4/5 ★ – Dead_By_Dawn's review of DOOM Eternal.

I was a huge fan of Doom 2016. In fact the year end rolled around and that game sat proudly a top the rest as my game of the year 2016. The power fantasy was off the chain. The music that accompanied it encouraged the rip and tear. Every level was your playground and the demons cowered in fear of the Doom Slayer. I was excited to get that feeling again in Doom Eternal. Doom Eternal is still a power fantasy but one you have to work for. This game is mechanically deeper than the previous 2016 instalment. It forces you to use every weapon in your arsenal. Every combat arena is now a puzzle instead of a playground. And whilst you zip around it raining glorious death upon the denizens of hell, it doesn’t come easy. This game will make you look a fool if your not aware of your surroundings, maintaining optimum movement and weapon wheel rotation. Quick swapping weapons to maximise DPS whilst keeping an eye on or ear out for the chainsaw pip recharge, grenade recharge or blood punch recharge. This game has mechanics for days. All of them important but I can see this putting players off who were looking for 2016’s sit back and slay. The arenas offer up wildly different combat encounters. It starts off gradually, with a new demon being introduced every now and then. Which calls for a new tactic in approaching them in combat. The game introduced enemies and combat mechanics brilliantly and soon after your in an arena filled with demons, who individually require differing approaches. Carcass enemies project barriers that stop you dead in your tracks. Whiplash enemies slither around and whip you from a distance, hitting you into the air. Pain elementals rain pain from above. Barrens and Pinkies rush you and pressure you into mistakes if flustered. Then enters the Marauder, an enemy with long range axe throws. Close range shotgun blasts. A Shield when hit with bullets spawns an energy dog to chase down and punish the player. And a mid range melee attack that causes the Marauders eyes to glow green. Shoot when this happens to punish him back. The game has you playing fighting game footsies with an enemy whilst other enemies attack you. Also you have to keep a few fodder demons alive for easy ammo replenishment. This is a just a few enemies and the arenas add to the challenge. Some have fog. Some have tentacle booby traps. Environmental hazards. Large holes in the floor. Pink slime that limits movement speed and jumping. But despite all that’s stacked against you, it’s still entirely possible to Rip and Tear. The Doom Slayer has all the tools he needs on his person. A full weapon wheel with two attachments per gun offering a wide variety of utility. A flame belch on cool-down, when used ignited a demon and causes armour to drop upon death. A shoulder mounted freeze and frag grenade. A blood punch for clearing large groups of enemies and stripping the armour off of pesky cyber Mancs. And a double jump and double dash to enable the glorious genocide. When your firing on all pistons and carving your way through the ranks of hell, this game is peak enjoyment. But there are some breaks in the carnage. The game will force quite a lot of platforming sections on you. These I found to be hit or miss. I never really found myself enjoying them and they led to some annoying deaths. Not many and the spawn time is super quick but I couldn’t help but find the platforming to feel like padding. The environments you traverse look amazing, we get quite a variety this time around and that was appreciated. There is a good few upgrade systems. Abilities, health, armour and ammo. Weapon upgrades and masteries. So there’s quite a lot to work towards. Also we get some cool Slayer skins to rock whilst killing demons. The game could of come out and been an expanded version of what we got in 2016. But I feel they catered to a different audience here altogether. A slightly more hardcore audience who is willing to play this game over and over to master its mechanics compared to the first, where being amazing at the game came second to good ole fashioned first person shooter fun. I loved the first and enjoyed this entry but I can see why this game was a little divisive for some.