izigame.me

I went into Doom Eternal fresh off of the heels of finishing Doom (2016 (I will mostly refer to it as such from this point)), which I thought was a tremendous game. In doing so, I had high expectations and stepped into the stomping grounds of Eternal with far too much of an inclination that it was going to play largely the same as 2016 -- it did not.

At it's core, Eternal shares a lot of similarities with 2016, and when you first gain control the Doom Slayer, there really isn't any clear indication that there is really much of a difference in gameplay at all. However, once you've cleared your first pack or two of demons, the divergence becomes pretty apparent: Unlike 2016, which provided a plethora of ammo, health, and armor for you to pick up off of the ground, Eternal scales this back tremendously, and instead implements several combative mechanics that are available on moderate cooldown timers which will provide you a means for gaining these resources back from the demons you're killing. Inherently, this isn't a bad thing. But being so entrenched in the way that 2016 played, the change was dramatically jarring to me initially, and it took me a couple of levels to wrap my head around the fact that Eternal was asking me to play very differently. As a result, I felt quite frustrated with this game for my first few hours of gameplay.

During this learning period, my biggest annoyance was that I was constantly running out of ammunition, which resulted in me often having to flee from encounters in desperate search for the now-scarce ammunition lying around the rooms, which felt like a complete change of pace compared to 2016; and my feeling at the time made it feel like an unreasonable change at that. However, this was not the games fault. This was purely the fault of my expectations and my initial inability to adapt to the changes made. However, once I obtained all of my slayer tools, and it finally dawned on me how to properly regain resources mid-encounter, my frustrations largely dissipated, and instead, I started to actually really enjoy the difference in playstyle, and recognized how regaining resources off of the demons was actually a pretty neat mechanic, and I really started to appreciate it, especially as a means to keep you constantly engaged in the action instead of having to scour the rooms for whatever resource you require.

Outside of combat, Eternal really stepped up the platforming sections of the game, and for that, I felt like traversing each level was a bit more engaging and enjoyable than 2016. However, the levels themselves often felt a bit too long, and the game as a whole was a little lengthier than I would have preferred. Still, the level design is quite fantastic, and the visuals are tremendous the whole way through. The game oozes satisfaction in nearly every aspect, just as its predecessor did. The only aspect of the game where I felt this was not the case was with the narrative. Frankly, I feel like the game tried to be more of a lore-rich, deeper storytelling experience than it needed to be, and the story itself, for me, was a bit too convoluted and uninteresting. I honestly just checked out during most of the dialogue, as I really struggled to care about the narrative.

Overall, I still would say I preferred the more grounded, straight-forward approach of Doom (2016). Never once in that game did I really feel any level of frustration, whereas, even once I became familiar with the mechanics of Eternal, I found myself getting infuriated with several sections of the game. That doesn't mean that overall I didn't still enjoy the hell out of it though. Eternal is a thrill ride of bad-assery the whole way through, and many of the battles are adrenaline-fueled madness that will leave you exasperated when the encounter has concluded. Without a doubt, it's one of the best modern-day FPS games on the market. Give it a go if you're looking for a fast-paced gore fest, though I would recommend giving Doom (2016) a go first. Just don't go into Eternal with the idea that it's going to play nearly identical, like I did.
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