First, funny anecdote. I told my wife that I was reviewing DOOM Eternal and she wondered why I was playing a game called “Do Maternal.”
Anyway! You’re probably wondering where our DOOM Eternal review is. The rest of the internet exploded with DOOM Eternal reviews this morning like a cacodemon that just swallowed a grenade, but ours was nowhere among them. DOOM Eternal has a pretty major online component—multiple, in fact—and it’s not just a side feature being swept under the rug as a little additional mode with the main game.
The first online component is the multiplayer mode called Battlemode, where one person takes control of the Doomslayer, and two other players play as demons. Battlemode won’t be available until launch, so this is a pretty large part of the game we haven’t been able to get our hands on just yet.
Secondly, DOOM Eternal features a cohesive leveling/battle pass-like system with progression that encompasses the entire game. It features weekly challenges—like killing a certain number of a specific demon type with specific attachments—cosmetic rewards at certain XP tiers, and changing events that will give players incentives to come back and even play the single-player campaign to earn new costumes for the Doomslayer, podiums, emblems, and more.
Given this very new direction for the DOOM franchise and the way it integrates a huge new multiplayer mode and a unique live-service aspect, we wanted to give our review a little more time in the oven before we declared a final score.
I can safely say, however, that DOOM Eternal’s single-player campaign is ridiculous and badass and insane in all the best ways. It feels like the classic shooter yet never gets bogged down by the past. I’ll be talking about it much more extensively in our final review, but if you don’t care about the online components at all, I’d still say DOOM Eternal is well worth experiencing for its 15-hour campaign of fast-paced, bloody, and explosive demon-slaying fun. The online progression isn’t required, but it does add a nice layer over the top of the game that provides some pretty cool incentives to keep playing. It’s the best of both worlds: single-player campaigns and live-service games.
Are you sold on DOOM Eternal on that alone? You can preorder the game from Amazon for just $50 and get DOOM 64 along with it, which we’ll also be talking about soon.
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