If ripping and tearing your way through fields of demons with your shotgun and chainsaw while heavy metal boosts your adrenaline up to 100% sounds like fun then yes DOOM: Eternal is certainly worth it.
Before the 2016 DOOM reboot I had never played this franchise, I had only heard of how it was the granddaddy of first-person shooters, and after the reboot I could see why people love this franchise. I am not a long-time fan of this series but after playing this game id Software has gained a new fan that will make sure to look at any game released by the developer going forward.
STORY
In DOOM: Eternal Hell is on Earth. Few bastions of humanity remain on the planet as demons continue their extermination of those who remain. But every demon in this game has a demon of their own: Doomslayer. Your job is to save what remains and to slay every single demon that gets in your way in your journey to save Earth.
DOOM: Eternal improves heavily upon the first game in respect to their stories. The first game had next to no story in it, which was not that big of a deal since this is a franchise about killing demons, but this game surprisingly has more story to it then I had expected going in.
Do not be expecting a masterpiece in storytelling that rivals the likes of The Last of Us. Expect a story that explains why hell portals opened on Earth who the doom slayer is, this seemingly mythical messiah of humanity in Earth’s darkest hour. The story in this game works well and I have no complaints with how it is handled. A game about killing demons does not need hours of cutscenes and exposition like many other studious would have tried to cram in.
On top of the main story, there is plenty of lore to collect if you make sure to explore each map. There are many categories that you can find lore under, ranging from learning about the collapse of Earth to the demon invasion to unraveling the mysterious backstory of the doom slayer. This lore is pretty entertaining to read and anyone who wishes there was more story in the game’s central narrative then hopefully you are okay with a lot of the story being within lore cards, as you will know A LOT more by the end of the game.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay - the bread and butter of the franchise - is back and better than ever. New weapons, new enemies, new movement, new executions, new ways to play, and that classic blood racing adrenaline and metal fueled adrenaline that takes over you when you play DOOM is here. Even for those who are not good at video games it is easy to feel like you are an unmatched force of nature that cannot be stopped by anything that Hell throws in your way.
The destinations are varied. The bosses are bigger and badder. The enemies and maps are more relentless than ever. The new additions in all of these areas make sure that you will not get tired of a certain destination after being in it for too long or of fighting the same enemies. You will be fighting through a dark satanic castle, the hellscape that covers what was once New York City, Mars, and many more areas.
There is character customization but your way of obtaining a good amount of it feels forced. Yet another franchise joins the battle pass system which, while better than a loot box system and thankfully is not a battle pass system that forces you to pay for each one, still feels tacked on. You get XP towards it from doing anything in-game, but there are only 13 items in it for the next month so it will take a lot of XP to earn all items, to the point where the system does not even feel that rewarding.
Once you complete the story, the game does not end. You can go back and replay missions, this time with the addition of enabling cheat codes if you discover them while exploring the map, to uncover all of the secrets and upgrades you missed the first time around. There also is the option of replaying the campaign with increased difficulty - including the permadeath mode. Post-launch content added will only make this game more replayable, but for now the game is already in a good place when it comes to if it will be something you can spend a lot of time in.
The worst part of the game gameplay-wise is the platforming. At times you will jump for something only to hit an invisible wall while there will be other times that you do a lot of trial and error to figure out how you’re supposed to get to a ledge. It can be fun at times and adds to the game’s exploration, but when compared to the rest of the game platforming can feel unpolished and in certain areas hurt the pacing of the game.
Another issue, which is not really an issue as much as it is a nitpick, is that the character progression can feel overwhelming to some. There are in total 3 different systems that you have to either find and/or unlock currency that you can then use to upgrade your character. It is very easy to understand after playing for a little bit, but they could have replaced this system with a more casual-friendly system.
COMBAT
The combat in this game is just about perfect. It manages to feel like the fast-paced slaughter-fest that made DOOM popular in the 90s while still feeling fresh and able to compete against the modern shooters of today. You have access to a weapons wheel that is full of weapons that you will need to use if you plan on surviving the encounters in this game.
The combat in this game boils down to one word: satisfying. Using something called the flaming meathook to launch your grapple into an enemy, setting it on fire while you swing from him to the nearest enemy which you fire into and then perform a glory kill on them, a feature that you must witness yourself in order to understand how satisfying they are to use.
Weapon mods are a big part of this game, with every weapon (except for the super shotgun) having two different modifications to choose from that can be upgraded from there. Completely upgrading a weapon unlocks a challenge to unlock the mastery of the gun. Easily my favorite mastery is the super shotgun, which turns the grapple hook on the shotgun into the flaming meat hook, allowing you to zip between enemies while setting them aflame.
The enemy variety in this game is another highlight. There are 27 different types of demons in this game. Some are little more than cannon fodder, like the soldiers who are defenders of earth reborn into demons, while some are complete nightmares to face for the first time that forces you to adapt to fighting them by taking advantage of their weaknesses.
Much like the demons, the boss fights in this game are a lot of fun to fight against. Early game boss fights will feel like you’re fighting against enemies that are between the title of common demon and boss fight, but by the end of the game the boss fights will certainly feel like boss fights. Some of them are huge while others are much closer to your size than you’d expect, however from my experience these bosses were the worst (in a good way) to fight.
MULTIPLAYER
Play either the one-man army doom slayer or as two demons trying to kill him in this unique new game mode
The multiplayer ditches the 6v6 PvP of the previous game for more unique modes. The only mode on launch, battlemode, is a 1v2 mode where a doom slayer must hunt down 2 demons who are also hunting him. This game mode is fun and certainly feels more inspired than the multiplayer from the previous game, however, it is not something that will make players of DOOM: Eternal coming back for more after they complete the game. There will be more multiplayer modes in the game eventually, but for now this is the only game mode you can expect to play online.
MISSION DESIGN
There are 13 main missions in the game on launch and each one is a large area filled with combat, platforming, and a lot of secrets. These secrets include collectible toys, random events, music discs, upgrades, and more. If you do not spend your time exploring these maps you will not get the full experience of this game. id Software spent their time making sure each mission had plenty of secrets to find while exploring and it would be a shame for players to miss all of this work.
If you’re not a huge fan of exploring games because of the time it can take or because you feel like you easily miss things and can get lost pretty easily then do not worry - your map and the upgrades for it will be your lifesaver. You can upgrade your suit enough to basically tell you where everything is, but if you don’t like being given the game like that then yet again do not worry - you can enjoy the classic level exploration by not obtaining these upgrades.
GRAPHICS
Sadly, my 4k TV is still in my dorm that I cannot access due to the current pandemic, thanks corona, so I cannot witness this game in gorgeous 4k resolution. Yet, this game is still gorgeous. The fields of lava and destroyed buildings that make up the skyline that was once New York City, and it looks GORGEOUS. The new iteration of id Software's engine makes good use out of the current generation of consoles and I cannot wait to see what this engine will look like on the next generation of consoles come this autumn.
DEVELOPERS
id Software, the original developers of the franchise and other important shooters, such as Wolfenstein, has shown that DOOM 2016 was not them somehow getting lucky but that they know how to make a great game these days. Much like the reboot MachineGames built with id’s other franchise, Wolfenstein: The New Order, id software took a game that could have, and some would argue, should have remained a 90s game franchise and made it not only be relevant in 2020 but a game that other developers can look at when examining how to make a great game.
These devs seem to care deeply about the fans of their games. While playing through each mission you could tell that the developers built this game with the passion for it to be bigger and better in every way so that fans of their previous game can fall in love with what they have here. You even have the ability to unlock the original Doomguy armor from the 1993 classic! id Software is a developer that has earned many fans with the previous two releases in the DOOM franchise, and if you’re reading this and you have not tried either game, I seriously recommend buying at least one of them.
SOUNDTRACK
As a drummer and guitarist I have nothing but respect for the writer of the game’s soundtrack, Mick Gordon, so much that I feel like it deserves its own subtopic. The music in this game adds tension when out of combat and then cranks up to 100 when slaying demons, with pulse-pounding metal guaranteeing that you will get a rush that not many games can create. I am not even a fan of metal - it is probably one of my least favorite music genres - but in the same way that many shooter fans will say “I’m not big on metal, but Call of Duty Zombies has some great music” a lot of people that play this game can come to love the soundtrack of it, even if they usually hate metal.
Without Mick Gordon I am not too sure that this game would feel as great as it does. It is an essential part of what makes this game so great. They even created a metal choir for this game - a term I have never even heard or read before - and it only adds to how great the soundtrack is.
Something that many people reading this won’t know is that this franchise has a lot of history with the world of metal. For the first release in the franchise, DOOM, the music in the game seems to heavily be inspired by many famous metal songs to the point where if the bands of these songs didn’t love the game so much that they may have looked to sue the developers. Such bands include Metallica, Judas Priest, AC/DC and Black Sabbath, to name a few.
PRICE
On launch DOOM: Eternal costs $60 and was released on March 20th, 2020 for the Playstation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and PC, with a Nintendo Switch release coming down the line.
POST-LAUNCH CONTENT
Sadly SnapMap, the map creator from the first game, will not be returning for the sequel as id Software wanted to focus on making post-launch content for this game. These include new multiplayer game modes, maps, and aliens. One such game mode is very similar to the Dark Souls invasion system wherein a player can invade a player’s singleplayer world and attempt to kill the player, which can be toggled if this sounds awful to you.
The developers have promised to focus more on keeping the game fresh post-launch, and I am very excited to see how this will take shape. I know that they seem heavily into expanding upon the game’s multiplayer, but I am very much hoping to see more additions to the game’s campaign.
FINAL WORDS
DOOM: Eternal proves that id Software did not just get lucky when they rebooted DOOM in 2016. They managed to take the granddaddy of First-Person Shooters and made it relevant in today’s world and then improved upon that in almost every aspect with this sequel. If gore fests and cleansing Hell sounds like fun to you, then DOOM: Eternal is a must buy.
WRAP UP
PROS:
- Fluid & Near Perfect Gameplay
- Engaging Mission Design
- Amazing Soundtrack
- Gorgeous Graphics
- Improvements from DOOM 2016
- Promise for plenty of post-launch support
CONS:
- Platforming
- Lack of multiplayer modes on launch
- Strange addition of a battle pass
