The 2010’s had a lot of first-person shooters of various quality, but the one that stood above them all was the 2016 reboot of DOOM. Doom is an iconic series but had been going in a different direction for a while. RPGs on mobile phones, survival horror games and more. So, when the new DOOM was announced, many were hesitant. It had gone through a lengthy period of development hell and some of the things people had been hearing made them nervous. Could DOOM come back in a big way?
When the game was shown off at E3 2015, we were all was blown away. Aside from it seeming a little too slow, it looked like classic Doom in HD, and even felt like it had elements of the mod Brutal Doom and other improvements. It also included Snapmap, which was a neat take on bridging PC game modding with the console version. Multiplayer seemed like it would be underwhelming, but there was still excitement. Then the beta came out and was only showing the weak multiplayer, and if that wasn’t enough, there were no review versions sent out before launch. Many were bracing for the worst, but it was not to be.
DOOM ended up being absolutely amazing, with the campaign being exactly what many have wanted in a first-person shooter. A modern FPS that truly hearkens back to the original days of DOOM and kept the old school traditions. The campaign was gory, violent and over the top and done in a way that feels right at home to old school players. The glory kill mechanic is great and gives an extra oomph to the experience.
The developers also listened to fan complaints about what worked and what did not in this game, and added more modes and changes to the game for single player content For instance, some simple stuff like Arcade Mode gave the game a ton of replayability and increased the challenge for player as well as fun. SnapMap had received the biggest improvements, since while it had good content from the start, it was mainly there to help multiplayer. id Software did a great job revamping it and enabled fans to use it in a manner much more like classic Doom mods. The result was adding years onto the game’s life with whatever content could be made by players in inventive ways. It is also worth noting that the game had an amazing port to the Nintendo Switch by way of developer Panic Button. While the framerate was lower, and SnapMap was gone, it was still a technical marvel that looked great and was the first real multiplayer fps game on Switch. The developers even added an update a year later, to add gyro controls and fix the framerate, and created a very polished port of the game
DOOM was more than just an action game though, as it had a surprisingly strong narrative that elevated it above being a mindless shooter and mastered the art of show, don’t tell. The game contained large amounts of lore you could find, that detailed the backstory of the Doom Slayer and the demons. While somewhat reminiscent of other games like Metroid Prime, those games are focused on exploration and adventure, while DOOM is action focused. id Software essentially blurred genres while keeping the game focused on action. It has also been pointed out by people like Jim Sterling, that the Doom Slayer’s mannerisms make him a unique character in that even without saying anything and only really showing a pair of hands. In just the way he moved, the way the camera was angled at certain times and so on, that conveyed emotion and told a story without needing words. You could feel his anger in his reaction to what happened, and He came off less as psycho who could only solve things by shooting, and rather as someone who honestly felt everything had to be stopped because he had seen the true extent of the damage that could be caused by tampering with Hell’s power. The game also manages to make statements about moral ambiguity as noted by SpaceBattles forum user Sir Bill here .The end result is a game that rises above its nature and challenges perceptions of what an FPS can be.
DOOM 2016 is an incredible game and no other FPS this decade could match it. It was truly a masterpiece.