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

[Niklasgunner]

If its not my subgenre of melodic virgin metal its not for me

 

[Tehdagah]

You forgot the game's biggest visual sin: the color palette, or rather, the lack thereof.

This pic is based on an early version. The final game has more colors.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

You forgot the game's biggest visual sin: the color palette, or rather, the lack thereof.

Fake news. Pics of doom 1.-2 you posted only contain like 4-5 colors: red, brownish-gray, yellow and green, similarly to nudoom.

 

[LESS T_T]

November 22nd:

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Looking forward to it, though the heavier emphasis on platforming's odd. And I don't really give a shit about the multiplayer but I suppose it's slightly more interesting than the multiplayer in Doom 2016, so there's that.

 

[Forest Dweller]

The idea of going to heaven sounds cool. Hopefully the final boss will be Jesus.

 

[soulburner]

I kind of have a feeling there's more Quake 1 in Doom Eternal than there ever was Doom in Quake.
The gameplay footage still shows arena type of gameplay, so I'm kind of unimpressed.

 

[DalekFlay]

The idea of going to heaven sounds cool. Hopefully the final boss will be Jesus.

Did they draw that parallel somewhere? Genuinely asking because you're right if you're joking, it did seem like that was the vibe/metaphor/whatever. Would be amusing if they retconned the demons to be aliens.

 

[Bigg Boss]

The idea of going to heaven sounds cool. Hopefully the final boss will be Jesus.

Did they draw that parallel somewhere? Genuinely asking because you're right if you're joking, it did seem like that was the vibe/metaphor/whatever. Would be amusing if they retconned the demons to be aliens.

Demons are aliens...in general. Just saying. Not physical flesh and blood extraterrestrials though.

Also, that splash image there? Looks like shit. Doom Slayer jump kicking like Double Dragon/10

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...legacy-but-is-maybe-just-a-touch-too-familiar

Doom Eternal lives up to its legacy
Fights like hell, plays like heaven.

The level we played had us fight through the wreckage of a space station in Mars' orbit before the Doom Slayer launches himself to the planet's surface to get up close and personal with a gate to hell. We still get those funny and silly bits of first person expression, like when our hero drags a scientist by his keycard to open a door, but all of this is accompanied by explosive scenery. Orbital BFG cannons, huge hellish wounds in Mars and cutscenes framing the Doom Slayer's arrival like the heavy metal covers that must have once inspired the game itself - all of which is heightened by what seems to be a much more colourful palette than Doom 2016 had, one that hews a little closer to classic Doom. Overall it's a level of style and polish that gives Eternal a bigger scale than its predecessor. And, if the trailer shown is anything to go by, this escalation will eventually take us to the halls of what appears to be heaven, in what could be a fun new direction for the series.

The core of Doom 2016 however and the key to its success was the push towards offensive play. Need health? Get in close and perform a glory kill. Need ammo? Split them open with the chainsaw. Simple enough, but the push and pull as you switch between needing one resource or the other added a dynamic and elegant layer to one of gaming's most enduring games. So when you perfect a formula like that, how do you build on it?

Eternal's answer is remarkably simple: expand the player's choices. Now, armour is a second resource you can manage as grabbing it means using the handy new "flame belcher". Set enemies aflame and kill them while they burn for a helping of armour pick ups. Simple but perfectly expanding what you can do in any given moment to tilt the odds in your favour. You also get a shoulder-mounted grenade launcher for crowd clearing when you need it, but I honestly forgot it was there most of the time. Perhaps the best addition is the dash, which lets you dodge in any direction at the push of a button, an extra injection of speed the just feels so right for the kind of intense pace the game desires. Since all of it still plays silky smooth, controls responsive as is possible without plugging the thing directly into my brain, that speed feels perfectly integrated to let you off the chain in enemy encounters. Eternal feels just a smidge faster than Doom 2016, but it makes such a difference to the feel of control you can exert over battles.

The scale is much greater than Doom 2016 with a single level taking you from space to Mars' surface.

One change that feels like an outright misstep though is the inclusion of wall mantling. Parts of the demo I got to play had the Doom Slayer grappling onto concrete walls, punching his way upward or leaping to an adjacent wall. These detours into platforming feel unnecessary but worse, aren't really well-implemented. The start and stop nature of the jumping as well as the inability to move the camera more than 180 degrees or even shoot while you're mantled means the pace of the otherwise pulse-pounding levels grinds to a screeching halt. I'm not sure what possessed the developers to add this into a winning formula, but I have to assume it's one of the most evil demons from hell there is because it feels incredibly out of place.

Somewhat adjacent to this is the chainhook alt fire for the super shotgun, which seemed so exciting in its unveiling, but winds up being a bit less exciting in practice. You're already close to enemies so often that being able to close a small amount of distance ends up feeling like an after thought. Not to mention the number of times I used the hook only to realise I'd already fired my two shoots and would just bump into enemies with sheer impotent embarrassment. My dreams of chaining together kills to zip around a level remain just that, but perhaps the final game will make more use of this.

The alternate fire modes in general feel a little thoughtless. The remote detonation for the rocket launcher, letting you kill enemies around corners, stands out as the most useful of the weapons I got to use, yet none of them felt like a game-changer or really altered how I fought. A wasted opportunity at present.

All of the weapons though are as satisfying as ever to use in their primary modes. The kick and crunch upon impact differs from weapon to weapon, but they are all absurdly satisfying to wield. Better yet, they still contribute something special to your arsenal. Weapons seldom feel interchangeable and Eternal still does a great job of pushing you to use what makes sense for the situation, instead of relying on what you're comfortable with. The game's new gun, the ballista did make quite an impression though, it's pin point accuracy and devastating damage offering a ranged equivalent to the shotgun that let you pick off enemy weak points.

Those enemy weak points are another new element Eternal is hoping will add some more depth to combat, letting you change enemy attacks to your advantage like removing the ranged capability of the Mancubus by blasting off its gun arms. Honestly, from what I played, it didn't amount to much more than shooting the weak points of an enemy, but it at least contributes to the fantasy of tearing demons limb from limb.

Starway to heaven?

As it stands, from what I've played, Doom Eternal is every bit as enjoyable as Doom 2016. Perhaps a bit more so. Yet, I was left a little indifferent overall. The refinements are all good but none of them are particularly exciting, and the new additions, like the mantling, feel like missteps. Can Eternal do enough to truly distinguish itself from its predecessor? A visit to heaven has promise, so perhaps Eternal can use such a dramatic new inclusion to mix up what I played in the demo.

As it stands, Doom Eternal is more of a good thing - but a good thing you've already had a good helping of. I don't envy the task facing the developers: having to one-up a game like Doom 2016. That task might just be impossible. So Doom Eternal being just as good is probably a miracle.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

The LEGACY of nuDOOM.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/doom-eternal-gameplay-video/

Doom Eternal transforms Doomguy into an ultra-violent Spider-Man
New traversal tools and movement abilities, and levels built around them, means your boots rarely touch the ground.

There can be no argument that the life of the Doom Slayer has been filled with countless badass moments, but his most badass moment of all happens in Doom Eternal. You can watch it in the video embedded above or here on YouTube.

The Doom Slayer has fought his way across Phobos, cutting demons open with his chainsaw, roasting them with his new shoulder-mounted flame-thrower, and firing his grappling hook into cacodeamons and swinging around the joint like an ultra-violent Spider-Man. But now he needs to leave Phobos and get his ass to Mars, which has been torn up so badly the core of the planet is exposed.

In order to get to Mars, he needs to reach a escape pod located on a chunk of the base that's floating through space, far from Phobos. So The Slayer stalks over to a massive, mounted cannon. He lifts the hatch and pushes the heavy torpedo out of the way with his boot. Then he climbs inside the cannon and fires himself through space like a goddamn human rocket, smashing through the outer wall of the base like a bunker buster.

Look, the guy needs to get to Mars. There simply wasn't anything left to kill on Phobos.

In Doom Eternal, when the Slayer isn't using himself as torpedo, he's killing demons with new weapons and powers. He has more ways to move with new abilities and traversal tools. And most importantly, Doom Eternal's level design is well-built around those systems, making it feel like the perfect chaotic playground to flex your new muscles in.

In my hands-on session with Doom Eternal in May, I had to remember the lessons of 2016's Doom: stop thinking of the demons as just enemies to kill but also as resources. If you're low on ammo in Eternal, you'll need to whip out your chainsaw and cut some monsters up, because using the chainsaw to kill a demon makes it drop ammo. If you need to replenish your armor, burning demons with your new shoulder-mounted flamethrower will make them drop armor shards. Set them on fire and then chainsaw them while they're burning, and you'll get even more resource drops. Health comes from glory kills, the lightning quick melee finishing moves that were introduced in 2016's Doom, where you rip out eyeballs, stomp heads into mush, and rip limbs off with your hands.

This makes combat a constant: you don't retreat when you're out of ammo or low on health, you advance. Hiding isn't going to help when the monsters are the ones filled with everything you need. No matter what's happening, and no matter your condition, you're a perpetual motion machine.

And you're well suited for that constant movement with Doom Eternal's traversal abilities. There's a dash ability that lurches you forward with a tap of the shift key, great for dodging projectiles, slipping out of range of a melee attack, or for quickly closing the distance between yourself and a nearby ammo crate (by which I mean a demon). You can also sink your fingers into certain types of walls and clamber straight up them, and then make a jump to a ledge or another climbable wall. Of course you can double-jump, which when combined with the dash renders you capable of launching yourself across great distances. Combined with the wall-climb ability, it turns levels into your own personal jungle gym. I spent as much time in the air as on the ground.

There aren't just abilities you use in combat, either, because Doom Eternal isn't just about splattering demons but also about careful exploration and finding secrets in the environment. I took time during the demo to look around in the quieter moments, and found several spots where I could clamber up to a vent or dash and jump my way to a catwalk. This exploration was as much fun as the combat, because just about every time I spied some distant nook or cranny and wondered if I could reach it, I could, with a little work. Secret areas can contain weapon mods or power-ups or a precious 1-Up token, which grants you an extra life, meaning when you die in combat you don't have to load from your last checkpoint. You'll be resurrected somewhere nearby with a few precious moments of invulnerability before you leap back into the fight.

Yes, it's a bit goofy to see a helmet marked with '1-Up' hovering in some secret room—why would that be there, and why would it say 1-Up? But it's no sillier than monsters dropping ammo because you've cut them in half with a chainsaw. It's Doom. It knows it's a video game.

And let's not forget your new grappling hook attached to the end of your super shotgun. It's not meant for clamping on to cliff walls or stone masonry—it's called the Meathook, after all, and only sticks to demons. It's a real kick to use, too. You can target some hovering cacodemon and pull yourself toward it, bringing you quickly into range for a point-blank shotgun blast or melee kill. You can swing yourself in an arc across an arena while hooked into a monster, rather than just retracting in a straight line. It feels great, an entirely new way for the Slayer to yank himself into combat or quickly find a new position on the battlefield. Sink your Meathook in, and you're off.

The guns have changed, too. I leaned heavily on the new ballista, which fires a powerful projectile, a lot like Doom 2016's gauss cannon. It can also charge a shot that sticks to an enemy for a few moments before exploding—I don't know what purpose there is in the delay, but it is kinda fun watching the monster squirm around as it realize it's about to blow. The heavy cannon is great for mowing down enemies with a high rate of fire but also snapping off a quick, single sniper round without having to switch weapons, thanks to its scope. There's also a great microwave beam mod for the plasma cannon that stunlocks demons while damaging them. Hold the beam on their shuddering bodies long enough—it reminds me of Slimer being snared in Ghostbusters—and they'll explode, damaging any other demons nearby. I have the plasma rifle in my hands about 75% of the time anyway—I'm a basic Slayer like that—so I dig this mod, and there's a certain satisfaction in watching a demon get locked up and cooked to death.

The demons have changed, too, thanks to the new destructible demon system. With boss monsters like the arachnotron and the mancubus, targeting their primary weapons can actually disable them. They'll still be able to fight, but they'll lose their deadliest weapon, which makes it a good tactic in a showdown. Tackling bosses isn't just about draining their health now, but making them incapable of using the most damaging attacks.

Arena battles are both exhilarating and exhausting. With all your movement skills, plus elements like jump pads and steel beams you can swing from, you never really have a moment to stop and catch your breath. You're constantly re-positioning to deal with enemies while monitoring your ammo, health, and armor, trying to pick the right time to move in close to refill your resources when you need to, and trying to disable the toughest monsters' main weapons. When I'd killed the final enemy in an arena I'd just kind of stand there for a while, a bit wide-eyed, not even completely sure how I'd survived it all.

So, yeah, Doom Eternal is fun and fast and with all the new movement skills and abilities and guns and mods, it doesn't feel like just more Doom. It feels like Doom cranked up higher than it's ever been before. In other words, it's pretty badass.

Doom launches on November 22.

 

[agentorange]

so fucking stupid

 

[Tehdagah]

Looks like the best Doom game ever.

 

[Dayyālu]

I'm still asking what the fuck the people rating three months old my post think, because it's apparent that:

+ They added a shitton of platforming mechanics that do not belong;

+ Going towards a Borderlands color palette is a travesty;

+ Doom3 was bad.

What the fuck there is to disagree with? I understand that braindead drones see someone not shitting on Doom2016 a travesty, but come fucking on.

 

[DalekFlay]

What the fuck there is to disagree with? I understand that braindead drones see someone not shitting on Doom2016 a travesty, but come fucking on.

Some people on here will never admit anything modern is good, unless it's specifically designed to look and feel old.

 

[Dayyālu]

Some people on here will never admit anything modern is good, unless it's specifically designed to look and feel old.

Doom 2016 has problems. Soundtrack and sound design are bad (the sound track is messy and confusing, the weapons sound wimpy and the enemy fail to give you spatial awareness) and it feels like an arena shooter designed around Brutal Doom. The graphic design is muddy at times, but at least it's not a costant harassment of the senses Blizzard-style.

But seriously, compared to the botched Doom3 (half baked Half Life clone) or to NuWolfestein? It was at least adequate. Again, feels like a AAA Brootal Doom, and that's better that what we could expect. Should we have gotten a heart-rending 3 hours gameplay-9 hours cutscene where Doomguy explores the tragedy of religion, bestiality and daddy issues?

 

[Lutte]

compared to the botched Doom3

Here's a cup of bleach and a cup of battery acid. Which would you rather drink?

 

[soulburner]

While I did have the urge to replay Doom 3, I do not feel even a tiny bit like returning to Doom 2016. I like the graphics, the technology is pretty nice, it's very well optimized (one of the few games that have proper Vulkan support), but the game itself is... bad.

The platforming elements on Doom Eternal are a massive decline for me. I even hate things like double jumping and other shit associated with having jet engines in the armor or shoes I'm once more afraid that if id Software decides to revisit Quake 1 and develop a remake, they will rape my memories of playing it day and night in 1997.

 

[Bigg Boss]

Doom III was more akin to the originals in tone. The new ones are retarded Brutal Doom ripoffs. They even stole the mantling from the newer variants of Brutal Doom. Disgusting fucks.

 

[LESS T_T]

I felt Doom 2016 was okay despite the flaws. Just that it does not feel like Doom. I'm interested in new movement options to be honest, since I like 3D platforming.

But still, I'd appreciate this reboot series more if it was named something like The Demon Slayer, not Doom.

 

[Belegarsson]

But still, I'd appreciate this reboot series more if it was named something like The Demon Slayer, not Doom.

Technically the old games were named "Doom", but the new games are "DOOM", like it's screaming at your face

 

[Wunderbar]

What the fuck there is to disagree with?

+ Doom3 was bad.

 

[abija]

DOOM is designed to make noobs feel like cpma elites. Have so many q3dm17 loving acquaintances that love it. They play couple of hours per month and feel BADASS.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

It lives!