At E3 2019 we had the opportunity to preview the new Doom Eternal, highly anticipated by fans. During our test of about an hour, we were able to try all the weapons we faced a great variety of enemies, in a very large playable area and with a slightly different level design than usual.
After the fantastic DOOM 2016, which made the players dream again, finally able to replay the King of FPS, now comes Doom Eternal, a new chapter that tries a little to rejuvenate the classic style of Doom but without distorting it too much, thus keeping all the features loved by fans.
Our test started, we take on the role of the Slayer of demons, intent on facing one of the game's missions, which obviously sees us ready, among other things, to slaughter any enemy that stands in our way. Being a demo, not all weapons were available immediately, but a new weapon was provided before the start of each combat "arena", explaining how it works through a short tutorial. The weapons are the classic of DOOM, ranging from pulse weapons, portable cannons, shotguns, rocket launchers and many others that all have their usefulness in certain contexts, thus forcing us to become proficient with each of them.
As already mentioned, DOOM's standard mechanics remained, there has been some change in terms of level design that now offers some more interesting ideas, such as pipes to jump or certain holds that allow us to climb the walls. For the rest, the gameplay is the classic one, based on small arenas where there are a certain number of enemies to kill to continue our mission. There is obviously no shortage of secrets, which can be unlocked and collected by exploring the most hidden corners of the map.
Another novelty of this Doom Eternal are the ways of acquiring shard armor and life, which we can collect by performing fatalities on stunned enemies, so as to obtain cores of life. To get the armor shards we will have to use the incinerator cannon present on our shoulders, incinerate our enemies and subsequently collect our loot.
During the fighting in the arena we will also have the opportunity to collect ammo, life kits and fuel in order to refuel during the most complex battles, which could often put us on the ropes. Always scattered around the map we can collect the bonus armor, more specifically the classic helmet and armor, which will guarantee us greater resistance. To avoid repeating everything from the initial checkpoint, we can finally collect the extra life, very rare on the map and which tends not to reappear once collected.
From the point of view of the gameplay, there have therefore been no major upheavals, with an approach that remains rather classic, albeit slightly updated, and a narrative component that continues to serve only as a side dish to an experience mainly focused on gameplay. Another novelty that we want to tell you about the enemies, thanks to the new extras who now go alongside enemies that we have already learned about with DOOM 2016.
From a graphic point of view there is nothing to say, the work done is definitely wonderful, both as regards the graphics of the environments and the characterization of the enemies themselves. The finishing moves are also fantastic, much more varied and decidedly more brutal than ever. Even the audio sector, entrusted once again to Mick Gordon, offers unique emotions, thanks to music that accompanies us for the duration of the adventure. If we can find a fault with this demo this would be the difficulty, which seemed perhaps too low due to the too many supplies present in the map, but we are sure it is a feature of the demo that obviously was designed to be accessible to all.
Doom Eternal is a title that unfortunately (or fortunately) does not definitively break with the past, offering us a gameplay that is also very reminiscent of the nearby DOOM 2016. During our test we were able to appreciate the excellent characterization of the environments, of the enemies and above all of the finishing moves, now even more lethal. Improvements also from the graphic point of view, which thanks to the versatile graphics engine is able to guarantee an exceptional visual rendering and at the same time a frame rate of 60 fps, essential for fast games like DOOM.
► Doom Eternal is a Shooter type game developed by Id Software Panic Button and published by Bethesda for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, the video game was released on 20/03/2020 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 08/12/2020
Doom Eternal is a beautiful game that cannot be missing from your collection: we have decided to evaluate it with a 90%, if you are interested in learning more you can read the Doom Eternal Review
