I love Doom 2016. It was the first game of the year I chose while working for Geek. It was one of my top games of the decade. Whether playing on the most powerful PCs in the office or the modest Nintendo Switch on the go, I can’t believe how well iD Software updated this foundational text of first-person shooters for the modern era. Hell on Earth was heavenly.
Doom 2016 left one of the most promising jumping off points for a sequel. The demon slaughtering was already polished to a shine. We just needed more of it, perhaps performed in new ways in new locations. And after playing the first few hours of Doom Eternal, I’m pleased to report that’s exactly what they did.
One of the most underrated aspects of Doom 2016 is how funny it is. The developers describe this as seriously executing silly ideas. The first game has a robot Satan unironically saying lines like “We exploited Hell and its resources because it was in mankind’s best interests” and that’s just great.
It’s a tricky tonal balance though, especially in a continuing story. I’m a bit worried Doom Eternal might fall too far down its own lore hole and wind up indistinguishable from Darksiders or Diablo or whatever. But then a character will say “Doom Guy” or “Hellified Zones” out loud. There’s a prison for practicing demon slaying called the Ripatorium. And Doom Guy is now positioned as some sort of rebel angel crusader with a spirit wolf. So maybe I’m not worried after all.
Besides, the best way to play Doom is to have contempt for anything distracting you from the righteous mission of slaughtering demons. Thoughtful, challenging tweaks to the combat force you to be even more mindful of the massacre. You know longer have access to a weak pistol with infinite ammo. And in the early stages you’ll quickly run out of shotgun shells. So I found myself using the chainsaw to regain ammo much more frequently, similar to using melee glory kills to regain health.
Other resource management systems revolve around this rapid feast or famine idea. Later you get a flamethrower to burn off demon armor for you to collect. The chainsaw, as well as grenades, now work on cooldowns so you can use them more often. You can also swap between different weapon mods on the fly like a sticky bomb launcher or homing missiles. Melee kills also charge up a powerful Blood Punch you’ll want to deploy at the right times. And different upgrades allow to you spec toward preferred playstyles.
Enemies quickly demand you make the most of your arsenal. Battlefields are littered with wandering corpses that might as well be walking supply crates for your fights against the real threats. I welcomed Hell Knights and Spider Masterminds like old friends. But now targeting their weak points is much more necessary. The Cacodemon is just one giant mouth so of course throw some explosive in there. There are new enemies as well, like snake monsters and flying gargoyles, but I assume more will show themselves later into the full game. The arena itself also has a bigger impact on fights, with hazards like uncaring flamethrowers or goo swamps that keep your feet on the ground.
Doom Eternal’s combat might not lull me into the same effortless flow state, but the added tactical complexity feels totally organic and sensible tradeoff. The same goes for the traversal mechanics, continuing to make Doom the only good source of first-person shooter platforming since Metroid Prime. The linear levels themselves are larger (with fast travel points!) and tend to start with some crazy jumps. Fortunately, between the double jump, double dash, and wall cling, Doom Guy can clamber around these clever vertical and horizontal jumping puzzles like it’s Celeste. Digging his metal gloves into concrete, scavenging for extra lives, feels fantastic.
It looks fantastic, too. The whole game does. I played in 4K 60FPS on a high-end PC and didn’t notice performance issues. The game’s level are both bigger (sometimes featuring enemies fighting each other) and more varied visually. Sure you’ll fight through Hell on Earth, activating giant mechs to blast open tunnels to demon nests buried at ruined shopping malls. But in my spaceship command bridge I also set a course for medieval castles and snow-covered outposts. And it was all beautifully brutal.
I will say though that for long stretches Doom Eternal is still is such a constant rush that playing in a marathon session like this can be a bit exhausting. But that’s more an issue with preview events than the game itself. I’m looking forward to savoring Doom Eternal at my own pace when it launches on March 20, with the Nintendo Switch version coming later.
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