With Doom Eternal’s recent release, many fans have been enjoying the pulse-pounding action that id Software has delivered again. The game has made many changes to Doom’s DNA, which has lead to many fans debating which changes are good and bad.
Compared to Doom 2016, Doom Eternal is an entirely different beast, focusing on more strategic engagements and frantic gunfights. While Doom 2016 acknowledged common FPS trends like cutscenes and threw them to the side—sometimes literally—Doom Eternal tries its own spin on various trends. It excels at some of them, but it also falters on others that previous games did better. Here are 5 reasons why Doom Eternal is the best Doom game, and 5 why Doom 2016 is the best entry in the series.
10 Doom Eternal: Resource Management
The core gameplay loop of Doom Eternal is vastly different than previous entries, for better and worse. Ammo is much more scarce, and armor drops are reliant on the Flame Belch ability.
It’s jarring at first, but you quickly enter a rhythm of slaying demons with powerful weapons before chainsawing a weaker enemy to recover your ammo to repeat the process. The low ammo encourages you to vary your playstyle to keep combat fresh, something Doom 2016 and older titles struggled to encourage.
9 Doom 2016: Upgrade System
Doom Eternal introduced new progression systems like Sentinel Cores and power cores to unlock items in your fortress. This caused unnecessary bloat that puts to question why upgrade systems should even exist in Doom.
Doom 2016 did this system far better and shows how drip-feed upgrades can be enjoyable. Players unlocked new weapon mods to add alternate fire modes, and players could also upgrade their suit with new passive abilities. The amount of added upgrade systems in Doom Eternal is just too much to stomach.
8 Doom Eternal: Collectables
Collectables are everywhere in Doom Eternal. Unlike Doom 2016, this game now has unlockable skins, music tracks, and so much more.
Every toy you collect in this game is displayed at the Fortress of Doom, a sort of hub world after every few levels. Players can listen to music from various franchises from id Software, along with exploring the castle’s plethora of easter eggs. This game was made by a passionate team that respects the Doom franchise, and it shows in spades.
7 Doom 2016: Returned The Series To Its Roots
Many gamers remember the Doom 2016 multiplayer beta and how terrible it was. The multiplayer felt closer to Call of Duty than a proper Doom experience.
That is why Doom 2016’s success was so shocking. No one expected superb gunplay, incredible level design, a focus on gameplay instead of narrative, and one of the best soundtracks made for any video game. Doom Eternal took a few steps back in certain departments, focusing too much on narrative when 2016 showed that you can make an adrenaline-fueled FPS without that baggage attached.
6 Doom Eternal: Destructible Demons
One of Doom Eternal’s largest innovations is the destructible demon system. In essence, demons will have parts of their body fall apart as you damage them.
It gives combat more visceral feedback than ever before. More than visual, certain limbs can be focused on and destroyed, allowing you to change the roles of various demons. Don’t like the Arachnotron’s tail cannon blasting artillery at you? Blow it off to turn it into a melee unit! It adds a surprising layer of strategy that other Doom games lack.
5 Doom 2016: SnapMap
While Doom 2016 didn’t come with mod support, it did come with an in-game editor titled SnapMap. With it, both console and PC users could create custom maps, both singleplayer and multiplayer, that anyone on any platform could download and play.
The idea was solid, but its execution was lacking at launch. Over time, new demons, tiles, and general functionality were added to make this a great addition for the game. Plenty of difficult and awe-inspiring maps were created that scratched that singleplayer itch many fans had after beating the campaign. Sadly, SnapMap was dropped for Doom Eternal and no news about proper mod support is in sight.
4 Doom Eternal: Weapon Design
Demons are incredibly fun to fight in the Doom series, but the weapons you use help make the core gameplay loop special. Doom Eternal doubled down on making powerful weapons and weapon mods.
Lacking attachments from Doom 2016 were revised or giving new life, such as the Heavy Cannon’s Scope or the Rocket Launcher’s Remote Detonator. Every gun has a place in the sandbox that keeps it relevant for the entire playthrough, something no other Doom title has done nearly as well.
3 Doom 2016: Level Design
Most of Doom’s levels are packed with secrets, atmosphere, great combat arenas, and have just enough variety to make each more engaging than the last.
Doom 2016 took this to a whole new level with its incredible level design. Most missions were interconnected with each other, housing secrets and hidden items for players to find. Verticality played a large part in the game’s later acts as well. Few maps in the recent Doom Eternal hold a candle to previous games, with most maps being far too linear and rarely interconnecting on themselves.
2 Doom Eternal: Mobility
The combat arenas in Doom Eternal are some of the best in the series, however. Verticality is now a core tenant to the game’s gunplay, including monkey bars to fling yourself off of and a dash to dodge projectiles mid-air.
Simply adding a way to dodge attacks quickly adds a whole new element of strategy to Doom. Dashing into a Cacodemon, slaying it, then dashing to a safe location in a couple of seconds never gets old. No other Doom title can match the fast-paced gameplay and impeccable movement Eternal offers.
1 Doom 2016: Grounded Elements
While many will adore Doom Eternal’s outdoor maps and larger exploration areas, the grounded nature of Doom 2016 is simply missing from the sequel.
In the previous entry, guns were found on corpses. Keys were found on dead personnel that you had to physically grab in a short animation, and the game left most exposition around the Doomslayer and demons to lore entries. The Doomslayer was the player personified, furious with the state of the world and wanting to rip the guts out of any demon that stood in his way. Id Software showed the world that cutscenes and arbitrary mechanics aren’t needed to make an FPS fun, something that Doom Eternal chose to forget. Your character interacted with the world and explored a man-made location for most of the game, something that rarely happens in Eternal.
NEXT: Doom: 5 Video Game Heroes Doom Slayer Can Slay (& 5 He Can’t)
