Rip, Tear....and, Collect?

I've spent a bunch of time the last couple of weeks enjoying the cathartic experience of Doom: Eternal.  I'm not quite done with the main campaign and am attempting to replay levels to find collectibles I missed and complete challenges.  In general, I'm not a big FPS enthusiast, but Doom (2016) was just so much fun that I couldn't pass up the chance to violently destroy more demons.  And wooo, boy, are there more demons to murder in Doom: Eternal!

My first impressions of the game were a bit mixed.  One of the things that I immediately noticed is that the learning curve and difficulty at the beginning of the game is a tad brutal.  Let's just say that I was dying a lot and had reached a point of frustration.  Luckily, I stuck with it and now that I've beefed up Doomguy's suit, runes, and arsenal...I feel more like the demon slaying badass from 2016.  (I'm not playing on some uber-difficulty either--I opted for "hurt me plenty" which is the default difficulty)  If you find yourself dying a ton in the beginning of the game, don't panic, it does get easier, but it does take awhile.

So, what has changed in this newest iteration of the classic FPS Doom?  For one thing, Doomguy has beefed up his demon-slaying arsenal by adding in some suit-based goodies--his Praetor Suit now includes an arm mounted, spring-loaded blade and a shoulder-mounted flamethrower.  The blade is used to add a stunning amount of gory variety to glory kills--now, instead of merely enjoying punching some exploding heads (which you do still get to enjoy) you can also bask in the magic of slicing demons into fun size chunks or skillfully jabbing their vulnerable eyeballs, hearts, or explodey-bits.  Some of the best glory kills involve chopping parts off of demons and then smacking them with their own arms or wings--it's violent, but oh so fun.  The flamethrower attachment adds in the ability (on a cooldown timer) to periodically douse a group of demons in a curtain of fire.  Burning demons drop armor and will drop even more armor if you glory kill them.  It's a handy way to quickly refill your depleted armor.

The other big change is the fact that Doomguy is much more agile with the addition of a quick recharging dodge that also serves as a gap clearing mechanism.  The dodge is useful for quickly getting out of hairy combat situations and putting some distance between Doomguy and the absolute hordes of demons that he faces.  But, with increased power, comes increased responsibility and there are some sequences of light platforming (I'm going to call it light, because most of the sequences aren't too difficult).  I've read some mixed impressions about the addition of platforming--some people have been very turned off by it because it hasn't been a traditional part of Doom.  Personally, I find that the platforming sequences add some variety to levels that help make them seem less linear (although they are linear).

The core of the gameplay is largely the same--you deck out Doomguy with an arsenal of weapons, you blast demons until they are staggered, and then you get to enjoy slicing them into chunks or punching their ugly faces off.  The maps in Eternal have quite a bit of variety this time around--you're not always journeying through a bloody, satanic, cesspool but might find yourself in the ruins of an ancient city or a futuristic base.  They decided to get rid of the physical gore nests and instead there are specific parts of the map with fixed combat encounters that function much like the gore nests--you face massive waves of varying demons and have to do your best to survive.  One of the other major challenges I struggled with early in the game was ammo--you'll probably find yourself pretty thirsty for ammo and have to be ready to bust out the chainsaw for ammo refills (I rarely used the chainsaw in Doom 2016).  In general, I've felt like the levels are longer than in the previous game and that the set encounters are much more chaotic--you will face huge numbers of demons and have to be ready to scramble around the area and to manage your various cooldowns (the downside of having more in your arsenal means more cooldowns to manage).

Another notable change to combat is the fact that larger demons have weak points--vulnerable areas that can greatly reduce the amount of damage they do.  For example, the new, part-spider, part-robot enemy, the Arachnotron, features a large cannon mounted on top of its bulging cranium--shooting that cannon will destroy it and render the Arachnoton much less dangerous (it can't shoot you from range, but that doesn't mean it can't still kill you).  These weakpoints are difficult to hit as most of the demons that feature a weakpoint are fairly agile and like to jump around.  Demons that feature weakpoints hit like a truck though, so it's generally in your best interest to take the time to carefully aim.

Doomguy has a nice place to kick back.

A fun feature is the fact that Doomguy now has a home base where he can hang up his shotgun and kick back and relax.  In between missions you have a chance to return to this floating fortress and use resources you collect during the missions to unlock upgrades located throughout the base.  There are several different items hidden throughout each level--you can find demon-themed toys (akin to the Doomguy toys from 2016), records that unlock music from classic Doom, Quake, and other Id games (weirdly including Commander Keen--a very fun game I remember from my childhood), and codex entries that reveal the much more complicated lore (yes, there's actual lore!) present in the new game.

I am hoping to finish up Doom: Eternal soon and write up a full review.  So far, I'm having a demon-punching good time.