Why is Hell so... YELLOW?

[Foebane72]

Hell has been very badly represented in this game, unlike every other in the Doom series.

 

I mean, Hell is meant to be red skies, fire and brimstone, smoke, lava, the cries of the damned, thunder, lightning and a general sense of foreboding and danger. In Doom 2016, Hell looks like an alien world with a relatively calm setting and yellow skies, and maybe the odd rumble of thunder, and aside from the masses of human remains around the place, you wouldn't think it was Hell in a Biblical sense at all. But then, the remains could be those of numerous wars and massacres on this alien world.

 

I figured they did this as Mars is featured heavily in the same game, and they needed to tell them apart, yet Mars is a more intimidating environment than Hell in this game!

 

So why yellow? Every other Hell portrayal in Doom 1-3 and Eternal has been RED! I assume yellow because of sulphur, but that's a stretch.

 

[NoXion]

Is it really that yellow? OK, I'll grant you that the sky/lighting looks pretty orange for the most part, but Hell in 2016, or at least Kadingir Sanctum, felt more reddish-brown. The game as a whole seems to have a pretty red-biased palette.

As for why yellow, flames are usually depicted in that colour. Maybe that's it?

[Foebane72]

More like amber, I'd say, in a pinch.

 

[NoXion]

I do agree though that places like Kadingir Sanctum in 2016 don't exactly feel like the classical fire-and-brimstone-and-screaming-souls depiction of Hell. There's a weirdly desolate feeling to them, as if it's a part of Hell that's forsaken even by its own damned inhabitants.

My own head-canon is that Kadingir Sanctum is located in Hell's equivalent of some vast empty wilderness. Just one of many worlds conquered and incorporated into Hell, then forgotten about like some trophy left to gather dust on a shelf.

Whereas places like Nekravol are positive hives of demonic activity, which is reflected in how they come across as being more classically "Hellish".

[Taurus Daggerknight]

The yellow is supposed to be sulfur I believe. That, and poison. 

 

I thought they worked well enough honestly. Especially given that the Mars environments are already pretty red. 

[BBQgiraffe]

in Doom demons have fucking lasers attached to them and you think the sky being yellow is inaccurate? 

[Foebane72]

31 minutes ago, Taurus Daggerknight said:

The yellow is supposed to be sulfur I believe. That, and poison. 

 

I thought they worked well enough honestly. Especially given that the Mars environments are already pretty red. 

 

I've read a few comments about Doom 2016 as to hell being poor compared to other Doom games, so it's not just me.

 

[Dark Pulse]

34 minutes ago, Taurus Daggerknight said:

The yellow is supposed to be sulfur I believe. That, and poison. 

 

I thought they worked well enough honestly. Especially given that the Mars environments are already pretty red. 

Sulfur is the right answer.

[Taurus Daggerknight]

42 minutes ago, Foebane72 said:

 

I've read a few comments about Doom 2016 as to hell being poor compared to other Doom games, so it's not just me.

 

 

Didn't say your sentiment wasn't shared by others. Just that I don't agree with it :P

 

I thought that from a visual standpoint, Kadinger looked pretty cool, and I honestly liked the sense of the air being choked with poisonous, sulfuric fumes. Also; there -are- red Hell scenes later in the game too, so it's not like Kadinger was the entirety of Hell in 2016. 

[Artman2004]

I mean, classic Doom had FIREBLU. You think yellow wouldn't be in Hell?

[Egg Boy]

I thought 2016's depiction of hell was pretty unique! I liked the floating structures and what have you. IMO hell can be presented in any number of ways, especially since Doom's hell is like a separate dimension, so you'd imagine there are several different areas/continents in hell with different ecosystems. I will agree, that it gets a bit repetitive, but that's 2016 in general, there are only like 3 settings, as opposed to Eternal which goes to all sorts of places, and even has a more traditional hell, for those that want that, it even has monolithic gothic structures that remind me more of pwads than any other doom games.

[SteelPH]

Titan's Realm, Necropolis, and Argent D'Nur seem pretty not-yellow to me.

[Lila Feuer]

D16's Hell looks "fake" for the lack of a better word. It's like a movie set, with props and erected architecture meant to set a mood, but realistically you know it's not actually there. Whereas Hell in Doom 3 felt like I was transported to another world, that was much darker and evil than anything I'd seen prior. Even the demons were charred and had pentagrams etched into their flesh. It was very oppressive overall.

[Deleted_Account]

Would you have preferred hot pink?

[Gez]

Have you looked at Hell in classic Doom? Pandemonium? Nirvana? Monster Condo?

[Edward850]

I find Foebane's constant and endless posting about how much he hates every single last thing in nu-Doom vastly more annoying than any actual problem that might be present in nu-Doom.

[Deleted_Account]

12 minutes ago, Edward850 said:

I find Foebane's constant and endless posting about how much he hates every single last thing in nu-Doom vastly more annoying than any actual problem that might be present in nu-Doom.

Just imagine if he was a food critic, he would make Gordon Ramsay blush.

[doomsucksass]

Man, that reminded me of when D2016 still wasn't out and people complained about the "piss-filter", personally i liked the gray imps

[Foebane72]

5 hours ago, Edward850 said:

I find Foebane's constant and endless posting about how much he hates every single last thing in nu-Doom vastly more annoying than any actual problem that might be present in nu-Doom.

 

I don't "hate every single last thing in nu-Doom", so STOP LYING.

 

[Foebane72]

8 hours ago, Gez said:

Have you looked at Hell in classic Doom? Pandemonium? Nirvana? Monster Condo?

 

Who are you talking to?

 

[Foebane72]

11 hours ago, SteelPH said:

Titan's Realm, Necropolis, and Argent D'Nur seem pretty not-yellow to me.

 

Just seen this. Yes, they are different worlds, it seems. So even then, Doomslayer was being interstellar.

 

Another thing I noticed: Where is VEGA's core? It's meant to be Mars, I hear, but the sky is BLUE! Even at the poles, it should be Mars-coloured!

 

[Edward850]

2 hours ago, Foebane72 said:

 

I don't "hate every single last thing in nu-Doom", so STOP LYING.

 

Lying implies I'm knowingly providing false information, however I personally don't know of any time you have posted something positive about 2016 or Eternal. Every time I've seen you post about them it's always to complain about something like system specifications or gameplay and endless nitpicks. 

Please inform me as to what it is you like about these games, in that case. I would like to know. 

[Foebane72]

55 minutes ago, Edward850 said:

Lying implies I'm knowingly providing false information, however I personally don't know of any time you have posted something positive about 2016 or Eternal. Every time I've seen you post about them it's always to complain about something like system specifications or gameplay and endless nitpicks. 

Please inform me as to what it is you like about these games, in that case. I would like to know. 

 

I've posted many things positive about both games, you just haven't been around when I've done so, or have been conspicuously silent when I've done so.

 

[seed]

1 hour ago, Edward850 said:

Lying implies I'm knowingly providing false information, however I personally don't know of any time you have posted something positive about 2016 or Eternal. Every time I've seen you post about them it's always to complain about something like system specifications or gameplay and endless nitpicks. 

Please inform me as to what it is you like about these games, in that case. I would like to know. 

 

To be fair he's had positive things to say too, but the negatives and the nitpicks in particular greatly exceed the positives... So at this point it once again looks like tireless bashing and plain trolling.

 

At any rate, yeah, I am not fond of 2016's take on hell either, and not for silly reasons like "it's different", but with all the dark yellows and browns and caves and swamps it just felt very... "fake", I don't know how else to describe it in words. And it's not the design itself that bothers me as much as its incapacity of stirring any kind of emotions or response, doesn't inspire any feelings of awe, dread, fear, terror, nothing. It feels like it has no atmosphere, and no soul, it's just... so dull. Sure, not all of it is like this, a few locations spice things up a little, but that doesn't help by much...

 

I think Eternal and the older Doom games had more interesting and diverse takes on the concept overall - Doom 64 and PSX Doom is where it is for me. That being said, I am glad it didn't end up looking the way it did in the E3 footage and the pre-release screenshots that are still available on the Store at the very least, overbright with a shiny yellow sky...

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Foebane72]

"To be fair he's had positive things to say too, but the negatives and the nitpicks in particular greatly exceed the positives... So at this point it once again looks like tireless bashing and plain trolling."

 

Surely more like an observation, this time? Or at least a mistake made (VEGA's core on Mars with a blue sky, which is impossible).

 

 

[NoXion]

1 minute ago, Foebane72 said:

"To be fair he's had positive things to say too, but the negatives and the nitpicks in particular greatly exceed the positives... So at this point it once again looks like tireless bashing and plain trolling."

 

Surely more like an observation, this time? Or at least a mistake made (VEGA's core on Mars with a blue sky, which is impossible).

 

 

Not impossible. Mars has blue sunsets. Since VEGA's core is located in Mars' northern ice cap, a blue sky would make sense since the Sun is typically lower in the sky close to the poles of a planet. Ice crystals suspended in the local atmosphere could also be contributing to the blue appearance.

[ReaperAA]

1 hour ago, seed said:

At any rate, yeah, I am not fond of 2016's take on hell either, and not for silly reasons like "it's different", but with all the dark yellows and browns and caves and swamps it just felt very... "fake", I don't know how else to describe it in words. And it's not the design itself that bothers me as much as its incapacity of stirring any kind of emotions or response, doesn't inspire any feelings of awe, dread, fear, terror, nothing. It feels like it has no atmosphere, and no soul, it's just... so dull. Sure, not all of it is like this, a few locations spice things up a little, but that doesn't help by much...

 

^ This. I feel the same thing about Doom 2016's hell. It's just yellow and brown caves with skulls + blood here and there. The game lacks the more advanced and intimidating hellish architectures. Thankfully (from what I have seen), Doom Eternal seems to have far far better looking hellish environments.

[Deimos]

Sulfur would be my guess. It's often associated with Satan's smell (i'm serious)

I'm also referring to the cancelled "piss filter"

[Chip]

satan was probably like really mad at the demons for eating his cake, so he killed that demon, then pissed on him. sadly, gravity in hell is a bit meh, so the stuff traveled across the map. now you are swimming in piss. 

[Deimos]

36 minutes ago, LiT_gam3r said:

satan was probably like really mad at the demons for eating his cake, so he killed that demon, then pissed on him. sadly, gravity in hell is a bit meh, so the stuff traveled across the map. now you are swimming in piss.

o_o i don't remember this codex entry O_o