> But yes - my impression was always that the Doom games mostly focused on having cool levels, with plot as an afterthought.

My understanding is that yes, and that was part of Tom Hall parting ways; based on the alpha versions and the 'Doom Bible' it was intended to be a more story driven experience, closer to Marathon.

That said, The engine could support such at least with some enhancements. Strife is still one of my favorite games if that era thanks to the 'living world' feel, even if it has some nasty ways to get in a hostile overall world state or dead end.

Interesting, that is the chorus from Bruce Cockburns “If I Had a Rocket Launcher”