Is Doom3's story a prequel to Doom 2016's story or are they separate stories?

[Akfiz]

From what I remember:

 

Doom 1's story is about hell coming to Mars, but you don't start on Mars you start on Phobos. Chapter 1 is on Phobos, Chapter 2 is on Deimos and Chapter 3 on Mars. You kill the demons and go back to earth.

 

Doom 2's story is about coming back to earth, hell is already there. You fight the demons on earth, eventually go into hell and then fight the demons in hell and destroy the icon of sin. Then there's Plutonia Experiment, TNT Evilution and the newly added No Rest for the Living whose stories I don't know because I didn't play them that much.

 

Doom 3 however is a reboot. The series starts back from point 0.

 

You take control of your character when you just arrived on Mars, go to Sergeant Kelly, he gives you an order to find a runaway scientist. You find the scientist and he tells you to let him send a message because "you don't know what I've seen, the devil is real". But all hell breaks loose (Delta 4 Lab Teleportator explodes) and demons arrive to Mars.

 

You go back to HQ, there Sergeant Kelly tells you that you need to regroup with the Bravo Squad. In paralel, bodyguard Jack and Counselor Swann are going after doctor Betruger who is the main antagonsit of the series, because Betruger implies he may have something to do with the Delta 4 Teleportator exploding "amazing things will happen here soon, you just wait", and Jack also has a BFG.

 

You catch up to Bravo Squad but they are all dead, they were meant to send a distress signal to earth. So you take their encryption key and send it yourself. There you have to make a decision that essentially doesn't matter. (A) send the signal as Sergeant Kelly instructs you, doctor Betruger is essentially like thanks, you've alerted the fleet, now we can take hell back to earth. (B) don't send the signal as Counselor Swann instructs you, Sergeant Kelly will be mad but this is all meaningless because doctor Betruger alerts the fleet anyway.

 

That didn't work great, now Sergeant Kelly tells you that you need to go to the Delta Labs where all of this started. On your road there you find that you need to find an artifact in hell, because that's how this whole thing started. The escavators on Mars found an artifact, and they also discovered teleportations, with the help of instructions left behind by an ancient civilization (basically ancient aliens) on some ancient tables in their ancient temple that UAC found during the excavations. The problem was the teleportation wasn't instant, although it should be instant, so where are you going in those few seconds between the teleportation? in, hell, that's where. They discovered a portal to hell.

 

All soldiers and scientists sent there are terrified (now all of that back talk from mission 1 than weird things are happening on the colony and many marines have signed to leave makes sense) but UAC decides to continue the experiments, and explore hell. They found the demons, the specimens and are analyizing them in Delta Labs. But then doctor Betruger uses the teleporter himself. When he returns he is changed, something is weird about him. Then he find the artifact that UAC previously escavated, steals it and runs it with the teleporter to go with the artifact to hell. Turns out, the artifact was also the key to unlocking the demon's gate. And so all hell broke loose in mission 1.

 

So how do you recover that artifact from hell? you go to hell. In Delta Labs 4 use the teleporter and go to hell (best mission in the game by far), recover the artifact, go back to the Mars UAC facility and doctor Betruger tells you that no matter, he has another bigger and better portal gate through hell. I don't remember who, Sergeant Kelly, Counselor Swann or a random, but someone tells you you need to go back to the place where the artifact was discovered, because that's where it all started and that's where the gate of hell is, in Site 3. 

 

On your road to Site 3 you find out that Counselor Swann is dying and bodyguard Jack (yay, he comes in use!) was defeated by Sergeant Kelly who was found by doctor Betruger and turnes into a demon. And he also took his BFG, so now, he is a demon with a BFG. But don't worry, he's an easy boss fight just spam the Soul Cube and Rockets at him and he should be dead in no time. Also, through your whole journey doctor Betruger taunts you "making progress are we?", "making progress, Marine?", "Your soul will be mine!", "When you die, your soul will be mine!", just so you don't forget who the bad guy is.

 

Anyway, you deal with that and kill Sergeant Kelly then you reach Site 3, you go deep into the excavation caverns where it all started and find the Cyberdemon. By far the lamest boss fight ever, you just need to Soul Cube him 3 or 4 times and he's dead. While imps keep spawning so you have something easy to kill for your Soul Cube. And they also spawn 1 at a time so you will never feel overwhelmed. This was literally the only mission where I finished the game without taking any damage. I know I had more experience than in mission 2 of the game, but seriously, it's the last mission, it's the boss fight, it's not supposed to be that easy so that you beat it without taking any damage, on Veteran difficulty, and I wasn't even trying to beat it without taking any damage. Maybe if hell would have spawned Hell Knights, Pinkies and Arch-Viles instead and more than 1 at a time, and you actually had to damage the Cyberdemon, not just spam Soul Cube him, the fight would have been more challenging and the ending more rewarding. The co-op version of the Xbox edition where you actually had to shoot the Cyberdemon was by comparison far better.

 

Anyway, that weird rant out of the way.

 

Before you enter the chamber of the final boss, there is a Sarcophagus. A monument of the hero or something like that. Or chamber of the hero. It's this really big chamber where I was like "wow" when I found it.

 

Is that hero in the Sarcophagus the protagonist of Doom 2016? Like is Doom 2016 happening a few years after Doom3 and that "only survivor" marine you play as is now on earth, but UAC kept doing its experiments, brought the Sarocphagus back to the UAC base, again all hell broke loose for some reason and the Doomslayer woke up?

 

I haven't play Ressurection of Evil or Lost Mission (yet), but I'm curious whether the Doom3 and Doom 2016 are connected or Doom 2016 is a complete reboot and the hero in the Sarcophagus from Doom3 has nothing to do with Doom 2016, they are different universes.

 

So, is Doom 2016 a sequel to Doom3 or a reboot? (a re-reboot at this point)

 

Oh, yeah, also I forgot, that ancient civilization that lived on Mars, fought with the forces of hell, eventually sacrificed themselves to form the Soul Cube artifact and have it given to their super badass hero that is found in the Sarcophagus to fight the forces of hell while what remained of them teleported and ran away. They teleported on earth and became the humans. The ancient aliens on Mars are the humans.

 

 

[BonciuADV]

Both. Some of the canon in Doom 3 is real in the Reboot's plot, like the Alpha and Delta labs existing on Mars. It is theorized that the city of Hebeth is actually a Praeleanthor city, the ancient martian people that created teleportation, which makes sense considering Hebeth is in the middle of Mars and got invaded by demons.

 

But it isn't specified that Mars (and it's other outpost from Doom RPG) got invaded or that someone saved it. There are 2 distinct Doomguys in Quake Champions. Also The Hero in the sarcophagus may or may not be the Slayer, we have no info other than he is a martian and he killed the Mother Demon. Maybe the Mother had another twin?? Unlikely, and that means that only some of the plot is borrowed.

[Quasar]

All of the references to Doom 3 in Doom '16 that I'm aware of:

• You start at a location called Site 03 in '16; Site 3 was the location of Delta Labs and one of the Martian caverns in Doom 3.
• The lore entry for the Hell knight states that Hell was once ruled by a dark lord called the Guardian, who defeated the previous lord known as the Great Serpent. The Guardian is a boss in Doom 3, stated to be an ancient demon that once terrified and slaughtered dinosaurs on the pre-historic Earth.
• In Samuel Hayden's office there are Night Sentinel and Doomguy statues which state they were obtained from Site 1 and Site 3 (Doom 3 locations); the designation of the Praetor Suit statue is U9, which seems to be in line with the Doom 3 designation of the Soul Cube as U1.
• The Soul Cube itself can be found in Olivia Pierce's office. The Doomguy canonically takes it, and keeps it in his room on the Fortress of Doom in Doom Eternal, so he must have felt it was important.
• Mixom is a subcontractor company that exists in both Doom 3 and Doom '16/Eternal.
• The term "Z-Sec" occurs on many monitors in Doom '16. Z-Sec is a type of enemy in Doom 3 (short for Zombie Security).
• Most significantly, a carved relief occurs throughout the Necropolis and in Argent D'Nur which depicts a slightly different take on the battle of the ancient Martian hero with the demons using the Soul Cube, a battle previously depicted on one of the ancient Martian stone tablets in Doom 3.
• The arcade game "Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3" occurs in both games.
• The song "Harbinger" contains an excerpt of the Doom 3 main theme. In Doom Eternal, the song used for the game's official release trailer is based on the background music for the "Arrival on Mars" opening cutscene of Doom 3. The same hook also occurs in the song "Meathook".

Edited May 28, 2022 by Quasar

[The Doommer]

On 5/21/2022 at 6:19 PM, Akfiz said:

Doom 3 however is a reboot.

I believe Doom 3 is now some sort of a prequel to Doom I (It was probably originally designed as a reboot)

I don't know the exact details but it seems that the events in Doom 3 happened before Doom I so when Doom 1 happens Doomguy isn't really surprised

 

On 5/21/2022 at 6:19 PM, Akfiz said:

he is a demon with a BFG

This was such a good concept, it's really a shame how OP the soul cube is

 

On 5/21/2022 at 6:19 PM, Akfiz said:

So, is Doom 2016 a sequel to Doom3 or a reboot?

As per what Doom Eternal clearly shows us, Doom 2016 and Eternal are not reboots, but sequels to the OG games.

 

On 5/21/2022 at 6:19 PM, Akfiz said:

and you actually had to damage the Cyberdemon, not just spam Soul Cube him, the fight would have been more challenging and the ending more rewarding.

This is my biggest gripe with Doom 3 aside from the horror aspect.

Cyberdemon is not Mysterio, he's not just tough looks and easy to kill in the other games.

And before you tell me Cyberdemon dies to BFG rather quickly, I'll remind you that the first bossfight barely gave you BFG ammo during the episode

 

All the other times Cyberdemon appears on the classics, he's more of a challenge than a bossfight.

Except maybe Doom II MAP20 but then it clearly wants you to have them infight.

 

On 5/21/2022 at 6:19 PM, Akfiz said:

the hero in the Sarcophagus from Doom3

I don't remember this at all, since I've not played Doom 3 for a very long time

Can you elaborate?

[Tetzlaff]

On 7/3/2022 at 11:40 AM, The Doommer said:

 

I don't remember this at all, since I've not played Doom 3 for a very long time

Can you elaborate?

The ancient Martians had a hero that helped them fight back the first demonic invasion. They later buried their hero in a subterranian temple in an impressive looking sarcophagus. The Doom 3 protagonist later visits this place during the main campaign.

 

There also is an ancient stone tablet depicting the ancient hero in a pose similar to Doomguy from the Doom title screen…

[The Doommer]

1 minute ago, Tetzlaff said:

They later buried their hero in a subterranian temple in an impressive looking sarcophagus.

But this is not what happens to the Slayer

 

He gets forcefully shoved inside a sarcophagus by hell priests and is kept there until Hayden finds him

[ApprihensivSoul]

The way I see it, the setting is the same, but the character is different. Give or take a couple hundred years (which I'm not 100% sure on,) then the Slayer pops over from the Absolution/classic timeline and hijacks the chaos of the Doom 3 setting.

 

There's also room for some negative character development for the UAC as well. In Doom 3, they're reasonable but bureaucratic, relying on red tape and paperwork to try to stop Betruger from pulling off his plan. But when it goes down, they find the power of Hell, and when the energy crisis happens over the next century or so they get desperate enough to follow in his footsteps.

[The Doommer]

3 minutes ago, ApprihensivSoul said:

There's also room for some negative character development for the UAC as well. In Doom 3, they're reasonable but bureaucratic, relying on red tape and paperwork to try to stop Betruger from pulling off his plan. But when it goes down, they find the power of Hell, and when the energy crisis happens over the next century or so they get desperate enough to follow in his footsteps.

Assuming Doom 3 would get a sequel, which it won't

I mean my personal biased dislike towards Doom 3 aside, there's a clear reason why 2016/Eternal took an entire different direction than 3 did

[YoshizinGordin]

Doom 3 Is So Dark That It Isn't Even Canon.

[RetroWolf92]

On 5/21/2022 at 9:49 AM, Akfiz said:

From what I remember:

 

Chapter 3 on Mars.

 

Uhhhh wat?

You're talking about "Inferno", right?

That episode takes place in Hell itself, not mars. XD

 

and I do personally believe all Dooms are in the same canon. My thought is that Doom 3 is the earliest point in the series, with Doom 1 happening probably the same day.

 

What lends to this idea is that, if I recall, both Doom 3 and the original Dooms take place in the 22nd century.

[ducon]

I don’t care as long as there is at least one chainsaw on Mars.