There's a lot of questionable decisions in here (Doomguy riding a dragon most egregious of all), but most of them can be hand-waved with a simple "John Romero would have done this if he had the technology in '94"; even the MCU-aping 'portals' scene isn't all that far away from the original games including a bunch of barely-legal "homages" to metal music and The Evil Dead. DOOM isn't some sacred cow being slaughtered by Bethesda capital - it's always been a stupid anything-goes-fest and I respect TAG2 for recognising that and escalating it wherever it can despite working within the confines of the pandemic's peak. However, the game ending with an “always in our hearts” dedication to a ZeniMax lawyer and friend of the Clinton family who was embroiled in multiple financial fraud scandals while sat on Robert Trump's management board feels about as far from DOOM's original punk ethos as you can get. I pretend I don't see it.

I won't get into the nit and grit of the gameplay because what is the point when Durandal has literally hit it out of the park already like holy shit dude this is one of the best technically-minded reviews on the site, but I will allow myself to get smug about the Satan boss fight and say I enjoyed it very much because I recognised it for the DOOM fighting game that it is, a real "1v1 me" of timing, footsies and combos that tests how well you understand moving and grooving with Doomguy. Also, was that a NUTS.wad reference right before the final battle? Hell yeah dude.