DOOM Eternal - the sequel to the 2016 reboot - now with The Ancient Gods DLC

[Durandal]

id is shooting themselves in the foot by taking so long with releasing new MLs, the modding community has already made a whole heap of custom MLs for the campaign levels, so any hype in that regard is bound to die out quickly.
The shotgun start mode looks neat, but I wish every ML had it instead of only the SGN ML.

 

[DalekFlay]

Reinstalled this to try and play the Ancient Gods DLC before Cyberpunk and my save is corrupted and I lost everything. Awesome.

 

[Valestein]

Is it connected to the story in any way or just a self-contained level you access from the main menu?

What DalekFlay said. Higher tier enemies, more of them, meaner combinations, etc. They're pretty damn fun although I also wonder why it's taking them so long to release more of them. I'd like a return of arcade mode too but it's kinda sounding like we're not gonna get it. Was a fun way to play Doom 2016 without the story beats and a bit of score chasing thrown in there for extra gud gittin'.

They also added something called the "Classic challenge" for this master level (I think it's a separate extra challenge, beyond just playing the master level itself) which is essentially pistol starting it. No pistol in Eternal so you're shotty starting, but then you find other weapons and addons during the map. Haven't played it yet so I don't know how well that'll work in Eternal, but more shit to fuck around with is fun.

They should re-add the cut pistol to Eternal.

 

[Wunderbar]

took him almost two months to beat.

 

[Ivan]

wrapping up my 2nd playthrough (this time on Nightamre) having a blast. will gladly pay for the DLC. Pretty cool that it's standalone. Playing Eternal on gamepass ($1) so pretty glad I don't have to re-buy it just for the expansions.

 

[DalekFlay]

Pretty cool that it's standalone.

Everyone says this but on my Steam account it's DLC for the main game, not a separate entry. You launch the game and then the DLC is an option below the normal campaign. Maybe there's a standalone version I missed?

Also jesus christ this DLC is one long spam session of endless demons... good or bad, I leave up to you.

 

[JDR13]

Pretty cool that it's standalone.

Everyone says this but on my Steam account it's DLC for the main game, not a separate entry. You launch the game and then the DLC is an option below the normal campaign. Maybe there's a standalone version I missed?

Probably just because you already had the main game installed. I assume that if you hadn't, Ancieant Gods would have installed by itself.

 

[HansDampf]

There seems to be a good game inside those millions of tutorials, upgrades upon upgrades, and runes and upgrades. But I'm having a hard time getting used to the movement. Doomguy is so fat, he can't even run diagonally. I'm spoiled by olDoom.

 

[UserNamer]

There seems to be a good game inside those millions of tutorials, upgrades upon upgrades, and runes and upgrades. But I'm having a hard time getting used to the movement. Doomguy is so fat, he can't even run diagonally. I'm spoiled by olDoom.

It plays differently than any other fpses. Did you unlock double dash yet? Also I suggest you enable the option of the speed boost after melee kills. I think it is a slog until you unlock all the movement optiond

The game to me is excellent but everything around the menu screens it is bad including the tutorial spam. It actually detracts from the experience.

 

[HansDampf]

I have the dash with faster cooldown, and also improved air control. I want all the movement upgrades.
The game would flow better if you had to upgrade your weapons between missions.

 

[Ghulgothas]

Air Control, Right-Click Slowdown, and the Rune that lets you Phase-Shift into Glory Kills from farther away got me through both basegame and Old Gods I on Ultraviolence. I don’t think any of the others were nearly as useful.

 

[DalekFlay]

Probably just because you already had the main game installed. I assume that if you hadn't, Ancieant Gods would have installed by itself.

I didn't have anything installed beforehand. It's one entry on my Steam list, "Doom Eternal," and Ancient Gods is listed as a DLC within that entry.

 

[OctavianRomulus]

Is it connected to the story in any way or just a self-contained level you access from the main menu?

Master levels are the same levels from the story mode but remixed to be harder, iirc.

It is standalone, you can just go straight into the DLC.

 

[DalekFlay]

Not sure why you quoted that post, but yes I know you can go straight into the DLC. I started it last night. My point was I have seen people say it's a standalone game, like Dishonored' Death of the Outsider, and it is not.

 

[JDR13]

Probably just because you already had the main game installed. I assume that if you hadn't, Ancieant Gods would have installed by itself.

I didn't have anything installed beforehand. It's one entry on my Steam list, "Doom Eternal," and Ancient Gods is listed as a DLC within that entry.

So you reinstalled Eternal when you installed Ancient Gods?

 

[JDR13]

Ok, apparently "standalone" in this instance simply refers to someone buying TAG part 1 by itself instead of the season pass or deluxe edition. I agree it's lame and confusing.

 

[orcinator]

took him almost two months to beat.

Commendable that he beat it before it got cracked.

 

[ekrolo2]

Despite the sizable amounts of rage that the DLCs gotten out of me, I respect the shit out of it. Instead of giving in to whining, incompetent morons reeeeing for the game to get easier, ID doubled down on their "get good or fuck off" mentality. Very commendable, I wish more western devs did this.

 

[DalekFlay]

It's not just difficulty, they also doubled-down on constant enemy spam and "use our designed mechanics or die" gameplay. Whether that's good or bad is subjective, but it's definitely a DLC built around the idea the main game was flawless.

 

[HansDampf]

Does the game display HP accurately or is this one of those games where the last 10 HP are actually worth more like 30 HP, because we need them epic, epic moments? I've survived so many heavy attacks with 5 HP or less and recovered. It can't be a coincidence.

Anyway, I finished the game on UV and am now playing again on Nightmare. The jump in difficulty is noticeable. Enemies are more aggressive, and I'm getting meleed from behind more often. Need to git gud.
Impressions so far:
- great combat
- ok platforming
- story is utter drivel, not sure if unintentionally funny
- good game/10

Once I had accepted that this game has nothing in common with old Doom beyond the superficial level, and treat it more like a Devil May Cry game, I've learned to tolerate the glory kills. Everything is fine.
The Meathook is my favorite tool, and it should have been utilized in platforming sections instead of climbing walls, which are slow and therefore also can't be used in combat.
I find myself switching weapons all the time during combat, and not just because of ammo scarcity. Even the regular shotgun remains useful later with sticky bombs (on UV at least). The SSG and Ballista are great for combos with fast weapon switch to dish out a lot of damage on a single target quickly.
Slow-mo rune is a crutch for casuals and only wastes a slot. It also interferes with some weapons' alt-fire, like the Ballista charge or Chaingun turret.
Disappointed that the BFG doesn't require any skill or strategy to use. And I don't get the point of the Unmaykr.
I'm also trying to hold back a rant about unskippable animations and cutscenes...

Spoiler

 

[Lyric Suite]

The Unmakyr is there to nullify the Marauder. I assume it's going to get some milage in the DLC never used it in the base game though.

BFG being a brainless room sweeper is part of the charm but i think they made a mistake giving it separate ammo. Whenever you see ammo pick ups you feel compelled to use it just because it feels like a waste not to but after a while you figure why bother. Only useful on the last two boss fights.

 

[UserNamer]

Does the game display HP accurately or is this one of those games where the last 10 HP are actually worth more like 30 HP, because we need them epic, epic moments? I've survived so many heavy attacks with 5 HP or less and recovered. It can't be a coincidence.

Anyway, I finished the game on UV and am now playing again on Nightmare. The jump in difficulty is noticeable. Enemies are more aggressive, and I'm getting meleed from behind more often. Need to git gud.
Impressions so far:
- great combat
- ok platforming
- story is utter drivel, not sure if unintentionally funny
- good game/10

Once I had accepted that this game has nothing in common with old Doom beyond the superficial level, and treat it more like a Devil May Cry game, I've learned to tolerate the glory kills. Everything is fine.
The Meathook is my favorite tool, and it should have been utilized in platforming sections instead of climbing walls, which are slow and therefore also can't be used in combat.
I find myself switching weapons all the time during combat, and not just because of ammo scarcity. Even the regular shotgun remains useful later with sticky bombs (on UV at least). The SSG and Ballista are great for combos with fast weapon switch to dish out a lot of damage on a single target quickly.
Slow-mo rune is a crutch for casuals and only wastes a slot. It also interferes with some weapons' alt-fire, like the Ballista charge or Chaingun turret.
Disappointed that the BFG doesn't require any skill or strategy to use. And I don't get the point of the Unmaykr.
I'm also trying to hold back a rant about unskippable animations and cutscenes...

Spoiler

5 hp is 5 hp, at least on nightmare. Would often die instantly with way more than that. I never played any other difficulty level. Also disable sentinel Armor aka God mode (main campaign you can disable it, dlc they removed it completely it seems)

Also bfg is a bit less useful on nightmare especially in the dlc as you need to shoot from far away to be effective against the biggest monsters. It's not trivial to not waste bfg ammo. In the dlc.

Anyway this game should only be played on nightmare

 

[HansDampf]

5 hp is 5 hp, at least on nightmare.

Good, because I don't like this trend.

Also disable sentinel Armor aka God mode (main campaign you can disable it, dlc they removed it completely it seems)

I thought the suits were just cosmetic. I'm playing with the classic Doom outfit. Does that do anything?

 

[Ivan]

Didn't find my nightmre run much different than the previous one (ultraviolence?), maybe I just got better and more comfy with my habits. I jumped into the master levels on nightmare and has a blast. had some bugs/crashes on the Super Gore nest so I put it away until it's patched. Will def buy the whole package once DLC 2 comes out.

Again, best FPS I've played in a long time. Easily in my top 3. The gameplay loop is frenetic fun and reminds me of the spectacle action games from Platinum/Capcom. The music is great too, even though you do hear the same "general" combat song a lot :D

I do wonder though, how do you expand upon the gameplay loop in the next Doom? I wouldn't be satisfied with a simple player progression reset, they're better than that. I figure they will introduce enemies that necessitate specific use of the Ice Bomb, or maybe some that require the flame belch. Very excited to see how they tweak the loop in the next full iteration. Either way, we will always have this rollercoaster of a campaign.

 

[vortex]

I do wonder though, how do you expand upon the gameplay loop in the next Doom? I wouldn't be satisfied with a simple player progression reset, they're better than that. I figure they will introduce enemies that necessitate specific use of the Ice Bomb, or maybe some that require the flame belch. Very excited to see how they tweak the loop in the next full iteration. Either way, we will always have this rollercoaster of a campaign.

Martin Hugo said they will evolve even further. Next game will be different than previous ones. He said Id hasn't made best Doom game yet.