I wrote a very long review of the game that’s double in size. If you want to see that it’s here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NtzV254ZRV3g4_e9gzxEge5CBjylbcA7ORH1nPs_hfY/edit?usp=sharing), otherwise the shorter one is posted here.Thanks to the user Tatsky for helping me shorten it a lot!

This game is something very special. I don’t even know where to begin. I guess with the negatives since it will be so short.
Some cutscenes aren’t skippable. Oh well. None in 2016 were so it’s an upgrade either way. There are some invisible walls and some weird places that count as falling out of the map. These don’t kill you anymore so it’s kind of fine just a little annoying. I guess it’s a bit buggy. There are times you can get stuck in a level because it’s not 100% clear where to go. To fix this problem, open the map. It’s very clear where to go then.

That’s kind of it?

Almost every choice in this game is almost a direct upgrade from Doom 2016. To be quite honest, I didn’t like 2016 at all. I think 2016 existing the way it does now explains why people are having complaints about Doom Eternal. It all comes down to one major problem.
Doom 2016 is way too easy.
It expects very little from you. The two most threatening enemies are not the big ones that do damage. One of them is the Imp, who has a small chance of hitting you with a hitscan fireball. 99% of the time they are true fodder enemies. The only other threatening enemy is the Pinky. I actually kind of like this enemy. It forces you to move in a more interesting way than every other enemy in the game.

2016 mostly requires you to circle strafe around enemies while shooting. The ammo is always plentiful for pretty much every gun so there is no reason to not switch from the strongest weapon. In most situations this is the Super Shotgun or Rocket Launcher. In others it’s the Gauss Cannon. Depending if you want damage with Super Shotgun and Rocket Launcher or some movement with Gauss Boosting. There is practically no reason to use any other weapon.
With basically only two useful weapons and gameplay as simple as “Hold W, A or D while aiming at an enemy so you move around or towards them” it gets very boring very quickly.

Glory Kills are freely given to you. All you need to do to get health is find the zombie that barely attacks, punch it once or twice and by then it’s in a Glory Kill state, giving you a bunch of health. Enemies are not aggressive enough to punish you in this game for doing that in a bad situation. This would be like if Dark Souls had an invincible heal that stopped enemies from attacking until it was over, and you can always roll out if an attack comes after. It makes Glory Kills have no risk, completely free health packs just for spamming punch on a guy two or three times.

Doom Eternal not only fixes these problems amazingly yet creates an interlocking system with them as elegantly as I can imagine.

For one, almost every enemy in Doom Eternal is a threat. They’re aggressive and will attack you at any moment. Not only that, but because they actually get to show off their aggression and AI, they are much clearly more unique and have many more roles in combat now. I am going to leave most of that in the indepth review but believe me that they are all threatening. That along with the amazing encounters make you have to play differently when different enemies are around. This dynamic almost doesn’t happen in 2016 due to enemies just not being aggressive enough. They can’t pressure you or make you do anything so you can just wail on them with bullets.

Speaking of, your moveset is much larger this time around. Not just because you have more moves but because the old ones that were useless are now useful. Every weapon has a use, however going through how each one is used is a bit long so I’m going to also leave that to the indepth review.

Before I get into the rest of it, let me clarify. You don’t need to constantly be switching to every weapon every chance you get. Infact, you can get away with using 2 or 3 of your favorites as long as they are different ammo types, then using the others when you are low on ammo. You also don’t really need to be switching weapon mods, it’s kind of just there for the cool factor. Pick the mods that you like and you’re fine.

Now to the other moves.
The most important one is the chainsaw. It’s basically a single Glory Kill that instead of giving you health, gives you ammo. The last pip recharges so as long as you aren’t missing your shots and being careful with not killing every Fodder enemy, you will always have at least half of your ammo. I think this makes a really cool choice. What’s more useful? Ammo or health? Health costs a little time to get with shooting an enemy with the Heavy Cannon and Ammo takes a resource that takes time to recharge. Either way, each enemy is a choice.

Ammo is low. This is 100% true. However, you almost always have the tools to get more ammo. As long as you are using weapons of different ammo types and using the chainsaw when you can, you almost never run out. Easier difficulties give you more ammo, for regular pickups and the chainsaw, so either way if ammo is an issue, you can always turn the difficulty down.

There is also a Blood Punch system. By doing two glory kills on Fodder or one on a larger enemy, your regular no damage punch becomes an insane health deleter. It’s the reason why you end up getting close to enemies. It’s just so strong. Worth being strong too, many enemies have really fast or strong melee attacks so it’s nice to have it that you can get them back that way.

Overall this game has a lot of systems (I didn't mention all of them in this short review) With the enemies creating as much pressure as they do, it does feel like you have to use all of them. That long with base ammo being relatively low makes this game demanding. Maybe too demanding for some, but this is why I mentioned 2016 may have had something to do with the reception of this game.

Even Nightmare in 2016 doesn’t push you as much as Hurt Me Plenty in Doom Eternal. Players who want to play Doom Eternal on the same difficulty that they did in 2016 are going to be met with expectations that were never there previously.
If Eternal named the difficulties in a traditional way I don’t think this would have been an issue. And yet when people are playing this game they end up going on a difficulty too high because they assume it’s similar to the last game, which is completely reasonable to expect.
Most people's problems with the game directly come with higher difficulty. Read the issues people have. “Ammo is too low and you have to use the chainsaw too often” is fixed with lower difficulty. “The game demands too much of you” is a very obvious one fixed with lower difficulty. Other than visuals, story and some bugs, everything is fixed by going on a difficulty lower and just playing there. The names aren’t even demeaning like in Wolfenstein so I don’t know why people won't just go down one to have a better time.

I mentioned visuals briefly there. I think the cartoony look is nice but I understand not liking it as much I guess? I think it makes the battlefield much clearer so it’s easier to see what’s going on, allowing for more stuff to do in gameplay. Items and enemies are colorful and easy to spot. Overall this is a good trade off, function over form.

I also think it’s funny that people complain about tutorials and yet people also say the game is too complicated or hard. I know both can exist but in this case I think they just aren’t listening to the game to be honest. Many people don’t know how the chainsaw refills the first pip, despite the game literally transporting you to a training room to tell you how it works. It’s screaming that it’s different from 2016. Yet there are, or at least were, many people who had no idea that’s how it worked.

Not to say the game is perfect. There are definitely stupid things in the game. I mentioned the bugs and invisible walls before, those are self explanatory. There are a few annoying enemies. The Marauders are kind of too easy once you figure them out. You clear the room and click on their face when they glow green. That’s it. Learning how to parry it was fun but it very quickly lost its charm for me. The bosses aren’t that great either honestly.

I can understand not having much fun with the game, maybe it just is too stressful. What I can’t understand is thinking it’s straight up bad. It uses the unique qualities of the medium in what I think is the best way yet. No other action game requires you use this many systems and think this much this quickly.

That is what games, not just video games, are about. They are about interactivity. If you’re not thinking, you’re not making choices or interacting with systems. If you are, it is at such a base level it doesn’t really take advantage of the medium I think. Not to say it has to be as complex as this, this just is one of the first action games to really go as far as it has.

Art doesn’t have to be for everyone. I think to make a good game you’re going to miss out on a lot of people. This game would catch a lot more if people were willing to turn the difficulty down.

Reviewed on May 02, 2020


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