DOOM feels like it’s been around since the dawn of time (circa 1993) but is never anything less than satisfying,
But enough of satisfying. DOOM: Eternal is fresh, juicy and adds all kinds of new twists and tricks to the recipe. With a world and aesthetic that Call of Duty’s realistic war setting can’t hope to match and a wide range of guns and abilities with which to mix up your playstyle, this is a Premier League first-person-shooter.
Eternal takes everything that made the original both memorable and fun while adding in new mechanics that actually feel like welcome additions to the series’ traditions. The series has always been very mobility focused, with any attempts to cower behind the game environments being punished by several fireballs to the face.
Eternal cranks the focus on high speed and blazing guns up a notch by adding in a new dash mechanic that allows the protagonist to zip around the battlefield at breakneck pace whilst snapping demon necks. A fresh new implementation of platforming sequences break up the storms of bullets that take up most of the game and break truly new ground for the series.
Story
The DOOM series has always, shied away from cinematic storytelling and complex storylines. The classic games opted for plot descriptions in the game manuals and DOOM (2016) making use of various “codex” lore pages scattered throughout the game. In DOOM: Eternal, the cutscene-phobia is toned down with occasional cinematic interludes between gameplay sequences. These cutscenes are still light on story or lore, however, and often do little more than introduce a new enemy or level. Thankfully though, they do not intrude on the flow of shooting, exploring and sprinting that makes DOOM…well…DOOM, and provide a brief, but welcome rest from the non-stop shooting action.
For those lore nerds in the player base, the codex pages are back and more expansive than ever. They also work well with the cutscenes to balance out the storytelling of the game and keep the action flowing and fresh.
Difficulty
A highlight of Eternal is the inclusion of various new enemy types. Without going into spoiler territory, I can say that the mechanic of a certain enemy type being introduced as a boss early in the game, only to be reintroduced later as a regular enemy is a brilliant way to tell a player they’ve gotten stronger all on their own. By thrusting them right into the jaws of the enemy, it forces the player to improvise, adapt and overcome on the spot as any real demon slayer would.
The only time the game ever throws a bone to a struggling player is if a player dies continually to a boss, where the option to activate a boost to the players damage absorption will appear. It’s effectively an “easy mode” that can only be triggered by getting stuck at a boss, but I personally don’t recommend activating it if you want the real DOOM experience, where the challenge is all just part of the fun. These new enemy types, combined with new platforming mechanics and a wide array of possible upgrades to the players ability make it possible for any kind of player to tailor their in game avatar’s abilities and play style to their liking, no matter how they want to play.
Replay Factor
One sure-fire way to increase a game’s replayability factor is its Easter eggs and extras that can be unlocked, and Eternal is chock-full of them. From collectable figures of the demons you face to vinyl records of songs from the DOOM series and other series by developer id Software, you’ll be replaying missions many-a-time just to get that one figure you missed the last couple of sessions, adding even more hours onto an already meaty campaign. My playthrough took me around 65 hours to 100% on “Ultra-Violence” difficulty, and much of that time was spent zipping around the environment, trying to find one last crack in the wall to punch through to find that one last toy.
Conclusion
Overall, of all the members of the FPS family DOOM has constantly proven to me that be it 2D or 3D, HD or pixelated, Platforming focused or linear, it’s still got it, and always will, even as it slowly edges into “great-grandfather” status in the family tree. If you’re new to the series, there isn’t a better place to start than with DOOM: Eternal.
