DOOM Eternal Gameplay Reveal Impressions

[igg]

1 hour ago, DooM_RO said:

I think people are taking the cartoony argument a bit too far.

Agree. In addition for me Doom Eternal looks less cartony than Doom 2016. Especially the Baron of Hell looks now much better. In Doom 2016 he looked like a red Lego statue: unsharp  unreal, bulky, cartoonish.

[Touchdown]

Some people are just not too happy that the new id has decided to completely get rid of the horror aspect, that has always been a significant part of the franchise.

Nobody's denying that DOOM has over-the-top elements. People keep bringing up "go find some meat!" and Doomguy smiling when he picks up a weapon or literally tearing demons apart with a Berserk pack as a proof that DOOM has always been silly and goofy. Nobody's saying that those elements do not hint at a certain amount of self-awareness. But acting as if this is the only thing that matters rubs some folks the wrong way.

You want to believe that DOOM has never been serious and that we somehow just didn't notice it, fine. But say that to Deimos Lab, say that to Monster Condo, say that to Halls of the Damned, all those levels that not only feature a lot more atmospheric music that sets the tone but some of them in terms of gameplay literally hate the player. People keep shooting down DOOM3 because it was "wrong" but the fact remains that the old id still thought that the horror aspect of the franchise was important and valid.

For me personally, I don't mind the arcade'y gameplay because it works. Even though the new Doomguy is not what I would have imagined, I still admire how they've handled him - giving him personality but not overdoing it with one-liners or other stupid comments. I'm ok with those things. What I'm not okay with is that they really don't know what to do with the creatures. You've got a gritty Hellknight and right next to it a toy-like Pinky or the goofy Pain Elemental, both of which look and act ridiculous. That's a jarring inconsistency in my eyes. You've created a realistic-looking environment so keep monsters in the same style.

But what can you do, crowd cheers when they see a classic sprite recreated, no matter how stupid it looks with modern graphics. So of course that's what they're doing. I just expected a bit more creativity and a bit more courage to pursue and stand behind their own ideas of how would those monsters look today... instead of just riding the nostalgia train all the time. Yeah, it looks exactly like the original. Cool. But I'd be more interested in something more creative than that.

[seed]

I wouldn't call that inconsistency either. To me that's instead a (successful) blend of various styles. I don't think that's out of place at all.

[Kristian Nebula]

6 minutes ago, Agent6 said:

I wouldn't call that inconsistency either. To me that's instead a (successful) blend of various styles. I don't think that's out of place at all.

 

I also like all different aspects in the game are connected and it just works together.

 

I wrote there already earlier in the thread but no one seemed to notice my post, so gonna say it again; am I the only one who paid attention to that the Hellknight seems to have eyes this time around? :)

[flouter]

I personally like that wierd mix of styles. I think that's what makes it creative. In my eyes it will probably make the game have a really unique feel and that's a good thing.

[explorix]

9 minutes ago, Kristian Nebula said:

 

I also like all different aspects in the game are connected and it just works together.

But please tell me and the others who miss the dark and horror aspects, WHERE are those different aspects?

I can't see them...

19 minutes ago, Agent6 said:

To me that's instead a (successful) blend of various styles.

I would like to know where you are seeing this?

[seed]

18 minutes ago, Kristian Nebula said:

I also like all different aspects in the game are connected and it just works together.

 

I wrote there already earlier in the thread but no one seemed to notice my post, so gonna say it again; am I the only one who paid attention to that the Hellknight seems to have eyes this time around? :)

 

Same, basically like the classics.

 

Also you're not: 

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, explorix said:

I would like to know where you are seeing this?

 

In what Touchdown sees inconsistency.

[flouter]

14 minutes ago, elarmadillo3 said:

Getting sick of nostalgia pandering and neckbeards (TheGamePhilosophe) saying stupid shit?

Are we gonna be the next Sonic fandom?

 

YOOOOOOO DOOM MANIA IS EXACTLY WHAT WE WANTED YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS

[RightField]

Some people are not living in the real world. Doom 2016 was a modern classic and reinvented fps gameplay. Doom Eternal will most probably be an even better game. I'd think they're gonna do it right. Stockholders? Disposable experience? I mean what? Here you got a team of 200 people (which is not much, really) working their asses off to make a great game, even holding off just releasing more dlc stuff for Doom 2016 to not give people something half-assed. There's even a great interview where Marty talks about team building highlighting how this is not a generic design team. It's not 1993 anymore, you can't just make Doom again because that's not very creative is it? What they are doing right now though, in all ways is.

 

Now as for atmospheric areas balance (which is actually a legitimate thing to talk about), Doom 2016 had plenty and judging from those night sentinel world shots this one will as well. I wouldn't really worry about it, it wouldn't be a great game without a dynamic pace. The only thing I didn't like about Doom 2016 was that it was too short, and lacked co-op. But I'm guessing they're fixing that this time around.

 

As for modding. I'm sure you could mod a modern game like Doom Eternal just fine if you had a team of 100 professional game designers working on it. But even if they open those channels for it in the code (as they already said they're doing, so I guess this will maybe open for smaller gameplay mods?) I wouldn't count on elaborate content and long campaigns or anything because of the effort involved.

 

The original doom is easy for anyone to mod because it doesn't require people to be incredible artists or coders to make it blend in the game. (although as the community has shown, it always helps) ;) To get anything to fit into the new doom would be a pretty steep learning curve. I guess they could add an old-school editor that lets you make normal Doom maps the old way (and maybe someone even will post release) but I'm not sure what the point of that would be. Couldn't we just then play the old doom?

[Kristian Nebula]

2 hours ago, Agent6 said:

 

Same, basically like the classics.

 

Also you're not: 

 

 

 

That's the only thing I found a bit odd in the reveal because the 2016 HK was as perfect as possible. Maybe they will decided to go with the '16 one in the final release though maybe. :)

[Man of Doom]

8 hours ago, TheGamePhilosophe said:

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand the original Doom. The blend of horror and action is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of geek culture such as D&D most of the game’s influences will go over a typical player's head. There's also the corporate politics behind the UAC, which is deftly woven into their characterisation- their personal philosophy draws heavily from counterculture and cyberpunk works, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of the gameplay, to realise that it’s not just engaging- it says something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who like Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal (AKA Doom 2016 2) truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the horror in Doomguy's existential situation of “himself vs. the demons,” which itself is a raw expression of anger and frustration that took perverse pleasure in subverting religion, conformity, and morality. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as John Romero's and John Carmack’s genius wit unfolds itself on their computer screens. What fools.. how I pity them. 😂

 

And yes, by the way, i DO have a Cacodemon tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid 😎

 

 

 

whoa there, slow your roll my dude

 

 

Seriously, what is up with all the high-falutin and self-congratulatory asswiping that’s been going on here?

 

First, Doom Eternal is now “too cartoony” despite people having complained in the past about Doom 2016’s “piss filter?” In regards to general aesthetics, this is about as close to the original game we’re getting, and that’s not even counting the items shown in DE which look almost exactly like the original game’s pickups. 

 

Additionally, Doomguy is now an unstoppable force of nature as opposed to some dude with a gun hiding in a closet from demons, and that completely ruins Doom for some reason. The original Doom was so abstract and left so much to the imagination that people drew a wide spectrum of experiences from it; like @Eligos previously mentioned, what you got out of it widely varied based on how you saw the game (usually either as a somewhat cheesy horror game with emphasis on atmosphere or as a heavy metal power fantasy with one marine taking on the forces of Hell).

Hell, even in Doom 3 and Doom 64, which had way more of an emphasis on atmosphere and ambience, still had you playing as a literal one-man army against the hordes of Hell.

Besides, @DooM_RO mentioned that Doomguy evolving into the Doomslayer feels like a natural evolution of a character, and that completely makes sense. I mean, after spending what is potentially a literal eternity in Hell, you’ve had to have become unfazed by the creatures that made you cower in fear in the past. 

 

It’s not like the creative team behind Doom 2016/Doom Eternal just “forgot” about the horror aspects of Doom, either. They just didn’t throw in any jumpscares or nightmare faces. If anything, there’s also an emphasis on atmosphere as well, but it’s there after all the demons have been reduced to red paste.

The Hell levels in D2016 are exceptional about this, for example; in the Kadingir Sanctum or the Necropolis, you can hear otherworldly whispering and ungodly droning as you traverse what is otherwise a barren landscape.

Hell, in Mick Gordon’s official release of the soundtrack, there are tracks which much better fit a straight-up horror game than the “adolescent power fantasy” that many consider D2016 to be (“Residual,” “The Stench,” and “Death and Exhale” are some good tracks to refer to, as well as the Slayer’s Testament tracks). 

 

Failing all of that, we haven’t even seen the full game yet.

Based on what we’ve seen in concept art and that brief footage of what appears to be the Night Sentinels’ homeworld, it appears that more of that “fridge horror” will be employed into Doom Eternal. Case in point, the “angels” that look just as otherworldly and alien as the demons. 

 

Just cool your jets, then wait and see. Like I said, the game is not out yet. 

Edited August 15, 2018 by Man of Doom

[xdarkmasterx]

16 minutes ago, Man of Doom said:

They just didn’t throw in any jumpscares

not exactly 😈

 

[Dear Hoplite]

On 8/11/2018 at 12:21 AM, KillPixel said:

The game should be called Doom Internal because I want it inside of me.

Same

[flouter]

I have just now realized that the Cacodemons in Eternal have pupils. Also, I really like the look of the possesed. Especially their cool boney hands.

 

 

Edited August 15, 2018 by fant0m999

[DooM_RO]

@fant0m999

 

Where did you get that screenshot?

[Touchdown]

It's on the official site just like all the other screenshots.

[Quasar]

I think it's important to distinguish between different kinds of humor and corniness since some feel right and others feel off. Personally I'm fine with some of the aspects they've thrown in, like the PE's "coming to get ya" "walk" and the fact you can make cacodemons do a Dodongo-style stomach explosion (ROFL). On the other hand, I'm a bit put off by the fact that NPCs now look borderline anime. Monsters acting silly occasionally is fine; we don't have much of a reference for what a giant floating head from Hell would do. But human beings do not have gigantic eyes, exaggerated noses, etc and I don't see any precedent in any Doom media for expecting a human in the Doom universe to look like they walked out of a Pixar film. I can certainly live with it, but I still don't like it. The prior game showed a much better NPC character design aesthetic, period.

[flouter]

4 minutes ago, Quasar said:

The prior game showed a much better NPC character design aesthetic, period.

 

Subjective.

[Koko Ricky]

So, related...How come some of you folks have criticized the reveal videos as being linear? It looked to me like there was a wealth of exploratory options in both the Earth and Phobos demos.

[flouter]

19 minutes ago, GoatLord said:

So, related...How come some of you folks have criticized the reveal videos as being linear? It looked to me like there was a wealth of exploratory options in both the Earth and Phobos demos.

 

In the first gameplay right before the Pinky comes out you can even see a blue door meaning that there will be a lot of backtracking.

[Eligos]

21 minutes ago, GoatLord said:

So, related...How come some of you folks have criticized the reveal videos as being linear? It looked to me like there was a wealth of exploratory options in both the Earth and Phobos demos.

I agree. If this shot is any indicator we may have a lot more exploration opportunities in this game than in the previous.

 

 

 

 

The level seemed a lot more involved this time around. With more hazards scattered throughout and it seemed to have more of an emphasis on stuff like going through portals and looking around for keys.

[elarmadillo3]

All i want is for our God, Sandy, to come back and make this game good.

[jerrysheppy]

20 minutes ago, elarmadillo3 said:

All i want is for our God, Sandy, to come back and make this game good.

 

It would be interesting to see Sandy as, maybe not a level designer, but an advisor on aesthetics or something.  Like he could suggest a sort of theme, layout, or visual hook that might not occur to someone designing a, for lack of a better term, "realistic" hell.

[Touchdown]

He could be an advisor on the story, after all he wrote all the intermission texts for the original games. Oh wait, I'm not sure if that's such a great idea.

[Linguica]

From the official Doom strategy guide, 1994

 

[Enforcer]

8 hours ago, Kristian Nebula said:

 

That's the only thing I found a bit odd in the reveal because the 2016 HK was as perfect as possible. Maybe they will decided to go with the '16 one in the final release though maybe. :)

They are the same as in 2016. But now you can see their eyes but only when you blow off ther skin off their faces.

[Gez]

14 hours ago, DooM_RO said:

I think people are taking the cartoony argument a bit too far.

 

It's not like this

 

 

Is the same as this.

 

I think the problem is that "cartoony" has started to mean "deliberately non-realistic" and that means that Evil Dead is now in the same genre as Looney Tunes.

[xvertigox]

Looks tight as fuck, the grapple is dope as is invasion. I like that they were more faithful Doom 1/2 when it came to monster design too.

[Zemini]

1 hour ago, Gez said:

I think the problem is that "cartoony" has started to mean "deliberately non-realistic" and that means that Evil Dead is now in the same genre as Looney Tunes.

 

Well slapstick would be a better term than cartoony.  Evil Dead was more horror where as its sequel/remake was silly slap stick in parts.

[Man of Doom]

6 hours ago, Quasar said:

I'm a bit put off by the fact that NPCs now look borderline anime. Monsters acting silly occasionally is fine; we don't have much of a reference for what a giant floating head from Hell would do. But human beings do not have gigantic eyes, exaggerated noses, etc and I don't see any precedent in any Doom media for expecting a human in the Doom universe to look like they walked out of a Pixar film. I can certainly live with it, but I still don't like it. The prior game showed a much better NPC character design aesthetic, period.

 

YES, this was something I’ve been meaning to talk about!

 

While it’s not really a deal-breaker, the fact that the scientists (especially the red keycard guy) looked more like characters from Dishonored or PREY 2017 is really off-putting and actually kind of tosses them into the uncanny valley, whereas Doom 2016 was more focused on actually making people look like people. 

 

It’s actually kind of a shame too because the exaggerated facial proportions of human NPCs in DE actually clash with the rest of their bodies which are realistically proportionate for a human being (for example, you can actually see the individual fibers on the suit the keycard guy is wearing, yet his face looks like some sort of high official in Dunwall). The other scientists actually seem to have it worse, a couple of them being reminiscent of that one scientist you have to save in a particularly notorious QTE in the Spider-Man 3 video game. 

 

Hopefully, this is just a development quirk that should get worked out before the final release. 

Edited August 15, 2018 by Man of Doom