THE SLAYEUX TAPESTRY
MJ Widomska, Founder and Director at YRS TRULY, takes a break from her regular column to give you the down-low on how a team up with Bethesda, Simon de Thuillières, Hawthorne & Heaney and the Royal Armouries in Leeds put an amazing DOOM spin on an iconic work of art
I
n DOOM: The Dark Ages, the Doom Slayer finds himself battling legions of Hell in a medieval- inspired world. The weapons are sharp, the
battles brutal, and the Slayer has to prevail against overwhelming odds. In DOOM, the references to the Middle Ages in Europe are primarily aesthetic, and it was this epic-fantasy appeal that we wanted to capture with the marketing for the game. We knew we wanted to go with a tapestry. It is, after
all, one of the most important art forms of the Middle Ages, with intricate tapestries decorating castles, churches and homes, and even travelling with royal and noble entourages. As paintings gained popularity in the Early Modern period and beyond, tapestries were sidelined and forever associated with the Middle Ages, making them even more fitting for the game. An initial Gamescom conversation with Steve Merrett from Bethesda provided inspiration for the team, and after a few more chats, we had a new and exciting path: remaking the Bayeux Tapestry. One of the first things
you will find out about the Bayeux Tapestry when researching it is that it is not, in fact, a tapestry. More
24 | MCV/DEVELOP June/July 2025
technically, it’s an embroidery: a very impressive one, at seventy metres long. It famously tells the story of the Norman Conquest, including the events leading up to it, and its culmination at the Battle of Hastings. Divided into scenes, it is almost reminiscent of a comic strip. It is not just incredibly unique, but also widely recognisable – and one of the most important artworks to come down to us from the Middle Ages. It miraculously survived over nine hundred years – and now, we set out to remake it in the world of DOOM: The Dark Ages. We thought the idea worked really well: we could
show off the aesthetic achievements of the Middle Ages in the context of the story of DOOM, and do it in a way that was hyper-relevant to Western European markets. We were very pleased to find out the Bethesda team felt the same way. Their support in turning the idea into reality was invaluable, as we jumped into production. Our tapestry was to be eleven metres long, which was a significant undertaking. Fortunately, we found the perfect partners in Simon de Thuillières, Hawthorne & Heaney and the Royal Armouries in Leeds. Simon, an illustrator from France, who specialises in medieval art, happened to be a huge DOOM fan. He has done an excellent job in translating the trailer for DOOM: The Dark Ages into a digital illustration in the style of the Bayeux
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