As someone completely unaware of the broader DOOM scene and that really believed that Sigil was the last Doom related thing I’d play before jumping to the other games in the series, you should have seen my face when I entered the site and saw Sigil II on the Coming Soon section (yes, that really was how I learnt this was a thing). And you know what that means! More DOOM baby! DOOM forever and ever!!! There’s even more to play and I’m bound to play it for eternity! This is my life now!-dear god…

To play part of a 30 year-old legacy in the span of 3months was something I certainly wasn’t expecting; 30 years of a game that change everything and beyond, 30 years of DOOM. I don’t want to come across or present myself as someone that knows more that I really do; playing the original game, as well as some official and ‘’official’’ expansions, doesn’t change the fact that I’m incredibly new to the incredibly road that is the encompassing story of DOOM, not only I’ve arrived incredibly late to the party, I also have yet to come close to experimenting a fraction of what other players had played through thanks to this amazing experience.

Still, I know of Doom’s history, I know what it means to so many people and even myself, I know of the impact it had, I know of its creators and of its legacy, one that still breathes to this very day; I’ve went through all of that in all of my past reviews that revolve this not-so-little shooter, and now… I am here. It’s kind of fucking crazy and unexpected to not only not being late to something OG Doom related, but also to be practically in the moment; playing it so close after it came out, and finishing it not-so-long after. The reason why this is almost as big of a deal as the original Sigil is obvious, not only is the final chapter that Romero will make for DOOM, it’s also a more than perfect gift, something to commemorate these 30 years, to celebrate this legacy… but also, something to simply enjoy right here, right now. There will be more Doom in the foreseeable future thanks to the many people who love this game, Sigil II doesn’t really signal the end of an era, rather it’s the perfect showing of how far we’ve come, and how there’s much to be had in the future, and I’ll certainly have my share of Doom after this.

So for now, as many still celebrate and reminisce, I for the first time, am able to enjoy it as it is happening, to talk about it so soon after it released, to give my personal verdict once again, and what I have to say may shock all of you…………….



Yeah extra episode good.

If I summarized the original Sigil as ‘’more Doom’’, then the best way to call Sigil II would be, quite literally, ‘’more Sigil’’. Where Sigil took the original DOOM basis and introduced a ton of spins and surprises and created some unexpected and fascinating lay-outs, Sigil II takes the spins and surprises of its predecessor and says ‘’Sure, fuck it’’ and proceeds to expand in every single aspect imaginable; higher difficulty (even at Hurt me Plenty), more crazy lay-outs, more insane encounters, more rewarding secrets; Sigil II takes into account that you’ve already beaten its previous iteration and it isn’t scared to give you a full arsenal even faster than Sigil did, and if that was already quite the challenge at times, then this is like being thrown the eight circle of hell, Dante and Virgil haven’t seen shit, this were the true pain is at.

Of course all of this sounds good, but it also means that many of the surprises that Sigil carried as a stand alone experience are basically non-existent here; every episode of DOOM felt as if was trying something new, taking a different approach on the ways you can design a series of levels, and Sigil followed suit and felt extremely unique compared to its older episodes while standing tall along side them. I didn’t exaggerate when I said that Sigil II is, quite literally, more Sigil, it truly acts as a sequel to Romero’s first expansion, but at the same time it doesn’t feel like it has enough of a personality to stand on its own merits, at least not as a completely unique episode; it’s not quite ‘’more of the same’’, but it also doesn’t offer anything new or doesn’t put enough of a twist of what was already there to be striking, and most of the maps just don’t feel as special or memorable as they once were, some have extremely cool challenges, like M8’s final boss fight or M5’s claustrophobic encounters with death, but I find difficult to remember that many moments compared to the previous expansion or even base DOOM.

Now, I know all this sounds like I’m saying that Sigil II is lesser than its predecessor, and, in that aspect, it kinda is, but you know, after so much DOOM, for once I can take a less strong identity in favor of… well, everything else. The few moments that I could call frustrating in the original expansion have been eliminated, Sigil II is once again harder than what it came before, but also polished, to the point that most confusing or frustrating stuff is nothing more than a distant memory. There are some parts that in theory should seem poorly executed and even mean, but they are instead fun as hell to overcome, like Romero is pulling pranks and making sure it’s still fun at the same time, and it works REALLY well. The maps are al so freacking fun, demanding sure, and don’t have as much of a personality or aren’t as memorable as previous stuff, and I could even complain about some of them perhaps being a bit too long, but that’s somewhat forgiven when it all is just so tightly designed, so fun to experiment around and try to overcome whatever comes your way. And then there’s M7, which is so good I can’t still quite believe it; every complain I could possibly have is just not present on there, it’s so fun, so tense, so cathartic to traverse its tribulations and mazes and reaching the end, it’s the precise culmination of what both Sigils where striving for, and it alone made me love Sigil II even more, it’s so fucking enjoyable.

Sigil II is fun, it’s still amazing, it’s DOOM in all of its glory. I wished it pushed a bit further, that it tried more new stuff, but for what its worth, some of the maps here are the culmination of everything that Romero was pursuing with its level design, the culmination of one of the possibilities that DOOM can offer, it’s a great expansion and an even better gift, and I’m so glad that I can say I’ve beaten it.
For now, and finally, I’m done with the OG DOOM, but as I said, my journey is not over, nor is everyone else’s; Romero has already confirmed that he’s working on an expansion for Doom II, but before I can even consider waiting for it, I need to finish with Hell on Earth myself first.

Long may live this fantastic game.

And happy 30th anniversary!