Blast demons and hail Satan

DOOM  |  id Software, 2016 [Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch]

Id Software’s ‘DOOM 2016’ is nothing short of an incredibly bloody satisfying surprise. The slew of pre-release footage and demos reeked of pre-rendered showcase hype; yet somehow it has arguably managed to over deliver.

There’s always risk involved in remastering or rebooting beloved franchises, and attempting it with one of the foremost most first-person shooters ever seemed like an insane goal. Right from the offset the game has one focus in mind: bringing the purest demon-eviscerating experience without any unnecessary baggage weighing it down. Every introduction of exposition is quickly hurried along to give just enough information before shooting resumes. This is brilliantly executed in the opening segment of the game where the main character literally pushes away a panel spewing story information so that he can keep moving, believably carrying out how the player may feel in that exact moment, itching to push on.

Anything that’s been added has its rightful place as well, acting as turbochargers to an already pure, streamlined experience. The gun leveling and RPG elements add layers of diversity to the action allowing the player to upgrade their arsenal of favored guns or gain additional resources from preferred kill styles. Even the expanded optional exploration segments (which aren’t unfamiliar to the series) offer challenging but rewarding platforming puzzles and secrets for obsessive cartographers to pursue. Small homages like the tiny collectible doom guys show a heartfelt passion for the game’s past. While larger more bombastic inclusions like the Revenant enemies and hidden original Doom rooms are just plain awesome.

Story and reason aren’t at the forefront here, and it seems to be all the better for it. Why is Doom guy back, what exactly is argent energy ,and why is hell an actual dimension? The game honestly would rather give you more BFGs and glory kills instead of wasting your time. This all combines into a bloody, heavy-metal fuelled, nightmare of a gloriously fulfilling one-man apocalypse. So pump your super shotgun and have a blast going to hell.