesda channels.

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