Doom [4] reveal first impressions

I'd like to mention that the teaser trailer looks better than gameplay, but mostly in terms of post-processing effects such as depth of field. It was also clear the shadows were more meticulous. That said, gameplay didn't look very downgraded from that. The overall detail was fairly close to the teaser.

You mean that teaser wasn't pre-rendered?

The teaser was made by a third party studio and didn't use id tech 6.

If anyone made a game running in real time that looked as good as the trailer, they are using technology that they brought back from the future.

The HUD being the player's helmet possibly harks back to the very beginning of Doom - the Alphas.

It really does. The way the overlays respond to the environment is like an upgrade to the Doom alpha. As for the teaser not being pre-rendered...it very likely is, but the point I'm trying to drive home is that actual gameplay looked very good, at times almost approaching the teaser's level of detail.

So you mentioned that the atmosphere was very Doom 3-like. Was there any Doom 1 and 2 in there? Are there any particular rooms that reminded you of the classics?

No, not really, and I wasn't reminded of specific parts of Doom 3, either. It seemed like it was trying to convey general aesthetics from all the Dooms, even PSX Doom and Doom 64. There was no homage to exact locations. It was very fresh and exciting. In some ways it even brings to mind the old Quake games.

What kind of general aesthetics? From everything you are saying it seems that id are very conscious of their legacy (unlike other devs who remake games), is that true?

In regards to Doom guys appearance, did you guys get a good look at his helmet while he was putting it on, and is he sleeveless, or are we talking full on power armor? I feel like sleeves would take away from the charm and absurdity of how badass the marine is. Otherwise I'm vaguely concerned about the over use of Cybernetics on all of the demons.

Overall everything I've read sounds great and makes me very hopeful, great job to both Goatlord and Caffeine Freak for all of the info they've given us! :)

Goatlord deserves a trophy.

It still kinda puzzles me, why did they release the teaser at all. The way it was presented with the initial "Reveal at quakecon" suggests that they were actually going to show it officially. They could've kept it as a surprise, which would've evoked less butthurt. Now the teaser seems totally obsolete for the time being.

They were VERY clear on that it was going to be for attendees only.

"As for the teaser not being pre-rendered...it very likely is"

100% it is. I don't know how you could even think it wasn't.

jerrysheppy said:

Last time I checked, glowing pentagrams weren't part of genetic or robotic research. I'm pretty sure we're getting demons from Hell. :)

There were also a few demons that teleported in, Doom 3 style.

GoatLord said:

I'd like to mention that the teaser trailer looks better than gameplay, but mostly in terms of post-processing effects such as depth of field. It was also clear the shadows were more meticulous. That said, gameplay didn't look very downgraded from that. The overall detail was fairly close to the teaser.

Yeah, I echo this opinion. Gameplay was pretty close to the teaser, graphics wise.

MacBeth said:

In regards to Doom guys appearance, did you guys get a good look at his helmet while he was putting it on, and is he sleeveless, or are we talking full on power armor? I feel like sleeves would take away from the charm and absurdity of how badass the marine is. Otherwise I'm vaguely concerned about the over use of Cybernetics on all of the demons.

I'm pretty sure the Hellknights and some of the Imps had no cybernetic stuff, but I can't 100% confirm that. The marine was sleeveless and wearing gloves. As for the helmet... Like I said, the visor was rounded. The helmet itself looked like a kind of cross between Master Chiefs helmet from Halo, and the protective helmet the player dons before entering the toxic sewer area in Resurrection of Evil.

kristus said:

They were VERY clear on that it was going to be for attendees only.

They were very clear about it a couple of weeks after the teaser that sparked people's interest.

So? What does that matter? It wasn't like it was a big secret that they surprised everyone with. Just self entitled idiots who can't handle that some people got to see something sooner.

I'm gonna be honest, I'm a tad annoyed that they didn't reveal it to the public and only as a private thing. I dunno... It just feels like ID has a lack of faith in their own product. I hope ID knows what they're doing.

I just hope they haven't cut half the shit presented at QC by the time they release some public info. That's what I'm worried about.

Thank you very much for posting all of your observations objectively, it is greatly appreciated.

kristus said:

They were VERY clear on that it was going to be for attendees only.

No they weren't. Not at all. The teaser said " Quakecon 2014 reveal". It said nothing about it only being for attendees.

Marnetmar said:

I just hope they haven't cut half the shit presented at QC by the time they release some public info. That's what I'm worried about.

Me too.

kristus said:

So? What does that matter? It wasn't like it was a big secret that they surprised everyone with. Just self entitled idiots who can't handle that some people got to see something sooner.

It has nothing to do with self entitlement. The Teaser did not mention at any point that is was going to be for attendees only. Later on they broke the news. That's what pissed people off. Has nothing to do with self entitlement. If you lead people on and get them hyped and then piss on there faces, this is what happens dude.

DooM_RO said:

What kind of general aesthetics? From everything you are saying it seems that id are very conscious of their legacy (unlike other devs who remake games), is that true?

The two maps shown had what you'd expect to see in a Doom game. It's not abstract and angular. We're not talking E1M1ish. There are crates, cat walks, an ominous spinning fan, cavernous looking stuff, corridors, big open spaces, ominous lighting, big doors with lots of detailing on them. It looks very appropriate. It's "Aliens" with some "Total Recall" and "Event Horizon" going on. It's industrial, grimey, busy. Areas look functional and seem to offer a lot of potential exploration. It seems as though a lot of the kinds of environments you'd expect on a Martian base that were strangely absent in Doom 3 will probably be featured here.

GoatLord said:

The two maps shown had what you'd expect to see in a Doom game. It's not abstract and angular. We're not talking E1M1ish. There are crates, cat walks, an ominous spinning fan, cavernous looking stuff, corridors, big open spaces, ominous lighting, big doors with lots of detailing on them. It looks very appropriate. It's "Aliens" with some "Total Recall" and "Event Horizon" going on. It's industrial, grimey, busy. Areas look functional and seem to offer a lot of potential exploration. It seems as though a lot of the kinds of environments you'd expect on a Martian base that were strangely absent in Doom 3 will probably be featured here.

I really do hope that Id doesn't forget the exploration aspect of Doom. They seemed to remember everything else that made the game great such as fast paced combat that is not cover based but movement based. However, exploration is what is missing from today's shooters.

kristus said:

So? What does that matter? It wasn't like it was a big secret that they surprised everyone with. Just self entitled idiots who can't handle that some people got to see something sooner.

Most people didn't expect that. Alot of people were very disappointed, since after getting our hopes up with some CGI we're still back to nothing, possibly for the rest of the year.

i like the gritty/gloomy look of doom 64 hope they replicate that in some levels, it's better than doom 2 actually, even the music are more scary, i want an horror action game, like doom 2 but more horror oriented, still with plenty of monster and action

GoatLord said:

The two maps shown had what you'd expect to see in a Doom game. It's not abstract and angular. We're not talking E1M1ish. There are crates, cat walks, an ominous spinning fan, cavernous looking stuff, corridors, big open spaces, ominous lighting, big doors with lots of detailing on them. It looks very appropriate. It's "Aliens" with some "Total Recall" and "Event Horizon" going on. It's industrial, grimey, busy. Areas look functional and seem to offer a lot of potential exploration. It seems as though a lot of the kinds of environments you'd expect on a Martian base that were strangely absent in Doom 3 will probably be featured here.

Ok but that sounds like any horror sci-fi shooter, just look at Alien: Isolation. My point is how do these features you mentioned retain the Doom flavor? Could you perhaps point at any map be it usermade or not that vaguely remind you of what you saw? Did the textures feel that if they were sufficiently low res they could be seamlessly integrated in a Doom map?

The whole UAC experiments thing sounds like something from the Doom movie.

I just hope there is extreme variety in the levels. That was one of the things that was wrong with Doom 3, all the levels, even the hell ones, had the same feel to them. I want some levels with a lot of color.