When you play Doom, you have to discard a decade’s worth of first-person shooter conditioning. If your weapon is low on ammo, don’t even think about tapping a button to reload it, you can’t – the only way to replenish ammo is by picking it up. The tendency to duck behind cover to regain health or survey the battlefield also holds no weight in Doom. The second you stop moving or turn your back on the demon onslaught is the second you likely die. You need to keep moving, and you only do it at one pace: sprinting. Doom also does away with changeable movement speeds, and instead sets sprinting as the default.
By removing these life-saving mechanics from the experience, Doom is unlike any other modern-day shooter on the market. We traveled to id Software’s development studio in Richardson, Texas, to put these unique, retro mechanics to the test in our exclusive hands-on session of Doom. We played through two distinct areas: The first is Resource Operations, serving as the game’s second level set in a UAC bunker deep beneath Mars’ surface. We also traveled to Titan’s Realm, a stage set in the back half of the adventure that shows off id’s new interpretation of Hell, a place where giant titans once resided. We know these titans were alive at one point because we see their remains firsthand. Holding true to Doom's heritage for high levels of gore, we actually explore the remains of one of the titans, entering through its mouth and dropping into its bowels, where most of the stage is set.
The videos of Doom that are online make the game look fast, but you really don’t realize just how fast it is until you get your hands on the controller. I played the PC version, running at a smooth 60 frames per second in 1080p, and learned quickly that Doom requires a different mindset for combat. While the ultimate goal is to blow away every demon as quickly as possible, you are pushed to concoct strategies on the fly, thinking not just of the next kill, but of your next series of moves, all while trying to keep the opposing forces in front of you, or in a position where their attacks can’t reach you. Verticality plays a large role in the game; enemies such as imps, who are far more skilled combatants than in previous games, use vertical spaces against you, scaling pipes to rain fireballs and charged fire blasts down on you.
Once I grasped the flow of combat (which felt fantastic in our demos), Doom proved to be a wickedly good time that empowers player skill and pushes players to develop their own style of play through its weapon variety. The thrills that come from Doom are as distinct as the gameplay mechanics, ranging from skill-driven chain reactions that can turn a handful of enemies into a smoldering bloody mess to satisfying finishers that give the player a few seconds to pause and admire their handiwork before the fray continues at a relentless pace.
Here are 10 of the coolest things we did while playing Doom’s campaign levels, multiplayer modes, and SnapMap – the game’s built-in modding tools:
Unlocking the combat shotgun’s explosive shot
Doom’s new take on the Shotgun is loud, and every bit as powerful as it has been in the past. In its default setting, the Combat Shotgun can be used to down any foe, but it receives an extra kick from a mod. Deep within the Resource Operations mission, players stumble upon a delivery drone that offers one of two mods for the Combat Shotgun: a three-round charged burst (executed by holding the Left Trigger to charge) and the Explosive Shot, which acts just like a grenade launcher. Both mods can be equipped at once and are switched by pressing up on the d-pad.
The Explosive Shot effectively functions as a grenade launcher, spitting out an explosive round that deals heavy damage. This powerful shot makes an already potent weapon an even greater demon killer.
Glory killing a Mancubus
The Mancubus, while looking like a waddling wad of blubber, is one of the most dangerous foes we faced during our Doom play session. Wielding dual flamethrowers and having a knack for appearing just when you least want them to, Mancubus’ must be dealt with quickly. They’ll give chase (slowly) but always seem to throw a deadly kink in the combat flow. Mancubus are bullet sponges best handled with heavy weaponry like the rocket launcher, or my preferred method, the chaingun and its three-barrel mobile turret mod.
The chaingun’s barrage of bullets tears through the Mancubus’ flesh, but if you want to glory kill it, this weapon of choice may down the foe before you get the chance to finish it off in style. When a Mancubus is stunned, the glory kill that can be executed is as gruesome as can be: Your character jams his hand into the Mancubus’ chest, removes its still-beating heart, admires it for a brief second, and then reinserts it into the Mancubus by jamming it down its throat. The Mancubus chokes on the heart for a second before exploding into a bloody mist accompanied by gooey body parts and flesh.
The first chainsaw kill
Doom’s chainsaw and BFG (which we sadly didn’t see in action) are oddly not in the weapon wheel. Id realized players would need to switch to them quickly, so the chainsaw is drawn when the player hits down on the directional pad, and the BFG is immediately wielded by press the X button (on an Xbox One controller).
The chainsaw is not immediately available for play and is found in the game’s second level, jammed halfway into the corpse of a fallen UAC trooper. Your character extracts it from the body and is given the chance to immediately reap its rewards by using it against a horde of Possessed – zombified UAC personnel.
The chainsaw is the one weapon that strikes fear into the demon forces, and always delivers a one-hit kill. Some Possessed we encountered tried to block the chainsaw’s spinning blade by raising their hands up over their heads. Their efforts proved fruitless and just lead to more gruesome deaths, as the chainsaw cuts through their arms head and torso like a hot knife through butter. The blood and guts accompanying these gruesome acts are exaggerated, but again, quickly realized, allowing the player to grind through a horde of enemies in little time.