With 2016's Doom, developer Id Software successfully resurrected one of the foundational first-person shooter (FPS) franchises. Given the game's critical and commercial success, it's no surprise to see a follow-up. Doom Eternal takes everything that made its predecessor a wonderful, demon-slaying shooter and bumps it all up by several notches courtesy of ridiculous weapons, fresh navigation options, and new multiplayer mode. It is almost too over-the-top at points, but that's precisely what makes Doom Eternal one of 2020's best PC games.
A New Doom
Doom Eternal picks up directly where Doom left off. Demons have invaded and conquered Earth, so your player-character, the simply named Doomslayer, must drive back the demonic hordes and free humanity. Although Doom Eternal introduces more story elements than its predecessor, particularly the Doomslayer's origins, that isn't the main draw here. Doom Eternal has one true focus: killing demons in increasingly gory and brutal ways.
Your arsenal grows as the game progresses. The weapons include plasma rifles, rocket launchers, mini-guns, and of course, the always-reliable shotgun. Different weapons work better on specific demons. The shotgun turns shambling zombies into paste, but has reduced effect against larger foes. As a result, you must continuously switch armament—via the weapon wheel or quick swap options—to emerge with your life.
The other key to survival is remaining in motion. The game facilitates movement with old and new platforming mechanics courtesy of double jumps, pole swings, wall climbs, mid-air dashes, dimensional portals that shift you to different locations, and air currents that propel you through the sky. When you get the hang of movement, you'll zip across stages; tearing up anything in your path. Doomslayer isn't quite as agile as Vanquish's protagonist. He can't slide across floors or flip over projectiles, after all. Still, Doomslayer is a fast demonic killer regardless.
Similar Products
Demonic Stages
Each stage features an ever-increasing amount of complex platforming segments. Platforming in a first-person viewpoint works surprisingly well; you'll never feel disoriented or lost. These brief segments are also a welcome respite from the constant enemy hordes.
Levels are far larger than those in Doom 2016. Because most of the game takes place on a demon-infested Earth, there is far more environmental variety. You'll engage enemies in subway stations, office buildings, parking lots, and even a downed airplane. The distant backgrounds of some stages show the scale of the war against the demons, particularly the wreck of over-sized battle mechs. Though there are some small corridors to navigate, they are few and far between. Id Software clearly wanted a larger canvas on which to paint its bloody tale.
The large stages, breadth of weapons, and traversal mechanics encourage experimentation during enemy encounters. Since you must constantly stay on the move, using the environment to your advantage via the new platforming mechanics is crucial.
Even foes play their part in keeping you in the fight. You gain health by performing "Glory Kills" on stunned enemies. For example, you earn armor pieces from setting demons on fire with your shoulder-mounted flamethrower. In addition, slicing demons in half with your chainsaw makes it rain both health and ammo. Because you must keep so much in mind during combat (moving, switching weapons, and resupplying weapon ammo), it's best to turn off your brain and let instincts take over.
Doom Eternal's many stages are filled with secrets. Some items, like demon plushies, are silly and whimsical. Codex entries (in the form of burning books) serve as world-building devices. And hidden floppy disks act as cheat codes when replaying levels through the mission select menu. While it is rewarding to find these particular secrets, they aren't nearly as useful as the various upgrade items within levels.
Upgrade Your Experience
Even if you aren't directly looking for them, you'll find upgrades all over the map. Floating drones dispense weapon mods that give guns secondary firing options. For example, you can have the shotgun fire sticky bombs, or turn your heavy cannon into a sniper rifle. You can customize mods further by spending weapon points earned by completing levels and other challenges. Spirit Knights offer runes that upgrade to receive perks like blast immunity or the ability to see hidden map objects. Sentinel Crystals located inside demonic gravestones add passive abilities like slowing down time when in mid-air or performing Glory Kills faster. These upgrades make your already powerful Doomslayer into a veritable god.
You can occupy yourself further by completing in-level challenges. You'll earn weapon points, runes, and sentinel crystals for killing foes in certain ways or locating all of a level's secrets. Most levels contain Challenge Rooms where you must fight hordes of baddies under conditions like limited time and ammo or with only a certain weapon. There are also red dimensional portals that, when interacted with, initiate secret encounters. To complete these, you'll need to kill the specified demons before a timer expires.
While Doom Eternal's battles are second-to-none in the action department, they can become repetitive after a while. This is especially true towards the end of the campaign. Though many will absolutely love how relentless the game can be, some may find it obnoxious—especially when playing for extended periods of time. I can't harp on this aspect too much since this franchise is all about pure, unbridled inhibition.
The New Battlemode
After ripping and tearing demons apart in the campaign, you can swing over to Battlemode for some online action. In this asymmetrical multiplayer mode, two players control demons, while another controls the Doomslayer. The goal? The demons must kill the Doomslayer, while the Doomslayer must kill the demons.
Each of the five currently selectable demons possess unique skills and weapons. For example, they can lay traps and summon other demons to harass Doomslayer. Our hero has access to many of the weapons and mods from the campaign.
Unfortunately, we were unable to access Battlemode during the pre-release review period. We'll update this review when Battlemode becomes available.
Killer Specs
Doom Eternal looks absolutely gorgeous on PC. The hellish landscapes and demons populating them contain details both great and small, making the battles horrifyingly realistic. Ripping hellspawn to pieces with your bare hands or blowing them to chunks with the shotgun splatters the screen with bloody entrails, muscles, and bones. It's all delightfully gory. Though highly detailed, the distinct art style and animations prevent it from being entirely photorealistic. This lends the game its own visual identity and makes it easily recognizable even from a single screenshot.
To play Doom Eternal on PC, your gaming PC (at a minimum) needs a 3.3GHz Intel Core i5 CPU, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 GPU, 4GB of RAM, 50GB of storage space, and the Windows 10 operating system. The game also needs to run at 1080p/60fps minimum. These aren't outlandish system requirements, so a moderate gaming rig should run the game fine.
Doom Eternal plays incredibly smooth on my gaming desktop, which has an Intel i7 4790 CPU and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU. Even during intense action, the framerate rarely dipped below 144 frames per second at high settings. This is one of the most stable games I've played on my rig. Doom Eternal is practically flawless, in terms of performance.
Doom Eternal includes numerous graphics options, including Field of View and Motion Blur. The accessibility options include Colorblind Rendering (lets you adjust Image Intensity), Contrast, and Brightness. In the Advanced Options menu, you can tinker with Shadow Quality, Directional Occlusion, Film Grain, Resolution Scaling, and other settings. The game supports 4K and HDR, too.
The game supports both mouse and keyboard inputs, as well as game controllers. You'll need a Bethesda account to play, even if you're using Steam.
![Why You Should Game on a PC](https://zmgvideos.mashable.com/cms/2019/8/15c9d04a-21fe-7ad8/uploaded_thumbnail.jpg)
Doom Slays
If you're looking for a deep and thought-provoking gaming experience that changes your outlook on life, look elsewhere. However, if you want a fast-paced, visceral shooter full of non-stop action and outrageous violence, you can't do better than Doom Eternal. If you liked 2016's offering you will love this follow up. It's a hell of a good time.
If you liked this review and would like to see more, please join the PCMag Steam Curator page. There you'll find all of our Steam reviews, as well as in-depth previews of upcoming Steam titles.
Doom Eternal tops its predecessor by featuring larger maps filled with secrets, more ultra-violent weapons, and a huge variety of demons to slay. It is 2020's most extreme, first-person shooter.
Like What You're Reading?
Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox.
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
Sign up for other newsletters