DOOM Eternal gamescom Preview

2016’s reboot of DOOM completely surpassed my expectations in how id Software managed to make the seminal FPS feel fresh and relevant again. It turned out to be quite simple by being just fast, furious and ridiculously ultra-violent, although those gruesome glory kills also brilliantly kept up the pacing, pushing you to fight aggressively to stay alive even when the demon horde threatened to overwhelm you. And against all odds, it actually managed to tell a fairly decent story without compromising the flow of carnage.

So if you were to say that DOOM Eternal is more of the same, I would’ve been all for it. Yet id are clearly not resting on their laurels, as the opening tutorial introduces some new moves that make the game feel even more like a first-person platformer.

As well as being able to double jump, you can also swing across yellow monkey bars, and even climb certain walls, in some cases leap between them. While this clearly changes up mobility, I’m not entirely sure it is necessary. Because if it was between new traversal techniques or just letting the Doom Slayer run by default, I would have stuck to the latter.

So imagine my disappointment that the Slayer’s movement speed has taken a hit. Instead, you have a booster, which operates on a cooldown. In theory, it allows you to do cool things like leap across an area and then boost to the side to dodge something at the last moment. But also, when you’re faced with a horde of demons from every direction, I’d prefer to be able to run by default.

Still, you can’t fault the guns. Everything feels as meaty and powerful as you remember, except there’s now some new mods to change up how you can handle each weapon. The major highlight is no doubt the super shotgun’s meathook, which is essentially a hookshot for pulling yourself into an enemy before you blast their face up close with the shotgun.

The rhythm of shooting demons and weakening them for a visceral glory kill remains as bloody satisfying as before, though you also have an extra tactic with the new flame belcher equipped on your shoulder. It can be used to light up enemies and then shoot them for armour pieces, while insta-killing them with a chainsaw is your ticket to an ammo refill. A further new addition is the Blood Punch, which basically incentivises you follow up glory kills in succession so you can land an even more devastating one with AoE damage. All these add up to a more tactical approach to the slaughter as you glory kill for a health boost one moment then rip open another with your chainsaw for ammo the next.

My time with the game was a vertical slice, rather than a whole level, but since DOOM Eternal is set on Earth, I also got a glimpse of other humans, although rather they are there to enhance the myth of the Doom Slayer. If the reboot finally gave our silent meathead something of an identity, his presence is amplified when you walk past other people physically quaking in their boots. This is not a guy to be messed with.

What does feel a bit strange however is that the game also injects a few cutscenes in third-person, which seem a little off, given how well the reboot kept you fully immersed in the action the whole time, and just watching the Slayer do something ridiculously bad-ass like launching himself through a massive cannon is quite entertaining in itself. More controversial is that in one of these cutscenes you can even see through the Slayer’s helmet and get a glimpse of his ugly mug. Sure, he technically had a face in the original Doom, but I think I would have preferred to have his appearance left a mystery much like Master Chief.

Still, when it comes down to what matters, DOOM Eternal remains a bloody solid shooter that isn’t afraid to up the ante, especially in the concluding part of the demo, which truly ratchets up the challenge with even bigger and tougher spawning in a relentless gauntlet, where I was getting surrounded and killed on multiple attempts. That the demo ends on you entering Heaven suggests there’s even more new foes to encounter. Whether you’re fighting on Earth, Heaven, or Hell, they’ll all be mine.