I haven't played Eternal yet but even if the combat in that game is better and anywhere near as good as anyone says, I don't think Eternal can live up to the perfect balance of grit and exaggeration. 2016 has so many things that should be goofy in theory, like the Cacodemons just floating around like little meatballs, watching a Mancubus explode from shoving a part of itself down its throat or watching as this regular sized man rips the limbs off of enemies 3x his size.

But it all just... works. Everything down to the visual design, the music, the general audio design and even the more subtler movements of the Doomguy all work towards making this admittedly dumb setting and story work extremely well. It's more than just a heavy metal album come to life, it's an entire discography.

Doom 2016 holds a special place in my heart. I may prefer Doom 64 for its level design and Plutonia for its challenge and visual variety but 2016 was so influential to my taste in media that I don't know where to begin. It got me into retro shooters, it reminded me of my love for Metroid-like progression and level design, its OST got me into metal, its world led me to finding series I love such as Chainsaw Man and Berserk, its main character got me into series with cool protagonists who don't quip every single second, like John Wick and Samurai Jack.

This one is a bit odd for me since I'm very much a gameplay-first kind of guy but Doom 2016 is so irrationally important to me and my tastes that I have to give it special treatment.