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  • Greetings folks, and welcome to an LGR Doom Thing!

  • Ahh finally, it feels like an eternity since Doom 2016 came out and blew away expectations,

  • our preconceived notions exploding all over

  • the place like so many gory demonic entrails. And now the folks at id Software are back

  • with Doom Eternal, the follow-up to Doom that isn’t called Doom II, thank god. Having

  • to call Doom 2016 Doom 2016 was confusing enough, so let’s hope that kinda naming

  • scheme is over with. Besides, as it turns out Eternal isn’t only a sequel to Doom

  • 2016, but rather a follow-up of sorts to several Doom games and spin-offs of the past. Back

  • in my Doom 2016 review I said it was a series reboot, but after playing Doom Eternal I don’t

  • think that holds true anymore. That being said, this review will not be diving into

  • plot spoiler territory, not even boss fights, so don’t worry about it. In fact, since

  • I received an early review code, I had to agree not to spoil a whole list of spoilery

  • spoilers. But the rest of what I’m about to say is entirely my opinion, and neither

  • id Software or Bethesda are looking at this beforehand, theyll be seeing it for the

  • first time same as you.

  • With that nonsense outta the way, AUGH DOOM ETERNAL! This game ****ING RULES.

  • If Doom 2016 was the best shooter I played that year,

  • then Doom Eternal has to be one of the best

  • shooters I’ve played, period. No exaggeration, this game is top-notch single player bombastic

  • first person pandemonium from start to finish. It picks up some time after the end of the

  • previous game, with the Doom Slayer headed back to planet Earth in a massive spacefaring

  • building, known as the Fortress of Doom. But just like the original Doom II: Hell on Earth,

  • it turns out Earth has a rather serious problem regarding Hell, on Earth. In short, 60% of

  • the world’s population has been wiped out by demonic forces large and small, with the

  • tendrils of evil spreading out from major metropolitan areas threatening to destroy

  • all that remains. It’s up to you to find some Hell Priests and killem! And just

  • like that, youre tossed into the nightmare world of Doom Eternal, shotgun at the ready,

  • and demons just asking for a good beatdown.

  • [a good beatdown commences]

  • Yeah that’s right, in this game, your starting pistol is a shotgun! [chuckles] Or more accurately,

  • there’s just no pistol anymore, with the first weapon slot being claimed by the combat

  • shotgun instead. And I am all for that really, since the last game’s pistol sucked, and

  • in even in classic Doom games it’s really only there until you find the shotgun or youre

  • in an incredibly desperate situation. Here it’s just like nah man, here's a shotgun,

  • have at it! Oh and the chainsaw too, why the hell not.

  • [copious chainsaw carnage]

  • Then hey, why not upgrade your shotgun with sticky grenades or a fully automatic buckshot

  • chaingun? Fuse that with the return of glory kills to use when an enemy staggers and yeah.

  • Within the first minute of Doom Eternal you're already well-equipped to take down any of

  • the half dozen most common enemies in the game, it's truly wonderful in how much it

  • does not wanna waste your time. Well, except when it's wasting your time when you've got

  • the tutorial on. Honestly, if you've played Doom 2016 you can turn this right off and

  • ignore the incessant pop-ups for the first couple hours. Besides, there are codex notifications

  • on the left side of the screen, so I just left those on for new features and it was

  • fine. Otherwise, it’s too easy to become overwhelmed at the sheer mass of CONTENT

  • being revealed every few seconds. Piles of guns, lots of special moves, like twice the

  • number of demons as before, and the upgrades. So many upgrades. There’s a set of collectible

  • rune upgrades, a set of Praetor Suit upgrades, a set of weapon upgrades with a set of upgrades

  • for those upgrades followed by mastery upgrades. A set of attribute upgrades that turn into

  • more upgrades once you merge upgrades. And a set of upgrades on your space station that

  • help unlock cosmetic upgrades, like weapon reskins and player models. But yeah it’s

  • all just a lot. Thisstop and readapproach is doing the game a disservice, since the

  • lifeblood of Doom Eternal relies on maintaining momentum through combat and learning how to

  • best deal with each enemy’s attacks on the fly. So I say just play the dang game, the

  • best way to learn here is by doing. And by doing, I mean engaging in absolute non-stop

  • slaughter by way of the Doom Slayer’s menagerie of finely-tuned firepower. An immensely satisfying

  • act considering the way demons crumble apart now into a mess of bones and bowels. The aforementioned

  • shotgun and chainsaw make a return from 2016, as does the heavy assault rifle, now known

  • as the heavy cannon. Along with the plasma rifle, the rocket launcher, the super shotgun,

  • the chaingun, and the legendary BFG-9000. Each one functioning more or less the same

  • as they did before, but with some fresh upgrade paths and mastery end goals here and there.

  • For instance, the assault rifle still offers an endless micro-missile launcher and a sniper

  • rifle when upgraded, as seen in the last Doom game. But the new Ballista is more of a remix,

  • sliding into the spot previously occupied by the Gauss Cannon. It’s an absolute beast

  • of a weapon, basically a railgun that can also shoot explosive bolts, as well as throw

  • out substantial charged blades that slice their way through any and all hordes of nastiness.

  • The classic Super Shotgun shoots off two shells simultaneously, and its secondary attack is

  • a devilish little thing: a grappling hook module Scorpion would approve of, known as

  • the Meat Hook. Fire this deep into some demonic flesh and hold on for a ride as youre thrust

  • straight atem, setting you up for a point blank double barreled barrage or a well-time

  • melee move. The latter of which often makes use of the new Doomblade, a wrist-mounted

  • attachment popping out to slice open torsos and skewer eyeballs on demand. Youve also

  • got the Blood Punch, something you charge up to make the Doom Slayer’s overpowered

  • fist even more overpowered, violently combusting just about anything in the general vicinity.

  • But yeah both are a perfect pairing with the Meat Hook, which can itself be upgraded to

  • another level so that each time you use it, it sets everything on fire. A most excellent

  • addition that I recommend unlocking sooner rather than later, since fiery enemies drop

  • piles of armor shards while they rapidly burn to a crisp. Speaking of flame-broiled giblets,

  • attached to your shoulder is another new weapon: the Flame Belcher. And ah, it’s never been

  • easier to set something ablaze at the press of a button, being assigned its own hotkey

  • along with grenades and the chainsaw. Mighty useful stuff, since armor is always at a premium

  • and it’s quickly depleted by the more deadly demons. So always try to remember: burn first,

  • shoot later. And get good at those grenades too, especially the ice bombs, since theyre

  • one of the most effective ways to stop the assaults of low and mid-tier monsters. I was

  • having a rough time with a few of these jokers before I started switching from frags to ice.

  • My go-to siphon grenades from the last Doom are no longer a thing, so yeah, ice bombs

  • are a dear Eternal friend. And finally, late in the game you receive one more power tool

  • of pain: the Crucible. A massive glowing red blade only able to hold enough charge for

  • three swings at any given time, but it’s an ultra-heavy instakiller so eh, who cares!

  • It’s like a BFG in the sword form, doesn’t get much better than that. Regardless of your

  • preferred setup it’s gonna be tough to keep the heart rate down while blasting your way

  • through the 15 to 20 hour campaign, especially with another Mick Gordon soundtrack keeping

  • you company. It’s even better than the 2016 score in my book, with a bit less of the glitched-out

  • chaos and more melodic ambience and guitars than before, and even some choir vocals performed

  • by various metal musicians. Just excellent stuff.

  • [chaos, sheer chaos]

  • That being said, which enemy you attack, when you attack them, and in what way matters immensely

  • here, an equation that remains in flux from moment to moment. More than ever, this incarnation

  • of Doom is an FPS combat strategy game, a blood-soaked chessboard littered with demon

  • guts and spent shell casings. Each encounter is a puzzle to be solved at a moment’s notice,

  • like if you need a health boost? Whittle a dude down to perform a glory kill and spawn

  • some health. If you need ammo, it’s all about that chainsaw, spewing gobs of ammunition

  • with each viscous dismemberment. As mentioned, the Flame Belch and other fire attacks provide

  • armor drops in copious quantities. And glory kills also help build up Blood Punches, granting

  • an effective way of chaining together other moves so you can keep the combat flowing without

  • missing a beat. All worth remembering since the old enemies have been buffed up to become

  • more effective at both defense and offense, being faster, angrier, more armored, and more

  • unrelenting in their urge to slay the Slayer. It’s all mighty vicious stuff, when even

  • seeing a pinky demon means youre in trouble, you know they did something right. And that’s

  • not even mentioning all the new enemies, with all their own counters, defenses, immunities,

  • and special moves easily offsetting yours. Carcasses, gargoyles, cueballs, prowlers,

  • dread knights, doom hunters, marauders, tyrants. These satan-spawn are out for all the blood

  • you have, and theyre designed so that if you get too close without them being staggered

  • or frozen first, theyre just gonna clobber you to death in a fraction of a second. No

  • more running up to every other demon point blank with the super shotgun, half the time

  • thatll get you knocked back or killed. Instead youve really gotta use the right

  • tool for the job. After a little practice, each confrontation turns into a rhythmic exercise,

  • playing out beat by beat as you switch from weapon to equipment to special move, with

  • every monster playing its part as they dance to their death. It also requires such split-second

  • accuracy at times that I have no idea how you play this on higher difficulties with

  • a gamepad, a good mouse and keyboard setup is crucial in my opinion. I whipped out a

  • controller just to compare, and nah man. Yeah, however youre controlling it, this game

  • can be downright brutalizing later on. I began playing on Nightmare difficulty and did so

  • happily for the first several hours, but went to Ultra-Violence and then to Hurt Me Plenty

  • at one point. And that point was when multiple Marauders start showing up at once, those

  • things are insane. For me at least, this difficulty spike happened at a point where my arsenal

  • and skillset just didn’t match the abilities of the new demons and ugh. Yeah, my kill/death

  • ratio was more of a death/death ratio of negative nothing, it was pathetic. There are still

  • plenty of checkpoints in each map, but no quicksaving, so failing at any point sends

  • you back to the start of the area. However, this can be alleviated by the addition of

  • extra lives, enabled in the options menu, and while I was highly skeptical of this in

  • the gameplay trailers I now understand why theyre included. Not only are they few

  • and far between, often hidden in secret areas or just around a corner you can’t reach

  • without a conscious effort. But they provide a way to respawn during some of the most infuriating

  • encounters in the later parts of the game. Usually involving Archviles and again, in

  • my case, multiple Marauders. At least you rarely see Lost Souls anymore, they mostly

  • only show up when Pain Elementals are tossing them out like boney baseballs. Anyway yeah,

  • extra lives exist now, and even if you never useem it’s still fun to figure out where

  • they are and how to reach them. Cuz yeah, secret places man, and collectibles! Doom

  • 2016 had plenty, but Eternal goes utterly bonkers. Many of these are clearly-labeled

  • with a glowing question mark, acting as a tease that they exist but with few clues as

  • to how to get toem. Usually it involves angrily punching something. But yeah youll

  • find extra lives, berzerk and supercharge power-ups, collectible figurines, sentinel

  • crystals, 3.5” floppy disks with cheat codes to use when replaying the game, various instant

  • upgrade tokens, even vinyl records with music from past id Software games. Youll also

  • run across secret encounters and combat arenas, activated by smashing demon hearts. But these

  • are hidden, more optional experiences compared to the ones in Doom 2016, unlocking bonus

  • items and keys that you don’t entirely need but are nice to have on down the line. Oh

  • and hey, Dopefish! That... is terrifying. Anyway yeah, collectibles and secrets are

  • everywhere and it’s good fun snapping them up for display back at your Fortress of Doom,

  • home sweet home. Described by the devs asthe Doom Slayer’s man cave,” it really

  • is a place to unwind between levels and take a gander at what youve collected. And dude,

  • as a lifelong id Software fan, there’s a whole lotta nifty crap here, it’s easter

  • eggs and references galore. I especially love this little DOS PC over in the corner, with

  • even more stuff to unlock once you collect all the different floppy disks. Also dig the

  • records and their companion posters. They let you play music from games like Commander

  • Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom III, Quake Champions, all sortsa good stuff. Really sets the mood

  • for wandering the fortress, admiring your spoils of war, and taking part in the game’s

  • practice moooooodedown in the ship’s Ripatorium. Because of course that’s a thing.

  • Rip and tear folks, rip and tear!

  • [downright delightful demon-slaying]

  • Combine this with the classic Doomguy skins, centered weapon models, and original Sound

  • Blaster sound effects? [chuckles] Yeah it’s pretty much peak fanservice, but I admit I

  • enjoy some quality servicing every so often.

  • [classic Doom sounds, demon deaths]

  • Even without the direct references to old school sensibilities, to me the whole experience

  • feels more like a Doom game than I’ve seen since, well, Doom II from 1995. Despite the

  • modern upgrade systems and flashy combat, there’s an array of little touches and broader

  • brushstrokes that evoke classic Doom. From the floating red, yellow, and blue keycards

  • you pick up, to the massive winding levels full of traps and secrets, to the more vibrant

  • color palette making use of bright reds, purples, and greens reminiscent of the DOS games

  • 256-color graphics. Addressing another of my critiques from 2016, the hellish landscapes

  • and setpieces here are far more vibrant and surreal, with a wider variety in locations

  • compared to before. I was psyched to see the wholeHell on Earthidea fully committed

  • to, with skyscrapers, shopping malls, and industrial complexes overtaken with satanic

  • insanity oozing from every crack and crevice. And the horrific torture dungeons of hell

  • are truly an awesome sight to behold, this is exactly what I was hoping for in a modern

  • Doom game. It takes those original textures and blocky rooms from the 90s and reiminages

  • them in unsettling detail, I love it. Really is like strolling through a heavy metal cover,

  • it’s all horns, fire, corpses, and teeth, props to the artists for going balls-out.

  • I’m glad theyve included a photo mode as a result, I’ve already spent far too

  • much time posing my Doomguy in front of all that

  • delectable fire and brimstone nightmare fuel.

  • I also really appreciate how they designed the maps in such a way that they feel more,

  • I dunno, Doomlike, and less of a string of obvious combat zones. A complaint I had about

  • the last game was that so many levels relied on locking you into a room while enemies spawned

  • in waves, then a door opens up and you move to the next section to do it all again. This

  • time around there’s much less of that, and when it does happen it’s presented in a

  • less predictable way. Youll often wander into a new area and see demons just hanging

  • around doing their thing. Patrolling, in-fighting, talking politics, whatever demons do. Often

  • the exits are still locked until you clear the infestation, but levels are overall more

  • conducive to wandering around, even during combat. Many are also significantly more wide

  • open than in 2016 too, with even more verticality and nonlinear exploration involved. And some

  • even evoke Half-Life’s Xen with how many hovering platforms and jump pads are floating

  • around. Thankfully it’s much easier to navigate than Xen since Eternal features all new traversal

  • mechanics. Grappling onto ledges and double jumping and such, yep, that stuff’s still

  • here. But so is a button for dashing, helping you speed along the X-axis to strafe around

  • projectiles and hit far off platforms, especially useful in finding secrets. And I guess the

  • Doom Slayer has a bit of that radioactive spider blood cuz he can stick to certain surfaces

  • and climb up and around them like it’s nothing. Mix all that together with the yellow poles

  • and monkey bars found on any given level and youve got a quite the athletic stew going.

  • Just jump or dash onto a bar and youll go flying out at an angle like the buff shotgun-wielding

  • gymnast manbeast that you always knew you were. Once again, I haven’t had this much

  • fun swinginaround virtual worlds in a long time now, it’s like a demon-slaying

  • Mirror’s Edge meets Uncharted and it’s fantastic. No question, sometimes it’s tricky.

  • But it’s not super punishing either, even with all the bottomless death pits. Drop to

  • your doom and you simply respawn with a small health penalty, no lives lost.

  • And yeah, that’s the gist of the Doom Eternal. Which I keep wanting to call Eternal Doom

  • for some reason. Probably because I’m used to saying Final Doom and Ultimate Doom, so

  • Eternal Doom just sounds right but anyway. About the only other thing I’d wanna touch

  • on are the story details and the boss battles, which I won’t do cuz spoilers. What I will

  • say though is that the story most certainly exists, with more meat on its bones that it

  • did in 2016. Yet when it comes to the villain of the game, well, it’s hard to say if there

  • really is one in particular? There are some big bads, but they weren’t the primary focus.

  • If anything, one could argue that you are the villain, a fitting narrative considering

  • the Doom Slayer lore set up in the last game. And there are a surprising number of cutscenes

  • too, whipping the camera out to third person and then back to first person kinda like it

  • did in Doom 3. Youve still got endless codex entries and audio diaries scattered

  • around as expected. Personally I got more outta the cutscenes though, so if youre

  • into Doom Slayer lore then I think youll be pleased. All the Doom wikis are sure gonna

  • have their work cut out for them. But yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed the campaign the whole

  • way through, with only a few overly frustrating moments taking me out of the experience. Which

  • was alleviated once I improved my skills, better-equipped my guy, and went back to revisit

  • the levels I sucked at before. Which you can do at any time using the Mission Select computer

  • terminal in the Fortress of Doom, allowing you to replay any map to grab things you missed

  • and redo battles that previously ruined you. Any progress made applies to your overall

  • save file too, so you can really just have fun whenever you first play a level and don’t

  • have to worry about grinding for gear since you can essentially jump into New Game Plus

  • any time. There are also Master Levels to try out, which are tweaked versions of regular

  • levels but with harder and more numerous baddies supplying a greater challenge and upgrade

  • opportunities. And finally, there’s multiplayer, which I can’t talk about yet because it

  • hasn’t gone live. The most I can do is show some of the offline tutorial for the 1v2 competitive

  • game, called Battlemode. It’s an asymmetrical multiplayer mode where one person plays the

  • Doom Slayer and two others play as demons. Each player demon can either attack directly

  • or spawn in more demons to try and overwhelm the Doom Slayer, while the Slayer player attempts

  • to fend off the demons using the same moveset seen in single player. Interesting idea, but

  • I can’t play it yet so who knows. The other online option set to arrive in the future

  • is Invasion, one of those deals where someone can jump into your campaign as an enemy to

  • try and give you a hard time. Can’t say I’m typically a fan of that kinda thing

  • in other games, but again, it’s not available yet so whatever. Fine by me, since single

  • player is still a radically wonderful time, presuming youre into this flavor of chaos

  • and have the PC to run it. I mean it’s also on consoles but yeah, like I said earlier,

  • mouse and keyboard is the way to go if you can. It does require a somewhat beefy system

  • if you want 4K at 60+ FPS, but on mine running an 8086K CPU and an 8 gig RTX 2080 SC I had

  • zero problems as you'd hope. No stutters, no crashes,

  • nothing but silky smooth demon murder.

  • Y'know, looking back on the last twenty-odd minutes, I guess I really haven’t had much

  • to critique, huh? I dunno, I loved the vast majority of Doom Eternal though I suppose

  • I do have a few little things. As I mentioned a while ago, I think it teeters on the edge

  • of having too many upgrades and unlockables. I think some of the upgrade options could

  • be simplified or combined into one skill tree instead of two or three. There’s also no

  • SnapMap anymore, or any kind of level editor or official mod support at all at this point.

  • Which, yeah, I guess theyve promised to release single player DLC to try and make

  • up for it, but I’d rather have the option to download fan-made stuff too. And then there’s

  • the multiplayer, and sorry, old man mode fully engaged here. But this is a Doom game, one

  • that evokes so many old school Doom ideas. So I’d love to see proper deathmatch available

  • and maybe some other classic multiplayer modes. Doom Eternal LAN party anyone? I’d be down.

  • I’ve already got it running in 640x480 on a CRT dude, just gimme some Bawls energy drinks

  • and an ethernet cable and I’m good to go. All right old man mode disengaged, because

  • no matter what Doom Eternal is such a solid single player shooter that I can’t help

  • but gush about it. Once again, no one paid me, this isn’t sponsored. Frankly I’ve

  • no idea how I ended up with a code for this. But yeah, I just really enjoyed my time with

  • Doom Eternal if you can't tell, I can’t wait to play some more of it. It goes without

  • saying, but I absolutely recommend the hell outta this one.

  • [combat chaos, sad death]

  • [Mick Gordon music is Mick Gordon music]

  • And if you found this review informative or enjoyable, then great! You’d probably like

  • the others I’ve done on older Doom games, or any number of computery things I cover

  • on LGR. Either way though, thank you very much for watching!

Greetings folks, and welcome to an LGR Doom Thing!

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