Doom Eternal review: Iconic game franchise back following 2016 reboot

The world seems doom and gloom right now, but if you’re stuck inside there is at least a new game of the same name to keep yourself occupied.

It turns out there is a good kind of doom.

Doom Eternal, developed by ID software and published by Bethesda for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, is the sequel to the 2016 game Doom, itself a reboot of the 1993 original.

The plot – yes, there is one – is that a cult masquerading as a space mining company has deliberately opened an inter-dimensional portal to Hell, and the world is now overrun with demons. You, the Doom Slayer (aka “The Doom Guy”) are going to single-handedly stop them.

Become ‘Doom Guy’.

There’s (slightly) more to it, but discovering the story is entirely optional – although worth it for long-time fans of the series.

Doom Eternal is all killer, no filler in the truest sense of the word – pure, unadulterated action and adrenaline from the opening titles to the end credits.

The pacing is absolutely perfect, the combat is dialled up to 11, and even the lulls in the proceedings are placed just where they need to be to bookend the more intense moments on offer.

The developers said they wanted the game to be a combat puzzle and power fantasy where the power is earned, and by golly is it satisfying – and also extremely graphic; some of the finishing moves you can perform on staggered foes are bone-crunchingly brutal to say the least.

The game gives you a variety of ways to slay demons.

Developing your skills, jumping over enemies, setting groups of demons on fire and executing brutal finishing moves is just straight up enjoyable, especially because of the range of weapons and enemies in the game.

What makes it interesting is how seemingly disparate mechanics come together so effectively, and indeed necessarily.

For example, one of your weapons is a flamethrower, which causes enemies to drop armour while they burn. This seems like an interesting gimmick at first, but when you’re wading through hordes of demons, beset on all sides, it’s an essential way to recover depleted armour in mid-combat and can often be the difference between victory and defeat.

The puzzles don’t get in the way of the violence.

When you run out of ammunition – and you will – you can fire up your trusty chainsaw to saw your enemies in twain, causing them to dispense ammunition, health and armour like a demonic and particularly traumatic piñata.

Different enemies require different levels of petrol to take out though, so you may find yourself working out whether to use your lumberjack’s assistant to take out a heavy demon in one go (but using all your fuel), or use some of it to take out a lesser enemy but then be unable to use it on a the large enemy that’s just teleported in, since you won’t have a full tank of fuel anymore.

The movement in the game is fluid and it ran incredibly smoothly on my computer – it looked great, played beautifully and was just slick all around. The puzzles required just enough thought and challenge to make them worthwhile, but not enough to get in the way of the game (for the most part).

Level design is a focus of the new game.

The level design is excellent as well, particularly in the setpiece fights found throughout missions, where you have different platforms and areas to leap over or teleport to. Even aesthetically, the different levels are well presented, with subtle environmental cues (green lighting) to help keep you on the right path without being too obvious about it all.

Movement is central to the game – you can’t stand still unless you want to become Demon Snacks (now with 100 per cent additional Doom Guy), and the game’s combat mechanics reward you staying on the move, using the way enemies drop health to drive you forward in an ever-visceral fashion.

Part of the game experience comes from the gnarly metal soundtrack too, which perfectly accompanies the Dethklok music video-levels of chaos you are creating.

There is multiplayer modes to complement the single player campaign.

While the focus is the single-player campaign, there is a multiplayer deathmatch mode which allows you to try being some of the demons. There are also cosmetic customisation options available if you want to go for a slightly different look for your Doom Guy.

Doom Eternal is not great art. It won’t be discussed in marble-floored galleries while a band in evening dress plays classical music somewhere. But it doesn’t need to be high art – it knows it’s all about action, chaos, and literally tearing hellspawn apart with your bare hands. And in its own way, it is a work of art – as the pinnacle of a single-player first-person sci-fi action shooter experience.

The only criticisms I can really make is the Fortress of Doom hub level (where you return between missions) is labyrinthine and hard to navigate, and some of the optional upgrades for your armour seem a bit pointless (I can move a bit faster after performing a finishing move on a demon? OK, I guess.)

Some of the later levels get a touch confusing as well, especially the ones where the path involves going underwater – it’s not always clear what is decorative water and what is water you need to dive into.

But ultimately Doom Eternal is a spectacular return to form for Bethesda following some lacklustre releases recently.

It’s simply an excellent game which is an unmissable, all Doom and no gloom must-play experience offering a good time for first-person shooter enthusiasts.