So it’s not long now until all Hell breaks loose and the demon hoards come out to DOOM all humanity. DOOM Eternal is the highly anticipated sequel to the much-loved DOOM reboot which took our top spot of game of the year in 2016. It was fast, vicious and absolutely beautiful. Now with nearly four years passing us by, DOOM Eternal is finally here to shake things up. Not only does it look like it will be a contender for game of the year 2020 but it could be the ultimate kick up the arse the FPS genre needs.
Want to know why that is? Game-News has a breakdown of what’s coming in DOOM Eternal, why it will be great while we dish out our opinions and reflections on the gameplay shown.
DOOM is focusing more on story
DOOM 2016 wasn’t much for giving players a complex, interwoven plot to follow, but rather a simple yet enjoy ride about Mars, people, Demons and one man who could kick their arses. Eternal will have a greater focus on character development, lore and backstories with the Doom Slayer and a supporting cast having their identities explored in greater examination.
The Doom Slayer will encounter warring factions, a long list of characters will compelling and awesome names like “The Betrayer” and the worlds you explore and fight on will have interesting environmental elements which will speak louder than words in regards to world-building. Taking notes from games like Dark Souls, DOOM Eternal will give players a living, breathing series of worlds that harbour dark secrets to discover, beautiful landscapes to observe as you murder your way through demons and Hellish fortresses where the souls of the damn are … well damned.
It’s visually striking and informative and the lore behind the game is pretty beefy. It does seem like there are multiple cut scenes that explain more on the actual backstory and I can understand this might be off-putting in some way. But it seems like the cut scenes aren’t that long and have something interesting happening in each of them.
But enough of that, let’s get to the guns!
Bigger guns, new gadgets and a better gore system!There is of course an impressive line-up of new and classic guns, ready for the Doom slayer to get hold of and blast his way through the hoards. This includes the return of the explosive combat shotgun, super shotgun and plasma rifle. New additions include the Heavy cannon, a precision weapon which is great for dealing damage to weak points as well as interrupting more mobile demons, like Imps.
But aside from the new guns there are new gadgets which layer more depth to your tactics on the battlefield. Such as the all-time classic Frag Grenade, great for crowd control and combining with other weapons to finish the job off quickly. A new shoulder-mounted flame thrower known as the Flame Belch, good for toasting enemies and draining their health to minimal levels (where a good frag grenade would finish things up nicely). Plus it good to use as engulfed enemy will drop more armor shards than normal.
Ice Bomb is an alternative to the Frag Grenade, creating an icy explosion that temporarily freezes any demons within the vicinity. It’s another effective gadget which acts great as a means of defence, giving you a couple of seconds in a tricky situation. Otherwise, players can freeze a foe or two before shattering them into a million pieces and making a clean getaway.
Plus new melee weapons and special abilities such as the Blood Punch, which allows a tremendous amount of force to be thrown forward and decimating anything caught in its path. The Blood Punch is yet another useful component that works perfectly for both combat and exploration. These are just some of the new items within the Doom universe and they’re pretty awesome. Just other tools to encourage more spectacle and strategy to the already intense, visceral and brutal combat that DOOM 2016 had to offer.
The new engine that makes it look amazing!
DOOM Eternal looks amazing! I mean DOOM 2016 looked bloody brilliant but now with the new ID Tech 7 engine, the sequel just excels at bringing visually eye-melting scenes of beauty. ID software has always made great looking games, from Rage, Doom 3 and now DOOM Eternal can be added to the list.
There’s an increased sense of scope and depth with worlds feeling truly alive and expansive. Lighting is richer, entirely organic in nature with the impressive use of colour and environmental textures adding to an already living, breathing world. This is by far the best looking ID game and quite possibly the best looking current-gen shooter since Crysis in 2007.
More demons and a bigger, bolder campaignSo it wouldn’t be a sequel without more demons to kill and a bigger playground to do it in. Now the roster of demons is apparently (according to Hugo Martin in a recent interview) twice as large compared to DOOM 2016. This includes some redesigns of older enemies, completely new enemies, some of which are from the original Doom 2 and while nothing was spoken about bosses, we would imagine there be plenty more of them.
We did see the Doom Hunter, a force to be reckoned with and possibly one of the main antagonists for the Doom Slayer himself. Highly armoured, heavily armed and absolutely deadly! The campaign is also much longer as well according to sources, being twice as long as the DOOM 2016. So the developers are aiming to make DOOM Eternal deal double the damage with a massive campaign that spans Heaven, Hell and a completely wrecked Earth!
Plus the world of DOOM Eternal is immense and rewarding to exploreThe Doom series has always been a master of world-building, by designing compelling and interesting worlds that hide plenty of secrets and awesome rewards. From the preview footage, it’s clear that DOOM Eternal will have more secrets to discover, many of which are hiding in plain sight and others a little trickier to get hold of. DOOM Eternal rewards players not only for killing demons but to take time and venture out, using their brain not only for tactics in combat but to hunt out vital upgrades and new weapons.
Doom Slayer’s home away from home – Fortress of DoomOkay, we love the fact that the Doom Slayer has a hideout. This is so cool! Hideouts and hubs are always nice to have in games as they act as breathing space between the action, a place of reflection and even discovery.
It seems like the Doom Slayer can venture forth through the campaign from this point and return to previous missions to finish of their checklist if collectables. But the Fortress of Doom also has secrets of its own for you to find. You can see displays of collectables, cute little funko pop style toys of the demons you’ve just murdered, find upgrades and some neat Easter Eggs. There's even a bookcase and board games too with names that resemble some beloved classics. I can imagine Doom slayer just kicking back and reading Garfield.
The Mario style popups and platforming is …. WeirdOkay so we have one complaint of sorts. DOOM Eternal offers some intense platforming and the Doom slayer’s sense of movement, momentum and traversal skills are highly refined and fluent. He moves with grace yet also has the power of a wrecking ball hitting you in the face! But while he’s not killing demon scum, he’s jumping about all over the place to get to a new arena to kill more demons!
We will admit that the platforming looks like a lot of fun and as mentioned, the movement seems perfect. But it’s weird overall as the environment is littered with weird, Bowser Castle style obstacles that look completely goofy and just out of place.
It’s a problem as the world looks beautiful, almost artistic in its perfection. But then you have a floating green helmet and it just looks silly. This also applies to the bright, colourful pickups which just again don’t fit. We liked the slightly grounded, stylish sense of finding objects such as new guns and upgrade points in DOOM 2016. It felt in keeping with the raw and visceral nature the developers had brought forth in their reboot. Everything felt in-keeping with the world but now it feels more like Mario’s bloody, gruesome adventure. It’s not totally distracting but we’ll see in the final game.
OverallOkay so aside from the Mario type stuff, we love DOOM Eternal! It looks absolutely amazing with immense visuals, awesome and intense combat, compelling world/level design and that extra time from the developers has made sure there is a high level of polish the game deserves. It seems like Bethesda need something good since the last couple of years haven’t been so kind. But DOOM Eternal is their saving grace and it’s something fans and gamers in general will absolutely enjoy the Hell out of it (bad pun).
DOOM Eternal is out on March 22nd and for those who pre-order will receive Doom 64 for free!
