Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods – Part Two
It seems you can teach old gods new tricks
The Doom Slayer’s back to turn demons into warm lumpy yoghurt one last time, and you can tell that he’s still not smiling underneath that helmet. No wonder: after coming face-to-face with the Dark Lord at the end of the last chapter, he’s denied a fight and is forced to chase The Naughty One to Immora, the capital city of Hell. Yes, Hell has a capital city, raising some interesting questions about civic infrastructure.
Those questions aren’t answered, sadly, but Id has worked hard to give Eternal’s story a suitably intense and epic ending. Each cutscene could’ve come from an enjoyably pulpy sci-fi horror, and there are multiple new enemies. As if the towering Baron weren’t troublesome enough, for example, there’s now a variant with regenerating armour. You have to contend with Stone Imps, too, who are resistant to most weapons and charge at you with worrying speed.
Get hit by a Cursed Prowler, meanwhile, and you’ll slowly lose health and be unable to dash until you kill it with a Blood Punch. Finally – and most (suitably) diabolically – there are now Screecher Zombies. You want to avoid killing these fragile monsters, as doing so will temporarily buff every other demon in the area. As you may have guessed, The Ancient Gods continues to ramp up the difficulty, but the rhythm of play remains largely the same. You’ll now need to engage your brain more than ever, though.
GORY HALLELUJAH
There are a few helping hands for you. BFG ammo is (slightly) more common than usual, and you’re soon given a huge magic hammer, charged by glory kills and destroying weak points, that stuns all enemies within a small area. It’s extremely challenging, but well balanced. There are less welcome elements, which we can’t help but suspect result from Id looking at common criticisms and saying “Don’t like this? Okay, have some more!”.
Terrible platforming is still a part of the game, the first example of which is thrust upon you within minutes of play. There’s even a new platforming element in the form of compulsory Super Shotgun swings, though these tend to be mercifully simple. The controversial Marauders return along with every other enemy. At one point you fight two Marauders simultaneously – and the Dark Lord turns out to be, in essence, a superpowered Marauder himself, which feels like a cruel joke.
These things annoy for sure, but it’s ultimately noise drowned out by the glorious chaos of the typically heartpounding combat. A love letter to fans and the franchise itself written in blood, it’s a fitting end to the Doom Slayer’s journey. Well… for now.
Best appreciated by Doom veterans, this is a ferociously challenging, fresh-feeling, satisfying end to Eternal. Brace yourself for more platforming, though. Luke Kemp