The Ancient Gods - Trailer and Release Date

The Hell Guard in gameplay terms had a lot of unique abilities that could have been reused for multiple enemies. the kind that felt different and made you act somewhat different too. (some stuff that i think could even pass for the "FreeDoom test")

Its design is the problem but it's mostly because of both the art direction and lore of the new games, which tries to visually "unify" most demons and make their backgrounds sound too "scientific" or "taking away the magic". (basically the stuff that makes them sound and even look too alien or "not unnatural enough" when Hell and even Urdak are supposed to be godlike/supernatural realms but they feel even more limited by some "natural laws")

Because most demons could look like a representation of a nightmare/sin/concept/etc, a parody/corruption of something, some evil entity that clearly created a creature, something that shouldn't exist and probably more than that. (Hell in general works when you justify it as an evil dimension that "Just is")

If this was classic Doom, they could have been actual satanic looking tech/metal mech/robots built by Hell itself (not UAC/Cultists/Maykrs/etc) with more dark medieval weapons, to fit that Cyberflesh Hell aesthetic. (because when i say classic Hell is done differently from new Doom Hell, you might as well assume they discovered or even invented tech before humans, due to their crazy nature and the fact that Doom's setting was pretty much an "idea" and not really a "universe")

It's the sort of thing that makes me think of a "classicfied" Whiplash with an actual snake tail and the upper half probably being the "cyber" part. (mostly thinking of the Ophidian from Heretic if it was a Doom enemy and the idea being Hell copying the form of a snake and make a demon out of it)

I also like to imagine the worm coming out of the mech/mechanical bodies and behave similarly to the Duke Nukem Protozoid Slimers/hands from Blood, where it tries to eat the player's face but they can still be killed easily. (maybe even drop a few items everytime it's killed)(it'd have to be an easy enough enemy to justify it blinding the player's view with a disgusting mouth and teeth)

Making the worms enemies would also be like if the FreeDoom worms were "canon" in Doom. (on a similar thought, considering the Fire Baron, imagine if an update lead to Arachnotrons dropping their mechanical legs/cannon and float around with exposed tentacles, shooting mind controlled lasers like in Valiant)

I understand the opinions that the Hell Guard's design don't align with the rest of Doom monsters or the concept of hell corrupts lore, although I think it still can be made to fit.

The Hell Guards body acts as a mechanised armour likely made from pure argent sources and materials from that particular dimension, rather than a corrupted organic life form enhanced by another specie's technology / materials. The worm creature itself could possibly be what's corrupted from a previously invaded planet or dimension. With this type of logic, the Hell Guards make sense to me.

If they were to make a return in some form, I'd say change the armour to match the current hellish and cybernetic designs and change their attacks / health / behaviour to suit a heavy or super heavy demon. Perhaps the re-introduced ones can be a biological mess between human and steel material collected from earth. A weaker but more freaky Hell Guard - likely with a different name as their purpose would be different.

Hell Guard would be awesome but I would look at some of the other concept arts of him.  In Doom 2016 he looks like a WoW Golem.

I just realized the Blood Angel would be a good target for inclusion in Battlemode.

- Has a ranged attack (as all Battlemode demons do)

- Has a dash ability (as most Battlemode demons do)

- Probably has a decent amount of health (no Battlemode demon is fodder)

- Just like the Marauder, they can just remove its armor mechanic for Battlemode

The Blood Angel was also shown shooting two massive projectiles at the same time, similarly to the classic Mancubus but without doing it 3 times in a row.

Since it's something that technically no other enemies does it, i'd keep it.

Welp, the soundtrack thing has been confirmed by the man himself:

More information arriving this Friday 

I wasn’t sure where to post this, but I thought I’d place this here for reasons I’m about to get to:

So it appears that if we do get to meet Erebus, he’ll likely take on a different form. It’s been confirmed by the guy who did the art that the fat demon in the first pic is not meant to be Erebus but rather an earlier version of what was meant to be Kalibas, The Sightless Judge.

Makes sense. You can see the columns with the eyes you need to shoot. Shame, it would have been a more interesting battle from the looks of it. 

I've just remembered that one of the new demons is called a "Blood Angel".

Lawsuit from Games Workshop when?

Notes from the recent EGX livestream:

* DLC comes with Battlemode.

* The Ancient Gods is the conclusion of the Samuel Hayden arc and Doom Slayer being found in the sarcophagus from 2016.

* (Urdak) forest is in the last level.

* The Spirit prioritizes Heavies mostly, will not enter Empowered Demons, and is to be usable in Master Levels.

* There are never more than two Marauders at once. There is an encounter where you fight a purposely buffed Marauder.

3 hours ago, AtimZarr1 said:

Notes from the recent EGX livestream:

 

* DLC comes with Battlemode.

 

* The Ancient Gods is the conclusion of the Samuel Hayden arc and Doom Slayer being found in the sarcophagus from 2016.

 

* (Urdak) forest is in the last level.

 

* The Spirit prioritizes Heavies mostly, will not enter Empowered Demons, and is to be usable in Master Levels.

 

* There are never more than two Marauders at once. There is an encounter where you fight a purposely buffed Marauder.

Really wish they would have shed more light on the new abilities. Im really hoping for some more super powered melee options like blood punch.

I wonder about what do they mean by abilities.

Like grabbing barrels and tossing them at enemies, Donkey Kong-style.

Or forming some shockwave/Area-of-effect attack, by either jumping really hard or falling down, to knock off enemies. (i think Rage 2 kinda did this)

I’m going to be selfish here, but whatever the new ability is, I hope it doesn’t need a new dedicated button, as I’m going to have to stick it on my D-pad on my PS4 controller and taking my thumb off my movement stick to hit it

1 hour ago, Mattatsu said:

I’m going to be selfish here, but whatever the new ability is, I hope it doesn’t need a new dedicated button, as I’m going to have to stick it on my D-pad on my PS4 controller and taking my thumb off my movement stick to hit it

My bet is the new ability might be a new grenade type. Currently, Frag Grenade and Ice Bomb are accessible from a "next equipment" and "previous equipment" buttons, rather than just dedicated buttons for each (despite both systems only taking two slots in effect). Makes it seem like they want to future proof additional grenade types into the control scheme if they didn't label the swaps keys as just individual grenade keys - and that might be what's new in Ancient Gods.

Someone on reddit found some strings on the steam DB that reveals the names of all the DLC levels as well as the new hub:

2 hours ago, AtimZarr1 said:

 

My bet is the new ability might be a new grenade type. Currently, Frag Grenade and Ice Bomb are accessible from a "next equipment" and "previous equipment" buttons, rather than just dedicated buttons for each (despite both systems only taking two slots in effect). Makes it seem like they want to future proof additional grenade types into the control scheme if they didn't label the swaps keys as just individual grenade keys - and that might be what's new in Ancient Gods.

This makes me think they might allow you to swap grenades in the hub. Flamethrower and icebomb being default and good combo, perhaps we can replace them.

1 hour ago, Hunting4r2d2 said:

Someone on reddit found some strings on the steam DB that reveals the names of all the DLC levels as well as the new hub:

 

Nice find. I wonder what's the significance of the levels being labeled as E4M1-3.

7 hours ago, AtimZarr1 said:

Nice find. I wonder what's the significance of the levels being labeled as E4M1-3.

Weren't Doom Eternal levels named in ExMx format already?

4 hours ago, Vic Vos said:

Weren't Doom Eternal levels named in ExMx format already?

Indeed, they are.

That one UAC ship/water carrier from the codex was something i always expected to be in the DLC's.

Seems like something you would not want to waste.

I wonder if part 2 would have a different HUB too.

I also hope more keycard variants and even for explosive barrels and automap computers are a thing.

There's something interesting about "expanding" on different themes with objects.

I liked that Hell even had their explosive barrels and automap pick ups in 2016 and even Eternal had like exclusive barrels.

As for keys, they felt underused and were more stylized like arcade-ish pick ups.

They added a page for The Ancient Gods on the Slayer's Club: https://slayersclub.bethesda.net/en/the-ancient-gods

Also, new Blood Swamp image:

On 9/18/2020 at 9:02 AM, AtimZarr1 said:

There is an encounter where you fight a purposely buffed Marauder.

Oh cool, maybe I'll get the Vergil style fight I was hoping the Marauder was originally going to provide.

Quote

ARC Carrier hub level

Neat. Weird as it may sound, I kinda hope this hub actually has ARC npcs wandering around.

5 hours ago, AtimZarr1 said:

They added a page for The Ancient Gods on the Slayer's Club: https://slayersclub.bethesda.net/en/the-ancient-gods

 

Also, new Blood Swamp image:

 

Somehow, just somehow those rock formations in the fog remind me of this. :)

Cool that they're making this! Always room for Doom. id has done good.

On 9/19/2020 at 5:48 AM, Hunting4r2d2 said:

Someone on reddit found some strings on the steam DB that reveals the names of all the DLC levels as well as the new hub:

 

This is probably what the new hub's gonna look like since it's named ''ARC Carrier''

https://doom.fandom.com/wiki/Armored_Response_Coalition?file=20200408102759_1.jpg

also a ship that big is probably operated by multiple crew members so there's a big change (and I hope so) that we're gonna meet some ARC scientists, maybe even Dr. Elena Richardson from the audio logs and that guy who greets the Slayer in the ARC Tower

Hopefully Dr Richardson has gotten over her crisis of faith by then, otherwise it could be awkward.

I wonder how big the ARC Carrier ship will be like.

Makes me wonder if there would be unlockable content like there is for the Fortress of Doom.

And if we could even jump to the water and teleport back to the ship just because.

13 hours ago, whatup876 said:

I wonder how big the ARC Carrier ship will be like.

Makes me wonder if there would be unlockable content like there is for the Fortress of Doom.

And if we could even jump to the water and teleport back to the ship just because.

on this picture you can see some ARC soldiers in formation so I'd say it's kinda big

18 hours ago, whatup876 said:

I wonder how big the ARC Carrier ship will be like.

Makes me wonder if there would be unlockable content like there is for the Fortress of Doom.

And if we could even jump to the water and teleport back to the ship just because.

Just an observation, in the stills of the *Atlantica Facility* you can see the same aerial vehicles that are parked on the deck of the ARC Carrier, maybe this implies some sort of force projection to aid the slayer when he inevitably arrives there, or maybe an evacuation of personnel, though it is demarked as *UAC* Atlantica facility so maybe not. I'm not implying the aid of ARC NPC's with the former either, but aid on a narrative level.

On an unrelated note, on Samuel being revealed as the Seraphim, surely this is directed at the fourth wall only. I can't see how this would be a revelation to the slayer when you consider all relevant lore and the question is whether the slayer has known since his lazarus moment arising from the sarcophagus. There is actually some interesting though maybe inconsistent lore in regards to Samuel that came out of the collectors edition book, I will need to review it again and will post in time.