The Doomguy – er, sorry, the Doom Slayer – has got to be strong. Not only does he routinely crush imp heads in his bare hands, he’s also carting around 10 very large weapons and ammo at any given time. With Doom Eternal on the horizon, Bethesda has teamed up with a personal trainer to create an intro to getting ripped like our favorite BFG-toting exorcist.
In a series of blog posts called “Ripped & Tear,” Bethesda content manager Parker Wilhelm talks about fitness with trainer Phillip Durity. The posts look at various aspects of the Doom Slayer lifestyle, and then point out exercises you can do, with or without gym equipment, to isolate the associated muscle groups.
So, for example, one pair of posts looks at the latissimus dorsi, or ‘lats.’ This muscle covers the lower back, and as Ripped & Tear #2A points out, it’s the lats that do much of the work when you’re climbing – say, up over a Martian ledge in order to hurl yourself toward a hapless group of demonically-possessed UAC employees.
Durity suggests using barbell rows, pull-ups, and lat pulldowns in order to target that muscle, and provides a couple pointers on how to perform each exercise correctly.
Ripped & Tear looks like it’ll be an ongoing series, and each post is accompanied by the sensible disclaimer that advises readers to consult with their physician before taking on any new exercise regime. I’d add to that the warning that the moves portrayed in Doom are being done by professionals, and you should not attempt them at home – even if it is infested with demons.
Doom 2016 Rip And Tear Extended
Rip and tear: The best FPS games on PC
So far, Ripped & Tear has covered two major muscle groups. Start with the first one to really start doing some… quad damage. We’re hoping to see Doom Eternal out sometime this year.
With a light catalogue this year, odds are we'll see plenty of Doom Guy
By Brendan Graeber
The sequel to id Software’s new Doom reboot may have been teased during E3 2018, but it wasn’t until a few months later at Quakecon that we really got to see it in action. It’s been 3 years since the renewed franchise came back from Hell, starring everyone’s favorite space marine who is literally just too angry to die.
When we last saw the Doom Slayer, he successfully fought off a demonic invasion of Mars’ UAC research facility, dove straight into Hell to beat up a lot of demons, and somehow returned to tell the tale.
However, forever-chairman of the UAC and notable Transformers cosplayer Samuel Hayden decided that Hell - and its coveted Argent Energy - is too important to seal up and lose. So instead he steals the sword you used to close the portal, and teleports you somewhere where you won’t mess everything up.
As the original sequel to Doom showed us, letting the demons of Hell run loose on Mars is only a prelude of what they’ll do to Earth - and Doom Eternal looks to be treading that ground. We’ve seen that the Doom Slayer has undergone some new transformations since his last appearance that looks incredibly cool, and there will be even more enemies to kill in satisfyingly gory ways.
With Bethesda’s lineup seemingly light due to the absence of anything Elder Scrolls or Fallout related - not counting that one game - there’s a pretty decent chance we’ll see more of Doom Eternal at E3 (especially given that it’s out this year). Perhaps get a bit more info about how the demons found their way to Earth, too, and how the Doom Slayer is going to rip, tear, and kick his way to victory. We also glimpsed of Doom Eternal running on Google Stadia - hopefully we’ll see more of this technical wizardry at E3.
Direct-feed screenshot of Doom Eternal, as showcased at E3 2019.
Direct-feed screenshot of Doom Eternal, as showcased at E3 2019.
Download Image
I’m especially excited to see Doom Eternal leaning into more ways to let me get close and kill enemies even faster. New traversal options, quick dashing, and that wonderful looking meathook to grab and launch towards enemies. But really - I’m most excited to see these new visions of Phobos, Hell, and all the creepy atmospheric areas they’ve teased that are unlike anything we’ve seen before.
Brendan Graeber is a Guides Editor at IGN and no longer trusts AI in video games. You can follow him on Twitter at @Ragga_Fragga.
Doom is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released worldwide on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in May 2016, and is powered by id Tech 6. A port for Nintendo Switch was co-developed with Panic Button and released in November 2017.[1] A reboot of the Doom franchise, it is the fourth title in the main series and the first major installment since Doom 3 in 2004.
Doom was announced as 'Doom 4' in 2008, and that version underwent an extensive development cycle with different builds and designs before the game was restarted in 2011, and revealed as simply 'Doom' in 2014. It was tested by customers who pre-ordered the 2014 Bethesda game Wolfenstein: The New Order, and also by the general public. Mick Gordon composed the music for the game, with additional music contributed by Ben F. Carney, Chris Hite, and Chad Mossholder.
Players take the role of an unnamed space marine as he battles demonic forces from Hell that have been unleashed by the Union Aerospace Corporation on a future-set colonized planet Mars. The gameplay returns to a faster pace with more open-ended levels, closer to the first two games than the slower survival horror approach of Doom 3. It also features environment traversal, character upgrades, and the ability to perform executions known as 'glory kills'. The game also supports an online multiplayer component and a level editor known as 'SnapMap', co-developed with Certain Affinity[b] and Escalation Studios respectively.
Doom was well received by critics and players. The single-player campaign, graphics, soundtrack, and gameplay received considerable praise, with reviewers crediting the game for recapturing the spirit of the classic Doom games and first-person shooters of the 1990s, whereas the multiplayer mode drew the most significant criticism. It was the second best-selling video game in North America and the UK a few weeks after its release, and sold over 500,000 copies for PCs within the same time period. A sequel titled Doom Eternal was announced at E3 2018 for Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Google Stadia and will be released in November 2019.
Gameplay[edit]Single-player[edit]
According to the game's executive producer Marty Stratton, the key principles of Doom's single-player mode are 'badass demons, big effing guns, and moving really fast'.[3] The game allows players to perform movements such as double-jumps and ledge-climbs throughout levels of industrial and corporate fields of a Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) research facility on Mars and then levels of Hell,[4] as the combat system puts emphasis upon momentum and speed.[5] The approach is known as 'push-forward combat' which discourages the players from taking cover behind obstacles or resting to regain health while playing from the 'Doom Slayer's perspective.[6] Players instead collect health and armor pick-ups by killing enemies. 'Glory Kills' is a newly introduced melee execution system; when enough damage has been dealt to an enemy, the game will highlight it and allow the player to perform a quick and violent melee takedown as well as reward the player with extra health.[7]
The game features a large arsenal of weapons which can be collected and freely switched by players throughout the game and require no reloading. Recurring weapons of the series also make a return, including the super shotgun and BFG 9000. The BFG has a very small ammunition capacity, but is extremely powerful. Similarly, the chainsaw returns, but has been reintroduced as a special-use weapon[8] that relies upon fuel, but can be used to instantly cut through enemies and provide a greater-than-normal drop of ammunition for the player.[9]
Many enemies also return from the original game, such as the Revenant, Pinky, Mancubus, and Cyberdemon, with many also redesigned.[8]Doom's campaign was made to be over 13 hours long, and the 'Ultra-Nightmare' difficulty level features permadeath, which causes the savegame to be lost once the player dies.[10][11] The campaign also features 13 maps.[12]
Many of the levels have multiple pathways and open areas, which allow players to explore and find collectibles and secrets throughout the levels. Many of these collectibles can be used as part of Doom's progression system, including weapon mods, rune powers, and Praetor Suit upgrades. Weapon points come from field drones and allow the player to unlock alternate modes of fire for many weapons, such as explosive shots and different rate and output of firepower. Each of the weapons' firing modes can be further upgraded using weapon tokens, but they can only be maxed out by completing a challenge related to that particular firing mode. Runes transport the player to a separate arena to perform a combat challenge that grants different abilities when successfully completed, such as better equipment drops from fallen enemies. Players can also upgrade their 'Praetor Suit' by retrieving special tokens from dead marines and using them to improve functionality such as equipment, navigation and resistances.[13] Other pickups include small Doomguy figurines and data files that expand on the characters and story.[14]
Additionally, each of the game's levels contains a hidden lever which opens an area extracted from a classic level in the original Doom or Doom II. Finding each of these areas unlocks them, making them accessible from the game's main menu in a section called Classic Maps.[12]
Multiplayer[edit]
In Doom's multiplayer mode, several modes, such as team deathmatch and its variation 'Soul Harvest', as well as Freeze Tag, Warpath (King of the Hill with a moving 'hill'), Domination, and 'Clan Arena' (team last man standing with no pickups), exist within the game.[15] Players can also use power-ups and teleporters in a multiplayer match. They can pick up a Demon Rune, one of the power-ups featured, to transform into and fight as a demon. There are four demons available initially in the game, each of which has different abilities: the Revenant, the Baron of Hell, the Mancubus, and the Prowler.[16] At launch, the game featured nine maps.[17]
Players will be granted experience points upon each match. After they have collected sufficient experience points, players can level up, by which new armor, skins, weapons, and power-ups would be unlocked for players to use. Both the player character and weapon can be customized extensively by applying new skins and colors onto them.[18] In addition, players can receive hack modules while playing the game, which are special abilities that can only be used once after they are collected. There are six types of modules. Scout reveals the locations of all enemies to the player for a limited time after respawning, while Vital Signs shows all enemies' health. Retribution allows players to track their last killer by showing their health and location, while Power Seeker guides players to the power weapon pickup in the game. The Resupply Timer, meanwhile, shows the respawn time of the power-up items.[19] Players can also perform taunts in the game's multiplayer.[20]
On July 19, 2017, Update 6.66 was released for Doom's multiplayer. Update 6.66 features a revised progression system, all three DLC bundled into the core game, a new 'rune' system (replacing the Hack Module system) and enhanced kill notifications. Update 6.66 required everyone to reset their level and gave players the option to retain all unlocked items or reset them. Players who played before Update 6.66 and players who obtained the 'Slayer' level received unique medals to show their status.[21]
Level creation tool[edit]
In all of its platforms except the Nintendo Switch, Doom includes a built-in level creation tool called 'SnapMap' which allows players to create and edit maps with their own structure and game logic.[22] With SnapMap, players can create maps for different modes, ranging from single-player levels to co-operative or competitive multiplayer maps. When players are building a level, the game will shift to a top-down view. Players can place rooms and hallways to form a level and connect them together. If they are not connected together, the color of the construction pieces changes to notify the player. Players can also use the X-ray camera which temporarily removes all the walls to allow players to view the objects inside. Players can also place enemies into their maps, with the exception of the campaign's bosses. Their artificial intelligence and stats, and the player's own movement speed can also be modified. Players can also add additional particle effects, lighting effects, and other gameplay items, such as health packs and ammo pick-ups.[23] Only in-game assets can be used, and players cannot create or import their own models into the game.[24] Levels can be tested before they are published online.[23]
For players who do not wish to create extensively, the game features an AI conductor which automatically generates enemies.[23] Players will receive 'snap points' after they create a level or play a level created by other users. These points can be used to unlock additional cosmetic items.[25] Players can share their completed maps with other players. They can vote on and even modify other players' content and share them while citing the originals' authors.[26]
Plot[edit]
Doom takes place in a research facility on Mars owned by the Union Aerospace Corporation, run by Dr. Samuel Hayden, a UAC scientist whose mind now inhabits an android body after having lost his original to brain cancer. Researchers at the UAC facility have attempted to draw energy from Hell, an alternative dimension inhabited by demons, in order to solve an energy crisis on Earth using the Argent Tower, which siphons energy and allows travel to and from Hell.[27] To supplement their work, Hayden organizes several expeditions into Hell, bringing back captive demons and artifacts for study. Among them is a sarcophagus containing the Doom Slayer (along with his Praetor Suit), who the demons imprisoned after his earlier rampage through Hell.
The facility is overrun by demons after one of Hayden's researchers, Olivia Pierce, makes a pact with them and uses the Tower to open a portal to Hell.[27] In desperation, Hayden releases the Doom Slayer from his sarcophagus to repel the demonic invasion and close the portal. The Doom Slayer recovers his Praetor Suit and fights his way through the overrun facility, making several excursions into Hell and ultimately destroying the Tower over Hayden's objections. He recovers a magical blade, the Crucible, which he uses to destroy the portal's power source. Finally, he confronts Pierce, who transforms into the monstrous Spider Mastermind, and kills her.
Upon the Doom Slayer's return to Mars, Hayden confiscates the Crucible, which he plans to use in his research. Despite all that has happened, he insists that Earth is too desperate for energy to give up. To keep the Doom Slayer from interfering with his plans, Hayden teleports him to an undisclosed location, saying that they will meet again.
Development[edit]As Doom 4[edit]
A screenshot of the canceled Doom 4, which showcased a more urban environment than its predecessors
John Carmack, co-founder of and then lead developer at id Software, indicated that Doom 4 was in development at QuakeCon on August 3, 2007.[28] It was announced in May 2008.[29] Id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead suggested that like Doom II: Hell on Earth, the game would take place on Earth.[30] Carmack stated that it would feature gameplay more akin to the original Doom games rather than the survival horror gameplay of Doom 3.[31]
In 2008, Carmack claimed that Doom 4 would look 'three times better' than Rage even though it was intended to run at 30 frames per second on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, rather than the 60 that Rage was targeting.[32] It was planned to run at 60 frames per second on Windows with state-of-the-art hardware.[33] Carmack also stated that the game was running on the id Tech 5 game engine.[32] In 2009, he revealed that the multiplayer component was being developed separately and would run at 60 frames per second.[34] He stated in 2011 that 'you can't have 30 guys crawling all over you at 60 frames per second at this graphics technology level because it's painful.'[35]
In April 2009, Hollenshead said that Doom 4 was 'deep in development'. Asked whether Doom 4 would be a sequel, a reboot, or a prequel, his response was 'It's not a sequel to Doom 3, but it's not a reboot either. Doom 3 was sort of a reboot. It's a little bit different than those.'[36] On June 23, 2009, ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks, acquired id Software and announced that future id games would be published by Bethesda Softworks, including Doom 4.[37] Id Software creative director Tim Willits announced that key releases would be much sooner and that the partnership allowed id Software to have two teams, each having a project in parallel development, for the first time.[38] Carmack added that, once Rage was complete, its development team would move to Doom 4. Doom 4 might also feature dedicated servers unlike Rage.[39]
At the 2011 QuakeCon, Carmack mentioned that the new Doom would be using a new scripting language based on C++ and called it 'super-script', a superset of C++ with features such as scheduling and type safety.[39] At the end of 2012, the team decided to make Doom 4 a reboot.[40] In November 2013, Carmack left id Software to commit to his work at Oculus VR.[41]
'Every game has a soul. Every game has a spirit. When you played Rage, you got the spirit. And [Doom 4] did not have the spirit, it did not have the soul, it didn't have a personality.'
Tim Willits, QuakeCon 2013[42]
In April 2013, Kotaku published an exposé describing Doom 4 as trapped in 'development hell'. Citing connections to id, the article claimed that Doom 4 had suffered under mismanagement and that development was completely restarted in 2011. Inside sources described the pre-2011 version – which was to portray the uprising of Hell on Earth – as heavily scripted and cinematic, comparing it to the Call of Duty franchise. The pre-2011 version was criticized as mediocre and the new version as 'lame' and a 'mess'.[43] While Hollenshead initially stated that the Doom 4 team was doing something that fans would be happy with,[44] Id's Willits criticized the game's lack of character in QuakeCon 2013.[42] In July 2015, Marty Stratton criticized Doom 4's lack of personality as id's primary reason to cancel the game, and pointed out its similarities to the Call of Duty franchise and that the game was not the product that id thought people wanted.[45]
In a 2016 video documentary by Noclip's Danny O'Dwyer, Creative Director of Doom (2016) Hugo Martin described the 'Hell on Earth' premise as: 'It was like Robert Zemeckis. See Contact, like, if this really happened. Now let's be clear: it was awesome. But it was more realistic. It was about the global impact of a Hellish invasion.'[46] The creative director of the Doom 4 prototype, Kevin Cloud, said in the same interview, 'As far as the upper-level creative direction, that was me driving that. And honestly, again, taking it in a direction I don't think the fans would have enjoyed.'[46]
As Doom[edit]
After the game's redesign began, Willits revealed in August 2013 that Doom was still the team's focus.[47] British science fiction writer Graham Joyce was enlisted to write the game's story; after Joyce died in 2014, Adam Gascoine was brought in as a replacement.[48]
A teaser trailer of Doom was presented at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014[49] and on the QuakeCon and Doom websites.[50] A more expansive trailer was unveiled at QuakeCon 2014 on July 17, wherein a closed presentation was made mainly to silence ongoing rumors of the project being in jeopardy.[51] Id Software executive producer Marty Stratton, the host of the presentation, announced that Doom 4 had been renamed Doom as 'it’s an origin game, reimagining everything about the originals'.[52] In light of Crytek's financial difficulties, it was announced that Tiago Sousa, head R&D graphics engineer at Crytek, was leaving to join the Doom and id Tech 6 engine team as a lead programmer.[53]
It all kind of gets tossed into a big pot of soup, and you're saying, 'Does it feel fun, or does it not feel fun?', and then you make your decisions along those lines, but I think [the progression system]'ll be an important part of Doom, and I think people will be excited about it when they get a sense of what we're doing.
Marty Stratton, Polygon[54]
Bethesda released a teaser trailer to promote gameplay being shown at E3 2015 on June 14, 2015; the trailer depicted the double-barreled shotgun and the Revenant, a monster returning to the game.[55] On June 14, around 15 minutes of gameplay footage were shown at E3.[56] Regarding the progression system, Marty Stratton thought that it was important to allow players personalization and customization.[54]
id felt the greatest challenge was to compete with other first-person shooters such as Call of Duty and Battlefield, as younger players were less familiar with the older Doom franchise. They also found it difficult to establish a game with its own identity while 'being faithful' to other games in the series. The team consulted the game directors at Bethesda Game Studios, who Stratton considered '[had gone] through the same thing when they were working on Fallout 3.'[57]
This cover is similar to and inspired by the original game's cover art.[58] After being favored by fans, and in response to criticisms of the primary cover, this reversible cover was elected to be the official one. It was used later by the Nintendo Switch port as the default box art[59]
On July 2, 2015, Stratton revealed that the game would not take place on Earth and that, unlike Doom 3, the game was comic and 'very juvenile'.[40] Director Hugo Martin later said that the game was heavily inspired by rock and roll and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and that its Hell-themed levels would feature much heavy metal. Doom's world was designed to have personality and be 'over the top'; the UAC industrial field was designed to be the massive underbelly of the corporation, the UAC corporate field zone was designed to be much cleaner in terms of splattered goriness than the other zones to prevent repetition. Skulls were used in Hell as iconic elements and the Titan's Realm zone was constructed from dead ancient, colossal demons.[4] At QuakeCon 2015, it was announced that the game would run at 1080p and 60 frames per second on console, as id considered it 'the most necessary graphical goal' which could effectively improve gameplay fluidity.[60] According to Martin, the team put little emphasis on story, as they believed that it was not an important feature of the franchise.[61] Instead, they added codex items to let interested players speculate about the story and the identity of the player character.[62]
According to Stratton and Martin, movement is the game's most important pillar. To help keep movement fast, weapon reloading was excluded and levels were designed to discourage players from hiding.[7] On January 25, Stratton confirmed the game's feature of non-linear exploration and stated that combat is the game's focus and that the difficulty of the game was raised with the aim of creating an ultimate first-person shooter.[63] On March 31, 2016, the release date of the Doom beta, a cinematic trailer directed by Joe Kosinski was created to evoke the game's three core pillars: incessant combat, terrifying demons, and powerful guns.[64]
Doom's multiplayer was developed in conjunction with Certain Affinity.[65] SnapMap was developed in conjunction with Escalation Studios and designed to be powerful,[66] to give players the opportunity to create their own content as part of the Doom and id legacies, and target those who have no experience or expertise in traditional modding.[26][67]
Soundtrack[edit]
The Doom soundtrack was composed by Mick Gordon, with additional contributions by Richard Devine. Gordon aimed to treat the game's original soundtrack with 'utmost respect' while modernizing it; however, the team at id stipulated in the initial brief that they wanted 'no guitars' on the soundtrack, fearing that it would make the game 'feel like Bill & Ted'[68] and that heavy metal music itself has become 'a bit of a joke'.[69] Gordon's initial concept was based around the idea of Argent energy corrupting human-made devices; to mirror this in music, he fed basic waveforms - sine waves and white noise - through a complex array of effects units such as distortion and compression.[69] While this resulted in a unique electronic sound, the game still wasn't 'sounding like Doom'; Gordon then gradually started adding more and more guitar elements, which eventually resulted in the desired tone and feel for the game; Gordon used seven- and eight-string guitars to give the music a lower tone, and used a nine-string guitar for the game's main theme, a variation on Bobby Prince's 'E1M1' / 'At DOOM's Gate' theme;[70] Gordon would eventually admit that using a nine-string was 'kinda stupid' in its excess, and that while he eventually sold the guitar to Fredrik Thordendal from Meshuggah, 'even he can't find a use for it'.[69] The soundtrack contains numerous easter eggs: some songs reference themes or sounds from older Doom games, others contain backmasking ('Jesus loves you'), images of pentagrams and the number 666 embedded into the sound via steganography. Gordon intended these as a joke, and never thought anyone would find them,[69] but it took someone about two weeks, and it was widely covered in the media.[71][72][73]
The soundtrack was widely praised and won the Best Music / Sound Design award at The Game Awards 2016; Gordon, joined by Periphery drummer Matt Halpern and Quake II composer Sascha Dikiciyan (aka Sonic Mayhem), performed a short medley of the soundtracks 'Rip and Tear' and 'BFG Division' as well as Quake II's 'Descent Into Cerberon' live at the awards show.[74] The soundtrack was released in September 2016. It contains 31 tracks from the game, over 2 hours of music.[75]
Release and marketing[edit]
Statue of the Revenant on display at PAX Prime 2015
On February 19, 2014, Bethesda revealed that access to a beta version of Doom 4, titled Doom, would be available for those who pre-ordered Wolfenstein: The New Order on any of the supportable platforms.[76] Those players were also eligible for selection to participate in the game's multiplayer-only limited alpha, which ran between December 3 and 6, 2015.[77] The beta began on March 31, 2016, and ended on April 3.[65] It was followed by an open beta, which started on April 15, 2016, and ended on April 17.[78]Doom was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on May 13, 2016, worldwide; an exception was Japan, where it was released on May 19.[79] It is also the first game of the Doom franchise to be released as uncensored in Germany.[80] Bethesda partnered with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports for a special promotion that had Mikhail Aleshin driving a Doom-styled car at the Indianapolis 500 racing competition.[81]
On February 23, 2016, Doom was made available for Xbox One owners to pre-order; for a limited time, they would also get the two original games, Doom and Doom II, for free. Other bonuses included the Demon Multiplayer Pack, which offered a demon-themed armor set with three skin variations; six metallic paint colors and three id Software logo patterns used for character customization; and six sets of consumable Hack Module perks.[82][83] There is also a Collector's Edition, which was significantly more expensive than the normal edition. It includes a figurine of the Revenant – a demon featured in the game – and a metal case.[84]
id Software replaced Certain Affinity to work on the game's multiplayer for Microsoft Windows after the game's launch and promised to fix its issues and introduced new features such as private matches, custom game settings and an enhanced cheat detection system.[85] At E3 2016 on June 12, Bethesda Softworks announced its division, Bethesda VR, and that it was working on virtual reality support for the newly released Doom, set for release on an unspecified date.[86] Also at E3 2016 on that day, Bethesda Softworks and id Software announced the game's free demo, which was initially going to last for only a week but was extended indefinitely.[87] They also announced new multiplayer downloadable content titled Unto the Evil, whose features include three maps and a new demon called the 'Harvester', gun, equipment item, taunts, and armor sets.[88] The DLC was released on August 4, 2016.[89]Patches for Doom were released after the game's release; these patches introduced a new photo mode, classic weapon pose,[90] and support for the Vulkan API.[91] The Vulkan patch is expected to enable playable framerates on older hardware. Subsequent benchmarks show up to 66% improvement in the frame rates on AMD graphics cards, with minor changes in the performance of Nvidia cards.[92]
On July 19, 2017, an update was released which unlocked the game's premium multiplayer DLCs to all owners, while also revamping the progression system.[93]
On September 13, 2017, it was announced via Nintendo Direct that Doom would release on Nintendo Switch during the fourth quarter of 2017.[94] The retail Switch version differs from the other console versions in that the multiplayer component is not included in the base product, but is instead offered as a free download, whereas the SnapMap component is not included at all, both changes as a result of cartridge limitations.[95] It was released on November 10, 2017.[96] An update to the Switch version in February 2018 introduced the option to use the motion controls of the Joy-Cons for aiming, similar to other Switch games such as Splatoon 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.[97]
Months after Doom was released, Zen Studios developed a virtualpinball adaptation of the game as part of the Bethesda Pinball collection, which became available as part of Zen Pinball 2, Pinball FX 2[98] and Pinball FX 3,[99] as well as a separate free-to-play app for iOS and Android mobile devices.[100] At E3 2017 Bethesda announced Doom VFR, a virtual reality adaptation of Doom, compatible with the PlayStation VR and HTC Vive headsets.[101] In Doom VFR the player assumes the role of Mars' last survivor who, after being killed, gets his consciousness uploaded into an artificial network, and is tasked with defeating the demons and restoring the facility's operations, having an array of electronic devices and weapons at his disposal.[102] The game was released on December 1, 2017.[103]
Reception[edit]Pre-release[edit]
Initial reception of the QuakeCon 2014 trailer accumulated considerable acclaim among fans,[104] and initial reception of the E3 2015 trailer was also positive, despite receiving criticisms by some critics, who considered the game to be too violent.[105] Pete Hines from Bethesda Softworks responded by saying that the game is designed to allow players to apply violence on demons instead of humans. Hines added that, 'if you're not into violent, bloody games.. Doom's probably not a game for you.'[106]
During the open multiplayer beta, IGN writer Nathan Lawrence called the beta disappointing, considering it less of a classic style 'arena shooter' and unfavorable compared to other shooters such as Halo.[107] Similarly, the beta was negatively received by players on Steam, with mostly negative reviews at the time when the beta was active.[108] Rock, Paper, Shotgun writer Adam Smith found the beta both to be similar to games such as Quake 3, Unreal Tournament, and the Call of Duty series and not to feel like Doom itself, and criticized the weapon loadout concept.[109] Review copies of the game were held back until release day.[110]
Post-release[edit]
Doom was released to positive reception regarding the fast-paced gameplay, single-player campaign, visuals and soundtrack whereas criticism was predominantly toward the multiplayer mode. Many critics believed that Doom was a successful return to form for the series. Following the wide release, the game received scores of 85/100 for PC and PlayStation 4 and 87/100 for the Xbox One on Metacritic. The Nintendo Switch edition, released in November 2017, was also positively received by professional reviewers, garnering a 79/100 on Metacritic: most reviewers praised the job of the port, also conceding that it's not as well optimized as it was for previous consoles. The final version of the game received very positive reviews from users on Steam.[129] It also received praise from other video game creators, including Cliff Bleszinski[130] and Greg Kasavin, who said that the game answers questions that other modern shooters do not answer.[131]
The game's single-player elements received critical acclaim. Alec Meer of Rock, Paper, Shotgun favorably compared Doom to the 2014 game Wolfenstein: The New Order, also published by Bethesda, but added that Doom's quality surpassed that of Wolfenstein due to its fast pace and solid gunplay.[132] Peter Brown of GameSpot praised single-player because he thought that the reboot captured the spirits of the older games, while refining them with modern elements. Brown also drew attention toward the soundtrack, calling it 'impactful'.[115] Gary Jones in the Daily Express felt that the game had one of the best single-player campaigns made for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, successfully combining the traditional gameplay of the series with a very fast pace.[122] Mike Henriquez of Game Revolution favored the visual and artistic design, calling it 'top-notch'.[114] Sam White in The Daily Telegraph commended id Software for Doom's delivery of performance on all platforms and praised the weapon design for Doom's continuity to introduce new weapons at a perfect speed so that gamers always play with something new and exciting.[124]
Polygon's Arthur Gies remarked positively upon the exploration for collectables and secrets, and their relevance to the new upgrade feature, but he was critical of instances where the game would lock away sections of a level without warning.[120] Zack Furniss of Destructoid was originally skeptical regarding the 'glory kills' feature, as were other critics, fearing that they might distract from the fast-paced gameplay. He ultimately considered them to fit well in the flow of gameplay that keeps players in the middle of combat without a slowed pace.[111]Giant Bomb's Brad Shoemaker felt that the glory kills' generating small amounts of health and armor 'makes them an essential part of the give-and-take of Doom's super-fast combat; do you dart into the fray for a glory kill to get a little health back, and risk getting mobbed by all the other enemies around?'[117] Conversely, Kyle Orland of Ars Technica felt that the glory kills' briefly taking control away from the player can easily disorient players or misposition them, finding them hard to ignore for players that choose not to use them.[133]
The SnapMap mode was also positively received with Hardcore Gamer's Jordan Helm's noting the possibilities yet simplicity with its use, calling it an 'admirable feat'.[134] Matt Peckham of Time thought that the mode added further value to the overall package of the game.[135] Matt Bertz of Game Informer commented upon the accessibility but criticized the lack of diverse settings and possible limitations when compared to a traditional community-based mod.[113] James Davenport of PC Gamer compared it to the modification in the original games, which he views as one of the primary reasons why Doom is still a recognizable title. He was disappointed by the lack of mod support, though he nevertheless noted SnapMap for its simple use and variety of ideas already created by players.[119]
The multiplayer mode, however, garnered a mixed reception from critics. IGN's Joab Gilory was less favorable toward the multiplayer, calling the overall game 'a tale of two very different shooters', stating that multiplayer did not live up to the standard set by the single-player components and would not satisfy players.[118] Simon Miller of VideoGamer.com found the multiplayer to be only all right.[121] Matt Buchholtz of EGM criticized what he felt was the network's poor handling of latency, and failing to register on-target shots as hits in some instances while not in others.[112] Edwin Evans-Thirlwell of Eurogamer singled out the 'Warpath' multiplayer mode as the most interesting of the match type, describing it as 'memorable', while he regarded the other multiplayer modes as underdeveloped and underwhelming.[136] Julian Benson from Kotaku wrote that Doom's multiplayer was very similar to other modern games.[137] More positively, however, David Houghton of GamesRadar enjoyed the multiplayer for the fast pace yet quick decision-making needed to succeed, calling it 'endlessly playable, smart, brutal fun.'[116]Doom was placed 1st in the GamesRadar's list of top FPS games of all time.[138]
Sales[edit]
It was the second best-selling retail game in its week of release in the UK, behind Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.[139] This was reported to be 67% more in its first week than the previous entry, Doom 3.[140]Doom was the second best-selling retail video game in the US in May 2016, also behind Uncharted 4.[141] By the end of May 2016, Doom's sales on the PC reached 500,000 copies.[142] The following month, by late June 2016, the game rose to number one in the UK charts, overtaking Uncharted 4 and the later-released Overwatch,[143] and remained number one for a second week.[144] The game had surpassed 1 million sold copies for PCs in August 2016.[145] By July 2017, the game reached 2 million copies sold on PC.[146][147] In November 2017 Doom was the fourth best-selling Switch game, during its debut week.[148]
Accolades[edit]
Doom was featured in multiple lists by critics and media outlets as one of the best games of 2016, being featured in game of the year lists and articles including Giant Bomb,[149] GameSpot,[150] GamesRadar,[151]The Escapist,[152]The A.V. Club,[153]Rock, Paper, Shotgun,[154]Jim Sterling,[155]VG247,[156]Daily Mirror,[157] and Shacknews.[158]
Sequel[edit]
At the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018 press conference, on June 10, Bethesda Softworks announced a sequel titled Doom Eternal is in the works; gameplay footage was showcased at Quakecon 2018.[168] It is based on idTech 7 and was confirmed to come to the PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Google Stadia.[169][170] It is scheduled to be released in November 2019.[171]
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Doom_(2016_video_game)&oldid=902051610'
Mick Gordon
Mick Gordon is the composer for Doom, and has worked on Wolfenstein: The New Order, Killer Instinct 2014, and several Need For Speed games. Based in Australia, he's currently working on Arkane Studios' Prey reboot.
Back when Bethesda and id Software were making announcements about the recently rebooted Doom, one of the hints that it might end up decent was confirmation that Mick Gordon was onboard to compose the soundtrack. His work on Wolfenstein: The New Order and Killer Instinct is cherished among those games’ playerbases, and the intensity of both owe a lot to his anarchic (but still impressively subtle, when it needs to be) approach to getting visuals and music swinging to the same beat.
Based in Australia, Gordon’s been around for a while. He’s worked on two Need For Speed games, as well as Shift 2 Unleashed and ShootMania Storm, to name a few examples. Currently he’s working with Arkane Studios on its Prey reboot, which—as he relates below—will mark a departure from his recent, foot-to-the-floor audio rampages.
PC Gamer: Since you’re based in Australia, how did you get started in the industry?
Mick Gordon: It’s interesting, I started about 12 years ago and, at that time, there were about 40 companies making video games in Australia, and there were very few people doing sound. It was cool because I was able to contact people who lived in the same town as me – which was Brisbane at the time – and back then we had Pandemic, the THQ studio, and quite a few others. I started making music at home on little computer setups, sending it around to developers. For the [local studios], it made sense because they were able to work with someone local versus someone overseas. That’s kinda how it started.
Did you always want to compose for games? Did you play in bands or work in other fields beforehand?
I started playing in bands when I was 12. I was in pubs at 13, out the back playing rock songs and all that sort of stuff. It was good because it was a good education in learning what works for an audience, basically. That was really my only education in music. I did guitar lessons and things like that, but I never studied anywhere. When I left that world, I still wanted to do something in music because I really couldn’t do anything else. Kontakt library creator download. I wasn’t quite there for film, and I wasn’t quite there for pop music or rock music or any of that kind of thing – that world scared me a bit. Videogames were staring me in the face. I’d always played videogames, I grew up with them, so it seemed like a logical thing.
The original Doom soundtrack was heavily inspired by thrash metal. What inspired your direction for Doom 2016? Could there potentially have been another direction in which to take it, aside from industrial metal?
It’s interesting. I went over to Dallas for a couple of days and hung out with the id Software guys. That’s an incredible studio to visit because they’ve got this glass cabinet with all these original clay sculptures from the original Doom. It was amazing.
When I was there, we talked about what their direction for Doom was. The first thing you’ve got to do on a project like this is literally strike out the word ‘Doom’. You can look at the past, but if you get hung up on the fact that it’s Doom, you get caught up trying to remake what’s already been done. I have a good friend who’s a guitar player in Meshuggah, who said something interesting to me once: “why would you do something that someone else has done before? It already exists. It’s already out there”. So we sat down with Marty [Stratton, Doom game director] and Chris Hite [audio director] and talked about their approach to this game. Yes, it was called Doom, but what was this [particular] game [going to be]?
They said it was a very high impact, quick, violent, visceral, shooting experience that was all based around movement. A lot of games have taken a similar approach to cover-based shooting, which has been a thing for a while, but Doom really wanted to break that and get back to moving around. It was interesting, I played a very early version of Doom at that point and, amazingly, it didn’t look anything like Doom whatsoever, but it felt like Doom. They’d nailed the movement back then, and that was really quite interesting.
So we focused on those elements, the fact that it was quick and fast and in your face, then I looked at the aesthetic choices they’d made. They’re on the Mars base, so there are deep industrial factories and molten rock—it’s an isolating environment. Hugo [Martin, art director] talked very much about a high fidelity of information. That sort of stuff I wanted to get into the music and not just go straight down that ‘90s thrash metal tribute thing.
Mixing electronic music with metal has a mixed history, but you’ve done it well. Why did you choose to mix those elements, what was the purpose?
It’s fascinating because I don’t even look at it like a genre. I never set out to make a metal song. Maybe on one or two of them, I do—like on Rip and Tear or BFG Division—but generally, it’s more about breaking down what makes that genre special. So for me, it’s the fast tempos, the kick drums, the heavy guitars. Then what you can do is pull out some of those elements. You can pull out, say, the heavy guitar element, and put that aside. Then you can look at industrial music: proper industrial music is like what I imagine German techno to sound like, distorted synths, repetitive kick drums. So you might extract that out and put that aside. If you do this with enough things you end up with a toolkit of elements you can mesh together.
So if you’ve put aside distorted synths, heavy guitars and those fast kick drums and whatever else you want to work with—choirs, horrible strings—you can start to carve a sound that is more unique to that project. So while it has elements of industrial and metal, I don’t try to think about it as a metal album, or a metal soundtrack.
People tend to think about music in terms of the artists emoting, expressing themselves. Composing for video games must be different, but is there a personal element in it? When you composed the Doom soundtrack, is that an artistic statement for you? Or is it something else?
It’s two things. The first thing is that I’m trying to make the statement of the player. What is the player feeling, what are they going through? I’m taking myself out and wondering what the player needs to feel at this point.
The second thing I like to do is use music as a reward. So when the player jumps into the arena and the revenant jumps out, and rockets start flying about, and then the music kicks in and makes them headbang or bop – the music is the reward. Music is a positive experience there. It’s reinforcing a positive. So when you do those two things – especially with a game like Doom – you end up with a really unique result which is far beyond any sort of personal creative expression.
I guess you’re always going to have some element of yourself [in the music], because it’s you approaching that project. If someone else did the Doom soundtrack, they might come up with something different, so you can never be fully unbiased of your own pre-ideas.
Responsive video game music seems like a baffling and almost magical thing to achieve. In layman’s terms, how does it work?
It’s quite simply.. imagine a song, right. A verse, a chorus, a bridge, whatever – a basic song structure. Essentially, when you’re listening to a pop or rock song, it has a standard structure like this. That structure has already been defined, so the musician behind it has already come up with it, and you’re just hearing it from start to finish. When you’re doing music for a videogame, you’re handing that structure over to the player. So you’re saying, “Player, based on what you do, you’ll get the verse, or you’ll get the chorus.” And that’s essentially it. There’s a lot of technical wizardry in the background, but that’s the basic concept.
What about the adjustments between tracks, the conjoining parts that need to quickly adapt to the player’s actions. How do they work?
It’s crazy really, I have these really massive sessions of music which can be around 20 minutes or 40 minutes long. What’s in there is a whole series of possibilities. An example of one of these will be, “Oh, you’ve just stopped shooting and it’s mid-verse, what does the music do?” Then that happens. Another example will be, “What if you stop shooting and a giant boss jumps out?” That’s its own possibility again. Another could be, “What happens if you’ve gotten up to a boss and you’ve paused the game?” When you start on a project, you basically define these possibilities and then write music around them, it’s always pre-planned.
Fnv a world of pain. PCG: You mentioned before that you went over and met with id Software and had discussions about the game. How prescribed is the style of Doom’s music? Do they say, “We want heavy metal?” How specific were they and how much leeway did you get?
MG: What’s interesting about that is that, when I went to Dallas, one of the pre-conditions of working on Doom was, believe it or not, no metal. Nothing. You’d think it’d be the opposite, right? The worry was that it would be corny, and that it wouldn’t be serious, and that it wouldn’t be the visceral experience they wanted. That’s what they were worried about – being corny. So we started for about six to nine months doing just synthesisers, and then after a while, I started going, “You know what, guys.. if we can add five percent guitar in here, everybody will love it.”
Listen if you like..
I asked Mick to name some of his favourite composers working in the industry at present. The first he named was Hitman and Assassin’s Creed composer Jesper Kyd. “Everything he seems to touch is mindblowing,” Gordon said. Jack Wall’s work on Myst 4: Revelation is also a standout: “it’s just beautiful, a mindboggling score,” he said. “I don’t know how they pulled it off within the budget they had.”
Meanwhile, Rare’s ‘90s work on Banjo Kazooie and Killer Instinct—helmed by David Wise and Robin Beanland—is a highlight of that era, while Martin Stig-Andersen’s work on Inside was notable for its weird elements, namely the presence of a sword swallower to achieve a certain (probably horrendous) sound.
Then that five percent turned to ten percent. Then it turned to 15 percent. And just like when you and your mates are out for a night, trying not to drink too much, it turned into an all out bender. It was cool, though, because we arrived at those metal-type sounds from a different direction. So we didn’t set that as the initial style, we didn’t say, “Let’s make a metal soundtrack.” We went synths and kickdrums, and then we ended up working in metal elements. I feel like that’s what gave Doom its identity in a way, it wasn’t just a straight ‘90s thrash tribute thing.
It’s interesting what you said about trying to capture the tone and trying to avoid being corny. Doom isn’t corny, but it’s not exactly bleak. It’s often very funny. How much of that was prescribed? Were id Software keen to give it a campy edge?
MG: The one thing that really explained it to me in the beginning was [the notion that] the player is the demon. That’s what they said. The demons are scared of you. They’re running away from you. All of a sudden, that flips the conventional shooting game on its head. You’re not a lone warrior fighting everybody. Instead, you’ve accidentally been woken up and you’re going to wreak hell on all these creatures out there. That was an interesting concept to me.
The campness is always a fine line, because there’s always too far. But the team at id did such a great job hitting stuff that gave the demon slayer enough personality through no dialogue, but it wasn’t campy at the same time. It is over the top, it’s action movie, it’s all that sort of thing.
PCG: Aside from the obvious elements, heavy guitars etc, were there other, more subtle ways you captured the spirit of the game?
Another element that we really focused on was this concept of dissonance—it’s where you take a couple of instruments and you play them badly, or wrongly, and you get some really horrible evil sounds that are wrong. It’s stuff like this that puts the player on the edge. There’s a lot of choir stuff as well, and that was mainly to aide some biblical overtones to the hell levels, really. The hell levels in the game really felt like… we described them as a haunted castle that you’re trying to escape from. It didn’t feel hellish at first until we started putting the choir in there. There are those ways of getting evil, too.
The guitar is more about aggression, and there’s actually a technical reason for why I use guitar in some of the songs. There’s a lot of noise in the game already—there are demons screaming, gunshots, explosions, machinery—and guitar is an instrument which really cuts through, it’s really obvious. Whereas if I put some subtle low strings under that you just wouldn’t hear it. There are those sort of reasons as well.
You’ve recently worked on Doom, Wolfenstein, Killer Instinct—but you’ve also done a Need for Speed, to name one example. You do a lot of action games, but are there any other genres or fields you’d like to explore that depart from that?
I really love the sort of more artistic side of game development, where you can really take a moment to establish a melody. I like Journey, and things like that. They’re just absolutely beautiful and really cool. For the last couple of years, I’ve focused on the very harsh, aggressive and angry side of game development.
Prey is a great departure from that actually. It’s more thought-provoking, there are more Western sounds… Spaghetti Western elements mixed in with synths and things like that. [Arkane’s] approach hasn’t been to get me to write a bunch of combat music or fighting music. Instead, Raphael [Colantonio, Prey director] would just give me a concept. He’ll say, “You’re floating in space, what does that sound like?” That’s great because I can spend two minutes working on what that feels like. Or else he’ll say, “You’re sad, you miss your family because you’re lost somewhere.” He’ll explain that and I’ll go from there.
So there won’t be any double kick drums and 8-string power chords in Prey?
Haha, no. That’s Doom, Doom owns that. The last thing you want to do is take something from the last project into the next one. I throw it all away and go back to the beginning, relearn how to approach music for each project. Each needs its own unique identity. The ultimate goal is that people won’t be able to tell that it’s the same people behind these projects.
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