Doom: Eternal

 

Release: 2020

Developer: id Software

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Gameplay Stats: 24 hours, all collectibles, 23/50 achievements

More DOOM! I have to imagine people know what they would be getting into after the franchise has been doing the same thing for 30+ years and doing it well. Just like the previous Doom reboot we have frantic gun fights interspersed with exploration and hunting collectibles. I think this two pieces work pretty well together but there could have been more gun involved puzzles I think. Some way to drop the tension without completely losing it. Maybe you have to punch ever respawning exploding enemies into obstacles to interact with them? Dunno.

Something I remember seeing was that people found one of the new enemy types, the marauder, to be too difficult. They were definitely the hardest bad guys in the game by a long shot! But I don't think they were too difficult. Once I figured out how to handle them I thought they were a little boring. I commonly was running out of ammo when dealing with them and had to run around the map to find refills. So if anything I found them to be a bit spongy for my taste. It seemed weird that your plasma rifle was specialized for taking out enemy energy shields but it wouldn't work for the marauder's for some reason.

Overall I think this was more Doom! I enjoyed it, but if you don't obviously steer clear. Nothing really to write home about here. I thought the bosses were kind of annoying, I didn't feel like I was in danger during either of the big bosses, I found them to be a little uninspired. More running around shooting demons is always good though, I suspect I'll play the DLCs for this game at some point down the line.