10. Hell On Earth Intro Cinematic
The game opens on a pure black screen, and a colossal voice begins to tell us exactly what we want to hear from the opening of a Doom game. The Earth is in ruins, the demons are seemingly unstoppable, and there is only one force left that has any chance of stopping the deluge of hell, the Doomslayer.
The scene cuts away from black to reveal a familiar sight, Mars, which is the location where Doom 2016 took place. We then fly over the red planet, where a flaming Earth comes into view. And we can see the Doom Fortress, hovering in orbit over the crumbling Earth. The Doomslayer is preparing his new upgraded armor, and arsenal, and as the classic Doom theme plays we can see a portal open, giving way for the Doomslayer to get to Earth to eradicate the Demons, finally ending on the Doom Eternal title screen. .
This cutscene is exactly what you would for the intro of a game like Doom Eternal. It’s all about the buildup and anticipation, because without a decent setup, the payoff won’t be as satisfying. But there is a delicate balance to strike, too much narrative or the wrong kind of narrative setup would throw the whole mixture off balance. The booming narration of the intro and doomed destroyed Earth tell us everything that we need to know in order to slip right into the role of the savior of humanity.
9. The Betrayer Cinematic
This cutscene comes immediately after doing some decently intense fighting and platforming, fighting cacodemons while jumping onto moving platforms floating over lava. And so, we go straight from a Mario Brothers type of scenario to a barricaded cave that’s been armed to the teeth with sci-fi traps. The first thing we see in the room is a barrier of laser beams, and the artillery cannons that keep this domain safe.
The Doomslayer walks up to the Betrayer, slowly, and silently. From the first line spoken by the betrayer we can tell that the Doomslayer has some personal history with this character, which is unlike anything seen in previous Doom games. The Doomslayer was essentially a character which did not narratively exist in any way outside of being a solitary silent protagonist But we need to get what we came here for, the power device that we need in order to get to the next section of the level. The Betrayer gives us this device but reveals more about the plot, and the unfolding narrative involving beings that we are yet to encounter or understand, the Khan Maykr.
While Doom 2016 was a massive step forward in lore and storytelling for the franchise, that entire game consisted of first person scenarios where other characters would exposition drop at us for minutes at a time, almost talking over the Doomslayer and instead telling the player directly what’s going on. The Betrayer cutscene sets the standard going forward that this game will involve the Doomslayer as an actual character who has a history and motivations that exist outside of the direct control of the player.
8. Defeating the Khan Maykr
The Khan Maykr can be a particularly tricky boss fight, so it might be fair to assume that a lot of players will be cheering and shouting upon seeing the introduction of this cutscene. After slicing through the Khan Maykr’s health bar repeatedly, this is a cutscene that you really feel that you earned.
Upon defeating the Khan Maykr, we get to see the Khan Maykr slam back to the ground with a plume of lightning. We get to see the Khan Maykr’s exposed alien looking face as it complains about our disruption of its plans. In the Khan Maykr’s final moment it curses us for our role in this story, and then gently dies, its light withers and we see a yellow orb of energy pulse out of its body and then shoot up into the sky. The Slayer then makes his escape from the combat arena.
It’s a simple cutscene but the more understated nature that it has works for what the tone of the boss and the bossfight is. Less bombastic and epic than the end of the Icon of Sin fight, and less manic than the intro of the Gladiator fight. While every other enemy in the game we end up killing with no regard, for some reason this fight seems to carry more weight than any others do, and so the cutscene carries a certain sort of weight that no others in the game do.
7. BFG 10,000 Scene
We portal into a hectic scene, the Mars Core facility is falling apart and we can see demons clouding the skies. People are still trying to work but the facility is in panic mode. . Cannons shoot off colossal green laser beams as we can hear the distant and close sounds of battle and destruction.
The Doomslayer walks through the facility, and people react in a comedic fashion. They are startled and jump as if they were seeing a demon, at this moment there is no denying that the Doomslayer is so much more than human at this point. Usually when we enter a room we’re used to the snarling of demons and unfettering stoic demonic gazes. It’s only in this situation where we feel truly larger than life, we are the living legend, an unrelenting force of power.And finally we pull a red keycard from an employees lanyard in order to get through a locked door, walk through and get accosted by security who totally submit to us, handing over the laser rifle where we get into the elevator down to the lower Mars Core facility.
While this is a similarly simple scene to the previous Betrayer one, the mood and tone of this scene is very different. While the Betrayer had a somber stoic tone, this cinematic is clearly over the top and comedic, which works well to give this game some amount of variety in the way that the levels’ atmospheres are being set.
6. Doom Hunter Introduction Cutscene
The scene starts with a first person view of the Slayer walking into what is unquestionably a boss arena. We then see a strange platform open up and pull upwards a biomechanical monster, which at this point we have already seen multiple times. Throughout the Doom Hunter base we can see the Doom Hunter being moved and assembled, so there is no question that the showdown happens now when we get to this room.
The Deag gives a spiel about the combat prowess of the Doom Hunter as the platform which holds up its mechanical body locks the upper half of the creature into its militaristic combat platform. And luckily there is a plethora of close-up shots of not only the Doom Hunter and its built- in weapons, but also its mech suit bottom half and the weaponry that that portion specifically possesses. The Doom Hunter powers on and then we see a first person view of the Doom Hunter locking onto the Doomslayer.
It’s always better to have cool cinematics for the bosses that we’re going to be fighting throughout a game. Anything which can give more personality to the world that we interact with can be a huge improvement, and considering that the Doom Hunter is an enemy that will be re-used a considerable amount throughout the game this intro cinematic is a good addition to the cutscenes of Doom Eternal.
5. Obtaining the BFG
The scene opens on a couple of security guards joking around about meeting the Doomslayer, only to come face to face with him, and they go running. Then Vega informs us that we have arrived at the BFG 10,000.
There’s already a person inside of the gun, but we just throw them straight out of the control seat and grab the joystick for ourselves. An elevator pulls us up through several floors and then reveals Mars, where the Slayer chooses to target the red planet with the superweapon.We power up the weapon and blast off a supermassive green laser beam,, to blast a hole straight into the planet. The scene then ends with us yanking the BFG off of its platform, whereupon the weapon that we are standing inside of goes crashing to the ground. We jump out of the crumpled steel cage, ready and eager to use the new weapon that we have acquired.
Doom 2016 without a doubt set a precedent for having a cool scenario set up to get the BFG. The BFG is one of the most iconic weapons of the Doom franchise, and giving this weapon to players too early or in an underhanded way would not give such a powerful device the respect it deserves. The BFG will save the player from death many times over, so we need to know that it is a weapon which far surpasses anything else in the game. It is incredible to get to blast a hole into an entire planet with the BFG and take it with us for the journey.
4. Marauder Cutscene
The Marauder cutscene is a noticeably lengthy and detail packed cutscene compared to what we’ve seen in this list so far. And you know that the Marauder had to have a grand entrance, especially when considering the fact that the Marauder is a parallel to the Doomslayer.
As expected, this scene opens with the Doomslayer in the Arc Complex, traveling in and then stepping through an elevator. An Arc scientist engages in some exposition with us, telling the Doomslayer about some of the stuff that has been happening between the last game and now. We can see the crucible, an artifact of hell which we fought tooth and shotgun for in the final levels of Doom 2016. Then we enter a new room of the facility, where we can see a team of scientists tending to what is left of the shell of Samuel Hayden. We aggressively yank his mechanical body out of the platform it sits in, only to be rudely interrupted by our demonic counterpart.
A blood red portal emerges in the facility, and the Marauder menacingly strolls out We get some nice close-up shots of the Marauder’s gear, we can see his weaponry and armor. Suddenly a blue portal opens behind the Doomslayer and Samuel Hayden is thrown into it. And then the Marauder actually talks to us, and through his menacing dialogue we can tell that this Marauder must have some personal history or knowledge of the Doomslayer. While most other demons we face off against snarl and scream, this is obviously an opponent which has been crafted to parallel not just the player’s brutality, but to rival their intelligence. Considering the importance of the Marauder to the identity of Doom Eternal, this is a must-watch scene.
3. Sentinel Prime Flashback
Of all the cutscenes in Doom Eternal, this is possibly the most surprising. While Doom Eternal and Doom 2016 do a lot of work to fill out the background of the Doomslayer through collectible pieces of lore and story dialogue, this cutscene is a standout in terms of the Slayer’s backstory.
The cutscene opens with us walking past two sentinel guards, We suddenly flash back, seeing a combat arena through the eyes of the Doom-guy. All of the other combatants are lying on the ground or being carried away, presumably they all have all been beaten in combat by the Doom-guy, who then screams in a maniacal rage. The Deag speaks to us, letting us know that this is taking place far before the Doom-guy would become the Doomslayer of legend.
But then we flash forward, back to the present moment. And the cutscene ends off with the Deag’s hologram sputtering out, and then we can see the Gladiator looming out of a door. This is the intro to the gladiator fight, and the cutscene acts as an awesome transition to smooth the player into the difficult combat encounter. The player gets some cool new information on the story and background of the Doomslayer to think over while getting into the heat of combat. While characterization of the Doomslayer is not the primary focus of the Doom franchise, this is the type of cutscene that fans have wanted for a long time.
2. Defeating the Icon of Sin
A nice scene to round off the ending of the main game’s story. Considering how long it can take to beat the Icon of Sin boss fight, it was a good decision to have this ending be short and sweet, almost reminiscent of the feeling one would get beating a boss in an old build-engine game.
We open immediately to the Doomslayer pouncing onto the exposed brain of the Icon of Sin, with the crucible in hand. The crucible is plunged into the giant mechanical demon’s brain and we get an epic shot of the Doomslayer twisting the blade, and it breaking off into the Icon of Sin’s brain. The Doomslayer quickly runs away, as the Icon of Sin starts to short circuit and stand back up. It then falls, with what’s left of its skull slamming onto the building that acted as the previous combat arena, and we get a great shot of the Doomslayer standing directly in front of the slumped face of the Icon of Sin.
The Doomslayer then simply walks away, as the soundtrack starts to slowly come back in and the narration picks back up. We get some cool narration from King Novik, paralleling his speech from the beginning of the very first level, and we also get a zoom out to reveal an Earth that looks much less on fire. This ending is in part so great because it’s final moments succinctly function as a reversal of the beginning of the game, and so we feel that the Doomslayer has saved humanity and there is a finality to the main story, but obviously we have more to do to complete Doom Eternal.
1. The Ancient Gods Part 2: Avengers Portal Scene
Of all Doom Eternal cutscenes this is without a doubt the most grand and epic that the game has to offer. This is where all of our effort across not just the main game, but the extended DLCs comes together in the final epic showdown.
We see the Doomslayer standing in front of a gigantic gate, and then the Dark Lord makes his appearance in the oversized mech-suit that he uses. Then we get a nice buildup where we can see the forces of the demonic army making its way towards us. And we see all the enemies that we’re familiar with, the spider-demons, and imps, and revenants, and cyber-demons, and then we even see spaceships show up for the battle. It’s obvious that this scene’s grandeur was intentionally designed to out-do anything we’ve seen in a Doom game yet. The Betrayer shows up with backup, and suddenly we have our own entourage of big dudes and spaceships to match our enemies, and then we jump into the battle.
While this cutscene works so well because it takes what was already cool about the franchise and ramps everything up a notch, there is also something undeniably satisfying about seeing our allies come to our aid in this epic battle. It cements that this is not just a story like that of the classic Doom games, where the whole point is to serve gameplay and nothing else . Doom Eternal features a Doomslayer who is an actual character, who has a real relation to other people in this world, it feels powerful for once in a Doom game to be somewhat of a person. There couldn’t be any better way to build up to the final fight of Doom Eternal.
