Reiterating on a classic franchise is tough. How does one remind fans of everything they loved about a particular property while simultaneously making it feel fresh? Whatever the answer is, Doom Eternal has it in spades.
The game is filled with the familiar demon-slaying bliss for which the series is known, while making subtle changes to the formula that turn the adventure into a whole new experience. This does not only account for the gameplay, however; plot points change what people thought they knew about the franchise’s lore. The ten items below point out just how different the series will be after Doom Eternal.
10 Protagonist Talks
The 2016 title had a completely silent protagonist, keeping in line with the original titles and ’90s first-person shooter traditions. Surprisingly, the Doom Slayer has a few lines of dialogue in Doom Eternal, though they are sparse and only in one cinematic. During a flashback, the hero ferociously exclaims “rip and tear,” a common theme throughout the franchise. Ripping and tearing constitute about eighty percent of the game, and yet most gamers yearn for more by the end of the ten to thirteen-hour long campaign.
9 Doom Slayer’s Origins
The reboot hinted at a larger story behind the protagonist, but Doom Eternal sets in stone how the Doom Slayer came to be. The Sentinels and the Khan Makyr found him on Sentinel Prime on the brink of death, and he proved his worth in an arena, eventually becoming a Sentinel. He was imbued with his current powers by a rogue servant to the Khan Makyr, explaining why he has such incredible abilities despite being a human from Earth. Maybe some would have been just fine without knowing the character’s backstory, but it is nice to know it is there.
8 Meat Hook
The Super Shotgun makes a glorious return. Making it more useful is the Meat Hook attachment, allowing players to grapple onto enemies and pull themselves toward it. Better still, one can pull off a shot while riding the chain. The attachment cannot latch onto other surfaces, so it does not help in escaping entrapment by demons. The game is about pushing through hellish beasts, not running away from them.
7 Combat Puzzle
The combat in Doom has always been exhilarating, but Doom Eternal manages to speed it up even more through what the developers dub a “combat puzzle.” Instead of players finding a few weapons that suit their tastes, the game encourages, and on higher difficulties all but forces, one to utilize all the tools in the Doom Slayer’s arsenal to efficiently succeed in combat.
Certain weapons work better against certain enemies, and tools like the Chainsaw, Flame Belch, and Glory Kills refill vital supplies like health, armor, and ammunition. Balancing all these while avoiding the demons’ attacks adds a whole new spin to the series’ frenetic combat.
6 Multiplayer
Doom popularized competitive multiplayer in first-person shooters to the point of coining the term “deathmatch.” The 2016 reboot received complaints regarding what many thought of as a lackluster multiplayer suite, leading Eternal to eschew a traditional online component in favor of the Battle Mode. The two on one matches consist of one Doom Slayer facing off against two demons controlled by players. It is weird to see the series, which made such a seminal contribution to multiplayer, leave conventional modes behind, but perhaps this mode will take off.
5 Lore
Doom has never been much for narrative. The 2016 game creatively gives information to the player while ensuring it never distracts from all the ripping and tearing. Doom Eternal finally pulls back the curtain on the whole story, revealing more about the universe than all the other games combined.
Heck, even Daisy, the rabbit from the premier entry, received a subtle acknowledgment. Many of the finer details are in the Codex text logs, so anyone uninterested in the lore can shoot demons to their heart’s content without it getting in the way.
4 Platforming
In the classic titles, the main character could not jump, making many of the levels less vertical than modern shooters. Fast forward to 2020 and Doom Eternal has players mashing the jump button almost as often as they are firing a weapon. Jumping is integral to survival in combat as it helps dodge demon attacks and evade lock-on from more powerful enemies. Many of the breaks between combat are small platforming segments, utilizing the feature more heavily than in the preceding 2016 title.
3 Connections To Prior Games
2016’s Doom was thought to be a fresh start to the series, but Doom Eternal confirms otherwise. The new games are a continuation of Doom 64, which is already a sequel to Doom and Doom II.
Now all the games are connected on a timeline, albeit one that’s held together by duct tape. Don’t think about it too hard and it all makes sense. Mainly, it is cool to see the developers paying tribute to the prior games.
2 Demons’ Origins
One would think the existence of demons to need no explanation, but Doom Eternal expands upon the idea. They aren’t just people who did bad things and were sent to Hell, but innocent people turned into monsters after countless eons of torment. Even as they transmogrify into the Doom Slayer’s opponents, they are still writhing in pain. All this is done in service of creating Argent Energy. At least this makes the Doom Slayer’s actions feel like community service.
1 Fast Travel
Before the end of every level, the game notifies the player and enables fast travel for the area. This way, one can return to various checkpoints and collect secrets they missed along the way. Players no longer have to worry about collecting everything on the first run-through of a level. Some purists may not enjoy the idea of every secret being clearly displayed on the map, but it helps add replay value without becoming too frustrating.
