Right, I am going to make this a quick one, I just finished Doom Eternal.
You may not think this is a big deal, but I bought the game on release and I stopped playing it.
Why did I stop? Simple, I loved Doom (2016), and I wasn’t a fan of the changes.
Specifically the changes concerning pick ups, having to use a chainsaw to collect ammo, I just found it so annoying, having to hit C to use the chainsaw (if you have the fuel), E to punch, R to flamethrower and V to draw the sword I just wanted to shoot things, you know?
I spent the first (roughly, out of 18 total) 6 hours of game play constantly running out of ammo because having to do something else to get ammo was just annoying, and I would habitually hit R to reload only to waste the flamethrower.
Where as Doom (2016) I could just rip and tear, with Eternal I felt like they added something they thought was cool, but over complicated the game with it and since it was a wholly new mechanic I just could not enjoy it.
But I put the game down and came back later, because I had to complete it, hell I even enjoyed it, but the question is why did I feel like it was unsatisfying (even if enjoyable, like a Big Mac).
I think I can surmise this really easily.
In Doom (2016) we are thrown into the game, and when the game tries giving you narrative you smash the computer talking to you and just move on to kill, filling the purpose of a Doom game, to just get through and kill a whole lot of demons.
Compared to that, Eternal is so filled with plot and story and extras to answer all those little questions, you can barely go five minutes without coming across a hologram talking to you, or a floating piece of paper filling your codex, it just has a different feeling to what I loved in Doom (2016)
Again, I enjoyed playing Doom Eternal, but this game feels like my terrible ideas for making a Doom (2016) mod, just because I felt like it would be awesome if the Doom guy was some Demon Slayer caught in a battle for good versus evil, doesn’t mean it was actually a worthwhile idea.
Consider then (and remember that I haven’t read all the Codex entries), that Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal, are sequels to the older games, where the Doom Guy fought off multiple hellish invasions, got trapped in hell, then (apparently) getting upgraded into a Sentinel becoming the Doom Slayer, spent centuries fighting the forces of hell only to end up back on Mars, going back to the planet Earth and ultimately fighting the Angelic beings who turned him into the Sentinel who have been siding with the demons all along.
There is also one big gaping issue I see in the plot and this one is a big bugbear for me.
The Maykr (Angelic beings) created a deal with the forces of hell, they would let hell invade other realms, as the suffering of beings can be extracted and becomes energy that the Maykr use to power their entire realm.
By letting the demons completely overwhelm a realm, drain the essence from its populace and turn their husks into more demons, only two results are certain.
Firstly, that eventually there will be no more realms to invade.
Secondly, that eventually, the forces of hell will be enough to overwhelm the Maykr.
There’s some handwavium about the Demons unable to step foot into the Maykr realm, and the Maykr unable to step foot in the Demon’s realm, but it’s never stated if this is a physical law that cannot be broken, or if it is an agreement, but Kahn Maykr brings the Icon of Sin to her realm and when the Doom Slayer interferes it breaks the accord? How does that work, why isn’t the deal broken when the Icon of Sin arrives, if it is just an informal agreement why can’t the demons attack at any point, if it is a physical law what is it and how is it broken?
Ultimately, as much as I loved Doom (2016) and enjoyed Doom Eternal, it felt like they were laying on needless narrative, in a series that doesn’t need it, and though in Doom (2016) it wasn’t something you had to pursue if you didn’t, Eternal feels like they’re bringing the Doom game in line with what we consider modern videogames, and part of why I loved 2016 was that it didn’t need to go that route.
But regardless of how I feel about the details, Doom Eternal (especially now it’s gotten rid of Denuvo) is well worth playing.
As a final note, the Doom sequels/remake encapsulated what I had hoped we would have had in Duke Nukem Forever.
