Going from Doom 2016 to Doom Eternal

And how I learned to be inDOOMitable again.

I didn’t get Doom Eternal at first, and I’ll raise my hands to that. I spent the majority of the first level running around scared and confused, desperately trying to suck up any ammo I could, while fruitlessly punching demons with little to no effect. Because you see, back in my day – that being when Doom 2016 came out, which I will now just call Doom for the sake of brevity – ammo was plentiful and only became more so as the game went on, and fodder would melt underneath your fist into bloody mush.

It was a strange experience, because I’d never thought I would have such a hard time readjusting to what I believed was essentially the same game but with a few extra additions. When I went from Bayonetta 1 to 2, sure there was a few newly added wrinkles to the fights, but it was largely business as usual as I deftly dodged and punished with familiar and trusted combos. In Eternal, however, I was lamenting the fact I was without Doom’s dinky pistol with infinite ammo, because even that was preferable to having nothing at all.

I even started to resent Doom Eternal as old strategies left me staring at the game over screen. Being told you’re playing a game wrong is a bitter pill to swallow, and it’s far easier to soothe a bruised ego and convince yourself that it’s everyone else who is wrong. But in truth, the answer was always with me, even if Doom had conditioned me to never use it, and that answer was the chainsaw. Because in both Doom and Doom Eternal, the chainsaw makes enemies gush ammo along with their blood and guts. However, there are some slight differences in how they operate, which end up having a big difference in how you use them.

In Doom, you could use the chainsaw three times before it ran out of fuel, meaning it was wise to conserve it until you were desperately in need of munitions – which wasn’t that often as I stated. The chainsaw was almost a fun reward in that sense, something to end a particularly pesky foe’s existence with a brutal merger of serrated steel and demonic flesh. Not the case in Doom Eternal, however, since the chainsaw now recharges a third of its tank automatically, which is enough to cut through smaller beasts. This encourages the player to use it far more often, and thus begins a cycle of cutting a demon down for ammo, then expending that ammo, and then finding another unfortunate victim for your chainsaw, which should have refuelled itself by then. A strict max ammo limit also helps to enforce this behaviour pretty much throughout the entire game. To put it in perspective, you could hold up to 60 shotgun shells in Doom, but in Doom Eternal this has plummeted down to a mere 24.

Strategy, that’s what this adds. As you bring your arsenal down on Hell you are always on the lookout for an angry, screaming refill when that low ammo message comes up. And that melee that does barely any damage can still be used to interrupt enemy attacks if you need some breathing space. Looking back at Doom, it was admittedly too easy to just repeatedly punch a demon into a stupor, ready for the Glory Kill. But, it doesn’t stop there, and the more I play, the more I find Doom Eternal to be a smarter version of its predecessor. For starters, larger demons now have weak points you can hit, disabling them from using certain attacks.

A decent plan I’ve started to use is to freeze a hulking demon with an ice grenade and then snipe its armaments off with the Heavy Cannon. The Flame Belch – like the regular melee – isn’t for basic damage dealing, instead hitting an enemy with it will shear armour pickups off them. Killing that enemy will reward you with a burst of armour meaning it’s a good idea to focus fire on that target, lest you waste the opportunity since the Flame Belch needs to recharge after every use. Thumbing through the Codex now reveals the weaknesses of each enemy type, such as using the Plasma Rifle to burst shields, which really felt like something you should have been able to do in Doom.

Platforming is a more contentious aspect, since it doesn’t really mix well with a restricted view where you can’t always see beneath your character. But I still found it a welcome break from the action and an interesting way to make use of the Doom Slayer’s improved mobility, as well as adding some spice to exploration. And speaking of exploration, thank Hell for the ability to fast travel, which makes hoovering up those missed collectables so much more painless. I also enjoyed the added personality in the demons’ faces, especially when you shove a blade into their skull and they stare back in slack-jawed confusion.

So Doom Eternal is the clear winner over Doom right? Well, no. The biggest negative that I can throw at Eternal is its story, which has seen a larger focus this time around. In Doom, the mastermind Samuel Hayden provided most of the exposition, and the Doom Slayer’s indifference to his prattling mirrored the player’s indifference to the plot. The Doom Slayer was there to rip and tear, almost to the point where saving humanity was just an afterthought when compared to destroying the spawn of Hell. This helped the player to assume the role of the Doom Slayer, because we weren’t playing Doom to be the big hero, we were there to squeeze an Imp’s head until it imploded. There still was a story, but it was one that knew it was secondary to the gameplay instead of the other way around. And with a cast size of just four (including the Doom Slayer himself), it allowed for some simple yet effective character building that rarely bogged the pace down.

Not only does Eternal slam the brakes on the action more often, but the times it does, it shoves characters into your face that the game seems to assume you already know. And despite being able to follow the basic narrative, a lot of the locations, people and events just washed over me, leaving only bewilderment in its wake. Maybe all the unexplained plot points are covered in the Codex – like how the Doom Slayer got ownership of a fucking space fortress – but Doom’s story worked perfectly fine without having to do some light reading.

That all said, I still prefer Doom Eternal over Doom, it has a more interesting combat system that forces you to think more often about your next step. That may sound like an obvious conclusion with it being a sequel and all, but let’s not forget the law of diminishing returns, with overfamiliarity taking away from an otherwise technically better game. But Doom Eternal exceeds the original in so many ways, that it comes across as an evolution rather than just a refinement, which sequels usually fall into the trap of.

While I don’t think Eternal makes Doom irrelevant by any stretch of the imagination, it does what a sequel always should do, and that’s to stand proudly on its own merits.

That was a good read, thanks. I'm with you that the story is the worst part of the game but I'm really loving it otherwise.

Nice writeup! I agree that the story was underwhelming and lost the dynamic of the 2016 game. And the final cutscene just sort of... exists... and doesn't do anything with it.

I haven't gotten far at all in Doom Eternal yet (been mostly playing Animal Crossing) but I'd go further than this. I finished Doom 2016 on Ultra Violence and really loved it. There were some encounters that were hard but for the most part I did okay, pretty much cruised through much of the back half of the game after getting back to it this year, and felt good.

Doom Eternal has given me much more trouble. I'm playing on Ultra Violence again and it seems a lot harder. Mostly it's the combination of long combat encounters and lots of environmental hazards. Doom 2016 had a lot of lengthy combat arenas and such, but while some had environmental hazards they gave you more room to operate than Eternal does, with lots of small platforms over lava (at least in the first couple levels.) I constantly find myself under assault from all directions, having to move quickly and dropping down into lava or whatever. I'm also struggling a bit with the more complex combat flow, especially remembering to use the flame belcher and of course the intense ammo restrictions as you mention. I also feel like the weapon mods are much more important in this game than they were in 2016, and there's obviously an added emphasis on using equipment. I feel like the game is more mechanically dense but does not ease you into it enough (maybe that's because of Ultra Violence) and the Doom Slayer feels more fragile to me (that could also be because I was used to playing with an upgraded Doom Slayer by the end of Doom 2016.)

Overall I'm having trouble getting into it.

I agree that the story is completely incomprehensible and I don't care about it at all. The environmental storytelling is also very deemphasized. In Doom 2016 you would constantly come across these areas where people died and you'd either see echos of what happened or get an audio log or just see the results of the carnage. Doom Eternal has you (so far) in more abstract places that relate to this big cosmic battle I don't care about, rather than human scale facilities that are more relatable (we can all imagine an office or science lab where things went horribly wrong.) It makes the game less interesting to explore and less visually stimulating even though in a way it's more impressive. In Doom 2016 even the hell parts, which were abstract, seemed to have more visual cohesion and storytelling.

I don't hate Doom Eternal or anything, and I'm going to keep playing and trying to improve. But I'm playing in short bursts and not really enjoying my time with it that much as opposed to Doom 2016. Of course part of that may be the circumstances we find ourselves under. Given what's going on in the world I find myself more drawn to the sunny fun of Animal Crossing than the brutal darkness of Doom. There's enough brutal darkness in the world right now.

First of all great write up. With that out of the way I would counter argue that the strategy in Eternal is puddle deep at best and non existent at worst. Having to use optimal weapons for optimal results is on the same depth as shooting the red glowing eyeball for massive damage - a trope games have used for literally decades. Strategy in my opinion would infer nuance, which is something Eternal doesn’t actually have. Having to chainsaw imps while madly dashing out of the way of rockets or what have you isn’t a premeditated move on the players part - it all happens so fast that its basically a twitch muscle reflex. It’s like Guitar Hero on the hardest difficulty. You see the notes coming down at a hundred miles a second and you don’t have time to plan out how your fingers will move, you just react.

The developer has created a lot of new systems and to ensure players don’t ignore them you are actively punished for not engaging with them. People didn’t use the chainsaw all that often before so now the ammo cap is so low you are forced to chainsaw every 30 seconds. Players chose a single gun and stuck with it for the entirety of the game in 2016 so now they have made it so you are forced to switch guns otherwise you have no chances of surviving encounters with the bigger baddies. It feels like overcompensation from the previous go around like they had this insecure fear that players will just off and do what they want to do and the game is going to allow it. That someone won’t use the flame belch and simply collect the armor around the stage. It’s definitely one way of ensuring players will engage with all your new toys but is it the best way?

A small sidebar: To take a break from Eternal I loaded up The Surge 2. This is a third person action game in the vein of Sekiro and Souls games so a perfect break from the hyperactive demon slaying. In the sequel the developers introduced a new mechanic that’s let’s you parry enemy attacks in a specific way and it’s obvious this was a big deal as the game made sure you remembered this is a thing. When it came time to face the first big boss you were obviously meant to use the parry mechanic. Like many people I’ve never felt comfortable with parries and in this game especially the execution feels weird and I wasn’t able to consistently time it just right which led to me dying several times. So I decided to simply use a lot of dodging and adapt a different technique that felt more comfortable to me and I ended up beating the boss. The key take away is that the game didn’t nullify my attacks, they didn’t railroad me into just doing the parry. I was given a wide degree of options and chose the one that led to victory. That to me is strategy, the ability to adapt and plan and the game allowing for a variety of approaches to the same problem.

Doom Eternal is fast paced, frenzied, and can be a lot of fun if not at times a little exhausting. Is it strategic or better because it forces you into a very specific play style? I would argue no, it’s just a different type of game now that judging from online reactions appeals to a lot less people in general. On the flip side those that do like it seem to REALLY love it. Was the change worth it? Time will tell. I’d be happy to see the revitalized franchise keep reinventing itself and maybe whatever the next Doom turns out to be will be a healthy mix of these vastly different games that are simultaneously both great in their own ways.

It seems crazy to me to say that designed usage of weapons is a bad thing. Puddle deep? What? It perfectly balances the systems it has and asks you to utilize them, and when it clicks it is brilliant. I understand if the game isn't your thing but it certainly isn't shallow.

@bigsocrates: It's always a tricky dilemma when a game doesn't grab you right away. Do you keep playing in hope of having it finally click and validate that time (and money) you spent, or do you cut your losses and play something else instead? But I think if you've invested several hours into Doom Eternal and you're not having fun, you shouldn't feel guilty about writing it off.

@purpleshyguy: I tend to try to give games a chance because I have a history of giving up too soon. I've played deeper into Doom Eternal now (just started the 4th level so not super deep, but since the game has 13 levels I'm about 25% through) and I'm enjoying it more. I got a couple ammo upgrades and that helped, and the freeze grenade acts as a good "oh shit" bailout button for when you get surrounded, because even if you don't kill the dudes you can move away from them (preferably while pumping a few rockets into the mass to thin the herd.)

A lot of my other criticisms still apply, and I am kind of baffled by the total abandonment of the cool atmospheric style of the prior game in favor of a bunch of Quake like citadels, complete with tentacles coming up from the ground and snake-like bad guys who definitely feel like they better belong in ID's other series, but it's still fun enough.

I think in general this game feels more like Quake than Doom. The large scale gothic installations, the high speed arena combat, the quick and melee heavy enemies, it's all pretty Quake. Doom 2016 had some of that stuff too, of course, but it also had a lot of hallways crawls and human-scale arenas, with most of the enemies being the slower, tankier, baddies that Doom specialized in.

@sethmode: I'm having a decent enough time with it so it's not that it isn't "my thing." That said a smattering of tiny checks doesn't make for a deeper combat system, just a busy one, in my opinion of course since obviously you disagree. It's not the designed usage that is bad but the restrictive nature of it. Elemental damage has been a thing for ages and it is fun when done right. Doom certainly does it right in that you need to switch to a weapon in order to alleviate a danger on the field quicker. You CAN certainly try to be stubborn about it and it will sometimes work. I've had a few encounters where I just spammed rockets and was able to clear the field that way. Historically I think any time you've been forced to use specific weapons to kill specific enemies it was usually a pain. One of the main criticisms about the combat system of DmC (apart from all the other drama surrounding that game) was the color coded enemies and the need to use specific weapons to beat them - people were used to DMC games letting you just pound on baddies with whatever arsenal suited you best.

I think a lot of folks read these criticisms and automatically assume the worst. I still have plenty of fun, but I just don't find the absurd number of little meters to be the best thing in the world or the pinnacle of FPS evolution. There was an encounter recently where the game wasn't spawning anymore trash mobs - I had a Mancubus and an Arachnatron running after me, I was out of ammo and there simply wasn't any way for me to get it back. I'm more than happy to concede that when it works, there is a great flow to the combat, and I'm sure you can agree that sometimes the nature of the gameplay can be suffocating. Unless of course this is a situation where you are absolutely right and I am 100% wrong.

Awesome story written by PurpleShyGuy. As an old Doom fan, I can't be objective in judging this game. And I can understand those people who say that the game is not what it used to be, that they are not interested in playing it. And I try not to enter into a discussion with them, knowing that there is a lot of truth in their words. Nevertheless, I am always excited about the release of the new Doom and look forward to it.

Btw, is there anyone here who's familiar with 3D printing? I want to order a 3D print of this model, but I am not sure that it is even possible because of the very complex geometry of the figurine.

As a big fan of Doom 2016, I was pretty bummed to hear that Doom Eternal didn't seem to vibe with people and was seen as a little disappointing. But after reading what you had to say, it really seems like people were expecting more of the same so when facing the fact that they had to approach the game differently put them off. I never cared for the story in Doom so I might just pick up Eternal now since all the complaints aren't substantial to what I'm looking for in a Doom game.

I hope everyone has come around on Doom Eternal now, and I hope they all understand that the right weapon + appropriate demon = best result mathematical equation is thoroughly dispelled by now. Each enemy has, in a vacuum, a perfect play, but the strategy of Eternal comes from understand the myriad other ways to handle an enemy and being able to read the context of the encounter and take stock of one's arsenal and cooldowns to make a movie that is strategically sound and effective. People who are complaining about being low on ammo and being constrained in their options are, in fact, playing the game wrong. If you find yourself unable to do the perfect play against a demon, stop hitting your head against that impossibility and brainstorm a new approach to handle the situation.

I booted up the game for the first time in a couple of months last night, and I played the final level again without warming up first. I was surprised to see how relatively forgiving it felt, as long as I was staying on top of Glory Kills, ammo, and armour generation. Going in, I had expected to burn through a good chunk of my stock of lives, but I only died twice, once because I backed myself into a corner and got pulverized by a Pain Elemental and an Arachnotron after burning all of my abilities on other dumb demons, and another time during the Icon of Sin boss fight because honestly I'm just bad at it. Even on Ultra-Violence, it wasn't the suffocatingly rigid or ball-bustingly difficult experience it's made out to be. You just need to understand the headspace the game wants you to be in.

I don't have a lot to add, but I started Doom Eternal about a week ago on Ultra-Violence (I just beat level 6) and holy crap am I loving it. It blows Doom 2016 out of the water in terms of gameplay and arena design and I am stunned that so many people who enjoyed Doom 2016 didn't like this game. The story is truly awful though, I liked the lore of Doom 2016 but elaborating so much on the new Doomiverse is a huge misstep and I would've preferred a less serious tone in the story, considering I'm picking up extra lives and vinyl records.

I loved Doom, but I loved Doom Eternal more. Getting in a rhythm with these games feels amazing, and with Eternal's increased mobility and combat options I felt like I mastered its flow at the end of ultraviolence (same feeling as Sekiro or Devil May Cry).

It'a my GOTY along with Ori 2, as everything just hit for me. The combat, the enemy and level design, even the platforming and story stuff. Plus it runs so well and feels so tight. I was surprised to see the negative reactions, but I understand why a bigger sequel might not land (I vastly prefer Portal 1 to 2, for example).

After 2016, I went back to the old ones and felt like they stood right alongside that one. But after Eternal, I missed going back to the simplified design of the previous games. There's still a time and a place for both of them, but 2020 is the time for Eternal for me.

In short, I'm glad both games stand out in their own ways. Each of them have a distinct place in this new wave of Doom.

I never understood the criticism of you having to target weak points and use specific weapons on specific enemies. First off, that in itself is a perfectly valid playstyle that tests your reflexes and ability to visually discern things happening at a breakneck speed and respond accordingly. Second, you actually...don't actually have to engage with it if you don't want to. In DOOM 2016 you could weapon swap between the SSG and the Gauss Cannon and annihilate literally everything in your path, the only limit being ammo.

In DOOM Eternal you can do literally the exact same thing with the SSG & Ballista. Ammo is not a concern because the chainsaw has a 20 second cooldown, something I think a lot of people didn't seem to understand when Eternal first came out. So if you want to play this like DOOM 2016 (which I personally think is actually less interesting and diverse than Eternal), you can.

With enough time away from this game I fall on being the worst type of customer in that I'm not satisfied but I can't tell you what to do differently. Playing through Eternal for me more often than not felt like a chore in a way that 2016 didn't, but at the same time looking back I do think the movement options introduced in the sequel make that "original" game in many ways obsolete. There are many small nitpicks I have about Eternal but I can't nail down one solid overarching problem that made me end up not having a whole lot of fun when actually playing it. The shooting feels great as does the movement. The monsters are generally fun with a few exceptions and the customizable skills and unlocks were a nice touch. So while I absolutely don't want them to go back to Doom 2016 for the next game, I also don't want them to continue on their current path either. I guess a mix of the two would be perfect for me - keep the pace and movement but make the game feel more like Doom and less like Serious Sam.

I went from absolutely loathing this game to thinking that it's the greatest single player first person shooter ever made. It does a terrible job teaching the new gameplay mechanics to the player and the fact that the game has pacing issues and a piss poor narrative doesn't help the situation.

What is in Doom Eternal, and the core gameplay of the game is fantastic. I actually found myself trying to 100% each level in this game because the map is so good. I dont know why I didnt do that in 2016 but getting all the collectibles lost steam for me in that one.

I think pacing, some of the platforming, and slower sections are a little wonky, but that said, going back to Doom 2016 feels like taking a step backwards mechanically. The new movement options, the combat puzzles, the lack of ammo, the "okay let me figure out what this room looks like" ... its almost tony hawk like in Eternal. Doom 2016 is great but the combat is very much shoot the thing, hit the chainsaw, shoot the thing with whatever u want to. There's dudes in Eternal that you basically have to "space out" like a fighting game, where if you're long range you get hit, if you're too short you get bopped, you need them to WHIFF so you can WHIFF Punish. Yes. Doom Eternal has Whiff Punishing lol. Where Doom 2016 excels is in its story and atmosphere but it did also have some pacing issues, and wasn't AS vertical, the level designs also not as open.

IF it wasn't clear, I really liked Doom Eternal, I even liked collecting those soundtrack records and action figures and enjoying those, (I'm not a collect-athon guy but I LOVE music) I think it's a really neat game with very little actual fluff, but the inconsistency and rigidity of its design may annoy people.

I like a good story in my shooters and Doom 2016 didn't deliver on that part.

Also it's more like arena shooter where you come to a certain area which locks itself until you deal with a number of spawning enemies.

That alone made me pass on Doom Eternal.

In the doom guy's castle there's a picture of him with a rabbit. 10/10

@ulfhedinn:

Yeah, that arena locking shit turned me off to every single DMC game. It didn't bother me in this because it's just more fun to play. I absolutely love Doom 2016 but there's no way I can go back to playing it after Eternal. Shooting all of my guns killing dozens of demons per minute, setting them on fire, switching back and forth between the frag and ice grenades while deploying them, glory killing, blood punching, using the meat hook to swing across from one side of the map to the other and whipping out a laser sword to cut a cyberdemon into thirds, that's the shit that keeps me engaged. Everytime I play the last game, I find myself hitting what I think is the dash button which puts me in the crouched position.

Like I said before, the mechanics are pretty dense and ID did a bad job getting people accustomed to them.

This has been great to read. I keep going back and forth on whether or not I should finally pick up Doom Eternal myself.

just get it - its an 'angel' to some, 'demon' to others in comparison to 2016.

For me - its the single best FPS campaign ever made. On Nightmare it took me like 50 hours, got more than my money's worth and planning on doing another full playthru once both DLCs are out

Fact is : Reading about it, as you have done diligently wont answer the question of whether or not you enjoy it. You just need to jump into the Slayer's armor yourself and see if it clicks for you or not. Plan on getting pummeled pretty hard to begin with; but the important thing, if you're going to enjoy it : Embrace all of the Slayer's abilities. His double jump, his double dash, the flamethrower, the regenerating chainsaw, all of your weapons (and eventually their alternative modes once you get them) and his grenades.

Its a dance with a Hell's army like no other shooter has managed, in my opinion. I think its absolutely glorious, even though I loved 2016 - this is the "upgrade" i didnt realize I wanted. Its the most intense game I've ever played, it demands your undivided attention and wants you to learn everything about it.

This narrative that there is only "one way" to play is BS though, to be clear. You can use every weapon to kill anything. The Super Shotgun is monstrous, even on Nightmare against any demon. The plasma rifle, rocket launcher, machine gun, standard shotgun - all have their uses against every demon. You can choose to disable a Demon's turret with a Snipe shot from you machine guns alternate fire, or you can lob a freeze grenade at him and shoot a grenade from your upgraded standard shotgun to do the same - or just unload your plasma rifle at him and use the alternate fire "Shotgun shot" it builds up and basically blast most demons away in one shot, without even disabling his turret.

The folks pretending youre FORCED to play a certain way are, imo, misleading here. You ARE forced to learn all your weapons because ammo is a scarce thing, that is true - but every weapon can deal with pretty much every situation; as long as you are utilizing his abilities : again, his double dash, his double jump, his freeze and frag grenades and chainsaw all need to become a part of your utility belt if you want to really beat Hell's armies into submission.

You can absolutely kill super heavy demons with primarily your machine gun, then swap to another weapon of your choice to get the rest of your shots in, or, turn around, dash around and double jump to avoid incoming fire and chainsaw some poor sob small demon and get more ammo for your machine gun and keep going with that . The options are absolutely there, again, this narrative that it 'forces' you to play a certain way is purely relegated to : It wants you to learn to use the mechanics of the game. The guns, the flamethrower, the grenades and his maneuvering.

Unfortunately reading about it or watching videos does not do it justice, you need to jump in and just play it to know if its 'for you' or not.

If you do get it, I hope you end up enjoying it - but if youre this interested, id say just get it and find out for yourself. Reading walls of text like this arent going to give you an epiphany about it, you need to get your own hands on it :P

Hope you have fun if you get it though! Take care and stay safe

@baltaronsteam: That was an awesome response. I think you sold me. Thanks a ton!

It's a great game and my GOTY at the moment! Give it a whirl!

@rorie: Thanks Rorie! I'll definitely be giving it a whirl.

I think I'm most excited just to see the more varied locations, instead of the more industrial style complex that was in 2016.

@mightyduck : one tip before you 'jump in' - at the conclusion of each level you will get the ability to 'fast travel' around the level to certain spots. If you were trying to get to a collectible and couldnt figure it out on your first pass; or you skipped a Slayer Gate (youll find out what those are) because it was too difficult on your first pass; before you 'exit' the level, you can go to the map screen and jump around to anywhere you want.

If youre finding yourself banging your head against the wall on how to reach a certain collectible and you really want to be a completionist... Dont beat yourself up over it, just look it up on Youtube. I had probably 5 collectibles I genuinely couldnt figure out how to get to and just youtubed them to find them out. It aint a big deal to get a little help. But ya, the environments just get crazier and crazier as the game goes on, so you should enjoy that.

Hope you find it fun! Again, stay safe, world is a crazy place - but you might find Eternal to be a little cathartic in these trying times :) lol

@mightyduck: Oh ya - one more thing. If youre playing with a controller; go to the options and check the different layouts. There should be one that puts the jumps and dashes on your bumpers (or if you have an elite controller, you can map them to your paddles) and also puts your "melee/glory kills" on your right stick. This way you dont have to move your finger from the right stick to do those actions by pressing a face button. If you have bumpers I would say you probably want to put your dodge/jump/grenades/flamethrower on those, whichever you feel like flows best for you.

if youre play mouse/keyboard, this wont be an issue. But if youre on a controller, check the options and mess around with them a bit in the first level to find one that feels best for you - but I definitely recommend getting jumping/dashing to the shoulder buttons or paddles, if you have them. Melee on the right stick worked well for me, but that is up to taste, you might be able to put grenades or the flamethrower on them instead and that might be more efficient for you.

Sorry for the multiple posts, just wanted to point that out cause I dont think the 'default' control scheme was necessarily the best, in my recollection... but it has been months and months since I played it, so my memory on that stuff is a little foggy.

Go kill some Demons, Slayer. Rip and Tear. Hope you find winning a fight as rewarding a feeling as I did, just was absolutely satisfying.

@baltaronsteam: This is why I love the GiantBomb community. Thank you for all the suggestions in regards to Eternal. I'm psyched to give it a go on Tuesday when it gets delivered.

It's funny, back in March when it came out, I was totally not in the right mindset to play the game due to Covid starting, and instead went the Animal Crossing route. However, as you mentioned, after 6 months of craziness, Doom Eternal will probably be a pretty cathartic experience now.

I'll definitely give the controller options a look. Having the airdash on the bumpers seems like a great suggestion.

Thanks again! Stay safe out there. I feel like everyday is just another thing added to an already crazy and shitty 6 months.

I'm one of those people who plays on the easiest settings (at least nowadays). I found Doom Eternal to be pretty fun, but like you said, the chainsaw mechanic wasn't really enjoyable for me. It felt more like a timed mechanic/animation that you have to do every 15-20 kills more than an interesting optional thing to do at your convenience. Nice writeup, nonetheless.

Talked about it in chat a few times but I kind of think the difficulty in doom eternal is a trap

A lot of us played on Ultraviolence (Ultraviolent? UV!) because we are masochists. And the first level or two are pure and utter hell (hee hee). But it also forces you to learn and engage with basically every mechanic right from the start which, funny enough, made the later levels a LOT easier. Was streaming a bit to a friend who got stuck in the middle of the game and he found it insane how I was chaining together so many weapon swaps and special kills to keep my ammo, health, and armor up. And that is because you really have no other choice.

Whereas, on the easier difficulties, you can still get by playing this like a, for lack of a better term, DOOM game. Use the guns you like, swap to a heavy weapon when you see a baron. Done. But when the later gates start throwing things at you or the later encounter rooms just keep going on and on? You need to learn all those skills against super enemies rather than imps.

But mostly: Doom 2016 is a modernized DOOM. DOOM eternal is Hotline Miami in FPS form (with shades of Bulletstorm).

Alright, so made it through the first two levels this week. I am getting my ass kicked!

Any other tips? I was playing on Hurt Me Plenty, and ended up lowering it. I know, I know...

I keep trying to be aware of my abilities and alternating when to use them, but dang.

Generally, always be moving. Hit and run style. Get the dazed and confused rune so enemies are stunned for longer. And the blood fueled rune to get a speed boost after a glory kill, good wqy to get your ass out of the fire. Prioritize the praetor suit upgrade for the faster dash reload and instant dash refresh after a glory kill. Also focus on health upgrades for the sentinel crystals.

Try the Ripatorium. Provides an opportunity to mess around in a combat arena without losing ammo. Can only do it once each time you return to the fortress though (dumb decision imo, this game really could have used a proper dedicated practice area). Because of that, I'd recommend not killing everything right away, try getting a feel for the various ranges of the demon's attacks and moving without stopping.

Also, if you're trying to evade try not to spam both of your dashes at once.

@mightyduck: It depends on how you hold a controller, but I set the dash to L3 because it allows for me to never take my fingers off the triggers. I don't use my index and middle fingers simultaneously, just my index. It's not ideal when it comes to how it feels at first, but I got used to it. I don't remember what it is originally (B?) I did have it set to one of the bumpers, but after I finished the game I think it was, it made more sense to have the ice and fire grenade set to RB, and the flame thrower set to LB. The crucible is on B, and chainsaw X.

@ntm: @birtrum_yonce: Thank you both! I'll continue to give it a go!! Those demons aren't going to destroy themselves.

Some 20ish years ago, I was obsessed with a show on the History Channel called Weapons of (at?) War. There was an episode that focused on fighter planes, in which they interviewed a retired fighter pilot. I don't remember everything he said, but I have always remembered the first rule of dogfighting: Speed Is Life.

Doom Eternal isn't about dogfighting, but that advice still rings true. I played Doom 2016 earlier this year and enjoyed it; I finished Doom Eternal a few weeks ago and I absolutely loved it. I had a blast with this game. I pulled up guides and replayed levels to gather collectibles (I still need to get a few). Replaying levels with cheats turned on was so much fun.

The story and lore are hilariously over the top and the codex entries are often poorly written. I found myself shaking my head as I read the lore because, sure, it fits the tone of the game perfectly, but it reads like it's written by a middle school boy who thinks he's being edgy by writing "666" on all his notebooks. I'm still not sure if it's meant to self-aware or not.

Never stop moving. If you have to dodge, dash, and weave around the level 3 times before you kill a demon, it's better to do that than stand in one place until it's dead. My main complaints come from the ways that the game tries to change this. The marauders and the final boss fight both change the pace and nature of combat in ways that make it more frustrating than fun. The Khan Maykr fight was intense, but at least it asked you to play the way the game had been teaching you the whole time. The final boss battle felt like it was ripped from the design doc of a game made 15 years ago.

Those gripes aside, I had an absolute blast playing this game and highly recommend it if anyone is interested in a fun, fast-paced shooter with great weapons and an insane amount of over-the-top demon killing.

I think Doom Eternal is the Michael Bay's Transformers of video games. Allow me to elaborate.

There's a really cool action core here. When guns are going and dudes are running and jumping around and exploding and the whole thing descends into chaos, it's great, highly entertaining. The problem is, I get the sense that the people who made this are somehow embarassed by just providing that, and feel the need to legitimize their action explosion-fest with a bunch of trash that is absolutely horrible and only serves to kill the pacing of the good parts. Whether it's Transformers offering extensive dumps of Transformers lore and character building for whatever wet slabs of cardboard stand between those movies and technically being considered animated pictures, or Doom Eternal pretending I care one iota about Doomguy origins or want to live out my clunky, bad Mirror's Edge fantasies, these bits are pointless. They don't enhance the actual action parts that I like (I should note with regards to Doom Eternal I'm not referring to the movement mechanics, those are good, I'm explicitly referring to the platforming sections), and they aren't good unto themselves, so why do they exist at all.

There are plenty of cases that you can point to of games that are pure action and no chaff, including, infuriatingly, Doom.

That, plus the middling boss fights (are there any good boss fights in a first-person shooter? Like, actually good, not just inoffensive) mean Doom Eternal will remain an eternal 6/10 in my book. It's fine. The shooting bits are really good. I just wish id believed in those enough to let them carry the game without interjecting with Doom Lore every 30 minutes.

Jumped back into Eternal last week after not having played it since they introduced (and thankfully took out) the anti-cheat system. It’s still a really good game for me and I love how quickly I got back into the frantic pace of it.

I really hope the DLC is able to serve me a good chunk of new content to blast through.