DOOM Eternal Xbox One review: Much-needed goretastic catharsis

Doom Eternal Doomguy Source: Windows Key

DOOM (2016) was a bit of a surprise hit, and far exceeded many people's expectations. Reboots of classic, beloved franchises are catchy to pull off well, but id Software did an astonishing chore, reclaiming its shooter crown in the process.

DOOM Eternal was appear a while back, post-obit the success of its predecessor. DOOM Eternal follows similar cues to DOOM Two: Hell on Globe from the mid-nineties, where forces of evil invade our globe. The core premise remains unchanged: rip and tear. And in that goal, DOOM Eternal soars.

With stunning art, an astonishing soundtrack, and an explosive arsenal, wreaking havoc on demons never felt so expert. However, some of the "new" gameplay elements and design choices id Software introduces feel like a step back, rather than a step forward.

DOOM is the cure

Doom Eternal Xbox One boxart

DOOM Eternal

$threescore

Bottom line: DOOM marches back to the gates of hell with confidence, only some of its attempts to endeavor new things fall flat. Literally.

Pros:

Meaty campaign
Manufacture-leading FPS combat
Spectacular art treatment
Phenomenal soundtrack

Cons:

Platforming accent is irritating
DOOM was never about story, only DOOM Eternal dials it back way too far

Art, gunplay, and sound

What I loved virtually DOOM Eternal

DOOM Eternal is a truly cute game, in the near diabolical sense. The art squad really had a field day with DOOM Eternal, pushing established concepts of Hell and body horror to their nearly delectable limits.

Towers of writhing flesh mounds pocked with vile jagged teeth, fallen demonic titans spewing entrails across the entire expanse, creating environmental hazards in the process. Huge vistas of bleak hellscapes, with demonic tendrils towering into the sky. There's a screenshot opportunity every few minutes in DOOM Eternal, if you have the stomach for its grotesque majesty.

Category	Spec
Developer	id Software
Publisher	Bethesda Softworks
Players	Single-player campaign, 2v1 asynchronous PvP multiplayer
Genre	First-person shooter
Age-rating	Mature
Xbox Play Anywhere	No
Game Laissez passer	No
Microtransactions	No
Price	$sixty

Complimenting the visual direction is great sound treatment from Mick Gordon, whose new tracks for DOOM Eternal ramp up and downward as the action gets more intense, with an explosive fusion of metal and industrial overtones. It's another flawless victory for DOOM's music, which has well-nigh go the game's calling card in contempo years.

The performance of the game is stellar too, running at dynamic 4K with a rock-solid sixty frames per second on Xbox 1 X. Non once did I experience even the vaguest hint of performance deposition even in some of the games most intensive fights in after levels, making DOOM Eternal 1 of the almost impressive games in terms of fluidity in recent memory. Graphically the game is a massive step up in full general, having gone back to do directly comparisons with DOOM 2022. The texture pop-in that plagued the concluding game is completely eliminated, and the overall presentation is far more detailed.

Doom Eternal Hellscape Source: Windows Key

Throughout my time with the campaign, I but encountered a couple of bugs, where a specific shotgun upgrade wouldn't piece of work, and a specific upgrade station wouldn't work. Additionally, I just experienced a unmarried crash, which may take been an issue with Xbox's fast resume rather than the game itself.

DOOM Eternal changes up the franchise'south gunplay a flake, putting a bigger emphasis on the chainsaw as a means of replenishing ammo. Now, you're pretty much expected to saw a hapless ambient demon in half every at present and and then, with rapidly replenishing fuel to keep yous going. You also have an array of new toys to play with, including a shoulder-mounted gun module that can spread grenades, ice bombs, or spray burn down in an area of effect. The flamethrower is particularly important since it causes armor shards to drop off enemies to help you stay alive.

Getting used to the new menses of combat took a while, specially since my muscle retentivity was still very much stuck in 2022, but after a bit of practice, I institute myself etching through hordes of demonic entities with reckless carelessness. The violent ballet that is so very uniquely DOOM achieves all new heights, with new weapons like the Ballista that can cut an entire room of demons in one-half, with new weapon mods to keep returning weapons fresh.

Additionally, DOOM Eternal dials up the gore to a whole other level. Shooting enemies will gradually pare the flesh off their bones in chunks until their guts and sinews are dangling around, and contextual gore for specific weapons and finishing moves make combat varied and satisfying. Anyone who felt like DOOM 2022 wasn't bloody enough is about to become a big payday.

Speaking of weapon mods, the new Super Shotgun grappling hook is more than merely a tool of devastation. Information technology can be used to pull you out of damage's mode. It can bring you into close quarters with a fodder demon for a quick chainsawin', or a health-regenerating execution. With upgrades, information technology can also set up demons on fire, granting you a heave of armor as you cut them down with a hail of shotgun blasts.

Used in combination with jumps, it tin can also be used as a tool to gain higher footing. Ane of the runes y'all can gather that grant passive bonuses permit you irksome-down fourth dimension as you use alt-burn while in the air, effectively letting you create Matrix-like scenes as you lot soar through the air, carving bloody patterns with the giblets of your enemies.

Doom Eternal Marauder Source: Windows Fundamental

Each level is full of secrets to unlock and uncover, to be displayed inside Doomguy's central hub of operations, although it's a fleck of a spoiler exactly how that works, DOOM Eternal makes its unlockables and collectibles rewarding to unearth. I nerveless what felt like quite a ton of stuff throughout the campaign, many of which are celebrations of past id Software titles from the DOOM legacy, with a fleck of Quake and Wolfenstein here and there. There are easter eggs everywhere too, and I'1000 looking forward to seeing what more observant players unearth in the coming weeks.

DOOM Eternal is some other goretastically-satisfying shooter from id Software, with jaw-dropping vistas, stomach-churning monsters, with some of the meatiest, smoothest gunplay around. Equally great every bit DOOM Eternal's core aspects are, some of the attempts to diversify the gameplay don't country as well as I expect id Software hoped.

Platforming, level design, story delivery

What I disliked about DOOM Eternal

Doom Eternal Enemy Source: Windows Primal

Nothing here is what I consider a bargain-breaker for DOOM Eternal. Truly, if you loved 2022's take, you're going to love this one besides. However, I practise want to air some grievances most the game, across aspects that I felt actually held it back equally an overall package.

I'm not sure anyone played DOOM 2022 and thought "this game needs more platforming."

For some reason, DOOM Eternal puts a big emphasis on platforming. Clunky, awful, platforming. The Super Shotgun's grappling hook gives Doomguy new feats of agility, it plays no function any in the game's strange insistence on forcing yous to scurry awkwardly along inexplicably obvious climbing walls, cavort on monkey confined, and double-jump and double-nuance across levels. Towards the finish of the game, the game even gives you literal hoops to spring through to go back to the activeness.

I reinstalled DOOM 2022 to see if I was only being crazy, merely where the previous game split the action up between run into scenarios and exploration in large, sprawling levels, DOOM Eternal's epic combat segments are separated by these odd platforming segments and tiresome water displacement puzzles that feel like they'd be more at home in Tomb Raider.

Doom Eternal Platforming Source: Windows Central

The fact you don't die from failing a platforming section, but simply teleport dorsum to the spot you barbarous, is nearly like an atoning access that they aren't fun to participate in. I'm not sure anyone played DOOM 2022 and thought "this game needs more platforming."

While the art is incredible, and DOOM Eternal really outdoes itself with some of its scenery and set-pieces, the level layouts are fairly linear in their progression. It as well feels like there'due south less ambient storytelling in DOOM Eternal, which is a chip of a weak point for the game in full general.

DOOM has never been known as a story-based title, but information technology'due south a chip odd how many important plot details were buried away in text-heavy codex entries in this one. I had to dive back into the codex subsequently I had finished the game just to try and work out what had simply transpired, given that so lilliputian of it actually shines through in the game itself. Information technology'southward a shame likewise, since the body of lore id Software is building for this incarnation of DOOM is incredibly rich and detailed. If you're willing to chase down and read the text logs, that is. I would genuinely like to see DOOM have itself a bit more seriously in this regard, simply I may be in the minority there.

Doom Eternal Map Source: Windows Key

Finally, as of writing, I was unable to examination out DOOM Eternal's "Battlemode," as the servers are unpopulated. I did even so endeavor out the offline tutorial. Battlemode is a new 2v1 PvP multiplayer mode that lets two role player demons battle against a single player Doomguy. You can spawn enemies in and utilize various demonic abilities while battling the Doom Slayer. I'll write upwardly some thoughts on that in a future article, one time the servers are populated. It might provide some fleeting fun as a mini-game, but information technology doesn't seem particularly groundbreaking, and it certainly doesn't represent the meat of DOOM Eternal — past far, that is the campaign.

Should yous purchase DOOM Eternal?

If you loved DOOM 2022, you simply have to buy DOOM Eternal. The gunplay achieves all-new heights, with new gore mechanics, spectacular new weaponry, and varied demons from DOOM's vast back catalog (as well as some new ones, no spoilers though, sorry!)

While the story delivery takes fifty-fifty more of a dorsum seat in DOOM Eternal, id Software still delivers some impressive setpieces, ballsy dominate battles, and stunning scenery, every bit the forces of Hell begin to devour our world.

I can't help but wonder why id Software felt the need to triple-downwardly on the mild platforming elements DOOM 2022 introduced, considering all they practice is add road bumps to where you really want to exist — in the midst of the DOOM hellscape, ripping and tearing demonic creatures from the depths. Thankfully, DOOM Eternal brings enough of that. And so some.

Rip and tear

Doom Eternal Xbox One boxart

DOOM Eternal

Another solid id shooter.

id Software brings another smorgasbord of devastation to the plate with DOOM Eternal, a veritable bottle of carnage, full of skilful gaming poly peptide.

DOOM Eternal was reviewed on Xbox One X using a re-create provided by the publisher.

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