ASH PLAYS: DOOM Eternal

High velocity impact spatter, let’s start this off with an appropriate reference. DOOM 2016 left many fans including myself wanting more, what could the next instalment give us? Will it have more trigger happy killing, will I be ripping out hellish creatures eyes, will I be listening to the heaviest gaming soundtrack again by Mick Gordon?

Well 2020 is here, lockdown and nothing better to do than jump back into virtual hell (the irony) DOOM Eternal gave me everything 2016 provided with my only way to describe it… MORE EVERYTHING.

More blood, faster pace, more puzzles, bigger level designs, more heavy metal by Mick Gordon which deserves a big mention of how incredible this soundtrack is and I’m aware they involved various metal vocalists to help build that satanic ominous feeling which is captured beautifully. So yes DOOM Eternal is everything and more from its predecessor.

DOOM Eternal takes place two years after the events in DOOM 2016, this time Earth is calling, demonic forces wiping out 60% of Earth’s population, it’s time for Doomslayer to put an end to this. The Hell priests who seek to sacrifice mankind have to be stopped. Without going into too much story I will move onto combat.

More arsenal than before to kill, combat has evolved onto another level. The first noticeable change was the pace, it feels more responsive, faster, more chaotic. For the 10 hour playthrough to complete this I didn’t feel the game slowing down at any points which is incredible for an FPS to keep something so fresh and entertaining without any drop offs so that is definitely my first biggest compliment to this game. The weapons and suit are fully upgradable providing some life saving perks when combat gets rough and by saying rough it gets very rough! Combat can get very tense, no time to breath, no time to adjust, just grab ammo, shield and health and keep fighting till you reach the next checkpoint and if you don’t… well you can keep doing the same section 20 times like I had to do at points.

The level design is very impressive on this instalment, I initially didn’t really understand why the jumping, climbing and catapulting was added to this but an hour into the game it starts to make perfect sense. This new addition ties into the level design perfectly, complimenting combat approaches and puzzles, which is one of my favourite touches. Being able to collect one life ups and collectables such as toys, cheats, upgrades for suit and weapons. Codex entries linking the story between DOOM 2016 and DOOM Eternal was one of my highlights, for players I would say if you’re a fan this is well worth looking at.

Praetor suit tokens for suit upgrades, Secret Encounters which presents a task in front of you that needs to be done in a certain time and if you die just try again. Sentinel batteries, sentinel crystals, slayer key locations for more challenges and vinyl record collections to listen to back at the Fortress of Doom. Each level provides many options to keep longevity in this game and getting that 100% won’t be a walk in the park.

Overall DOOM Eternal has meant my expectations and beyond, I was hoping we weren’t just going to get another DOOM but I feared side missions and an open world was going to be introduced which luckily it wasn’t, we don’t need anymore open world games right now.

Whilst the end game leaves you wanting more, hungry for more violence and chaos, revisiting areas to ensure that 100% completion. But as much as I loved this game I can safely say my stress levels increased rapidly doing the same area five times from dying again and again, or just walking into one battlefield straight into another, but this is what I want from an FPS game and I can say DOOM Eternal did this properly. No corners cut, no gimmicks added.
It’s the king of FPS in my opinion, so whilst bits did feel too long due to chaos after chaos, don’t let that put you off this incredible game.

Rating: 8/10

And that rounds off our next guest column from Ash! Be sure to follow Ash on his socials and stay tuned to Distorted Sound next as we bring our next column in our Ash Plays series!