Doom 2016-Retrospective
We live in an era of the reboot. For some reason, we’re always clammering to restore these old franchises that maybe would be better left alone. But not DOOM! Doom (2016) was the perfect reboot for the perfect time. It brought the best elements of modern shooters and molded them into the classic DOOM framework in a way that is really special. Playing this game felt like a celebration and an homage. Not just to Classic DOOM, but to a lot of the single player shooters that died out in the early 2010s. Doom was a marvel of timing, design and atmosphere. It didn’t just bring back a classic franchise, it propeled into the future and set it up to be a dominant player in the FPS genre for years to come.
It’s such an excellently crafted game, from the tone, to the gun mechanics and level design, the atmosphere and of course the music. It’s a coherent vision, one that understands how to balance the past and the present in a way that gets the best out of the potential of both. It evokes the vibes of classic DOOM while forging a path forward. It’s equally badass to the old games, perhaps a little more so (though it’s sequel turned that up to 11) and it knows what DOOM fans expect. It’s a labor of love, an ode to the FPS and to the FPS’s seminal figure, Doomguy. Or as he is now known: the DoomSlayer.
Even the story, which is normally a DOOM focus, is pretty strong and hits the right balance between subtle exposition and gameplay driven focus. 80& of the story is things you need to know and the other 20% leaves you wanting more. What this game does so well, in retrospect, is lay the groundwork for a larger and more expansive story in the games that follow without feeling like it’s doing too much. And the things introduced, while they may seem a little extra for a DOOM game, are pretty badass.
Doom takes place several decades, perhaps centuries, after DOOM 64, in an alternate universe from the original DOOM games. The United Aerospace Corporation (UAC), under the guidance of CEO and all around genius Samuel Hayden, has created a massive base on Mars to harvest a powerful energy source called Argent Energy. This “Argent Energy” comes from another dimension: Hell. While in Hell, Hayden and UAC staff retrieve a sarcophagus containing our protagonist, the DoomSlayer. He’s been dormant for a long time and the UAC puts him in a lab to study him. But, you know how this goes- a Hellwave rips through the facility and demons are unleashed, causing a massive calamity of death and destruction and the DoomSlayer wakes up. In fact, the first 15 seconds are him waking up and destroying a demon. It’s awesome.
And it just gets better from there. The game throws you right into the action. You’re gunning down demons in mass right away. You get the shotgun, the heavy cannon, the grenade and you can go to work from the very first level. The pacing of this game is breakneck and hurtling, with the only reliefs being these very badass platforming sections where you’re jumping and climbing in ways that feel driven and superhuman. You see somewhere a person could not get to and you get there. By jumping and vaulting and scaling. It really reinforces this notion that you are more than just a guy, which is something that they lean into in the new DOOM games. Healing is spiritually in the vein of previous games- there’s big health kits, but you also get 10-15 HP canisters back upon killing enemies. It flows smoothly and keeps the game moving. Above all, it locks you into the immersion-you aren’t just a tougher than normal soldier from Earth, you’re a super soldier.
And these are different from the traditional DOOM levels, which average between 5 and 15 minutes. These are hearty 30-45 minute endeavors, that range from detailed exploration of a complex and intricate facility to linear shooting boxes lined up in sequence that cover a lot of ground. There’s a lot of diversity in environment and level structure. For example, levels 2 and 3, Resource Operations and The Foundry, are designed like a hub with different areas you can access that ultimately filter back towards the central area, with each path giving you keys to further progress. Level 5, The Argent Tower, which is a classic, is this awesome vertical thing where you’re scaling this tower and fighting demons at every level and you can feel the scale of it all. You look down and the bottom is nowhere to be seen. Later on, in Hell, there’s a level called The Titan’s Realm, where you’re basically fighting/puzzling your way out of this subterranean maze that feels like classic DOOM, with all these closed off bone filled arenas leading back to the central puzzle area.
And the music, when you’re doing all of this, is heavenly. Truly one of the best videogame soundtracks EVER. It encapsulates the vibes of being this all power alpha soldier god killer. Mick Gordon composes a masterpiece of blood, death and destruction with electric guitars, quirky synths, chainsaws (yes, chainsaws) and bass. You will never forget this soundtrack once you hear it and you’ll forever associate it with this gameplay loop and this game. It really is the centerpiece of Doom’s aesthetic renaissance. Menacing, angry and relentless. Totally badass and epic. There’s too many adjectives and yet all you need is sound.
The combat is deeper and richer than it’s ever been, but it’s not yet the insanity of Doom Eternal. You have upgrade paths for your weapons and the DoomSlayer and while each weapon has advantages that will make you use it, you will likely find yourself leaning on a choice few that heavily influence your playstyle. The Heavy Cannon (think an AR-15 from space) has Micro-Missiles, which are…exactly what they sound like and upgrading these gives you unlimited Micro-Missiles that just melt enemies. Putting Siege-Mode on the Gauss Canon (think a plasma ballista) allows you to one or two shot tough enemies. And the Super Shotgun…oh the Super Shotgun is broken in the best way. You can just BANG! - reload very quickly-BANG! and whatever you’re fight is dead. And if you upgrade it all the way, you can fire two shots in one volley and dice your foes. And the Rocket Launcher too. Lock on, fire three missiles, rinse and repeat and it’s over. The upgrades are great and add a lot of variety while still rewarding you for playing favorites.
The movement is different and tailored to the modern age as well. You still move quickly across horizontal area, but there’s new verticality too. You can double jump…and it feels great. You just float through the air, and completing a Rune Trial (we’ll come back to that) gives you more control while in mid air, which makes it really dynamic and completely alters the way you fight. You can jump, pivot through the air, headshot your foes, chunk a grenade…whatever feels right. And when you get it down- I mean really get it down, it’s one of the tightest combat loops you’ll ever experience. DOOM was built around movement and this game pushes that envelope.
The movement adds another dimension to an already badass gameplay loop. It also encourages platforming, which takes a larger focus in the Rune Trials (I told you I’d come back to that). The Rune Trials are these optional challenges that unlock perks, such as control in mid-air, acquiring health and ammo from a greater distance. They usually blend platforming and precision shooting with a timed element that make them a refreshing change of pace while still building off the core gameplay loop. They also allow you to further customize your playstyle.
The world design of this game is perfect, particularly when you align it with the tone and context of the game. This was a rebirth for DOOM, but unlike the previous rebirth (DOOM 3), this one really wanted to stick close to the source material while bringing it forward into the modern age. So how do you do that? Grit. Realism. A sense of place and scale. The UAC facility in this game is basically a city. It also feels realistic for what it is. It’s very industrial and high tech but also has logical infrastructure and thoughtful design. The cooling for the super computer VEGA is in the planet’s polar region. The Foundry…exists. There’s logistical considerations made, such as a train that transports people from different facilities. This world makes sense and is grounded.
The enemy designs are gritty and sinister. Warped humans who clearly once had souls and jobs wander the halls, their flesh melted and seared by the Hellwave. Doom 2016 is a bridge game. It leads into Doom Eternal and canonically it follows DOOM 64. But it’s unique in some very specific ways that stand out. It really is more grounded than the other games tonally and aesthetically. It’s linear but has exploration elements that are more true to the original than Doom Eternal does. While Doom Eternal feels like it builds off this game and DOOM Classic, this one has a lot of 2010s shooter influence that didn’t completely carry over to it’s sequel. It’s unique in that you can feel the mid 2010s in a way that you couldn’t later on.
Thematically I think this one is interesting because it drills into corporations and corporate leaders in a way that never could be in previous games and aren’t in the sequel. Doom Eternal is sort of larger than life and deals with religious and hierarchical concepts. But this game is rooted in corporate malpractice and the consequences of ruthless ambition. This complex on Mars is absurdly large and has about 10 different purposes. Samuel Hayden is like a hyper intelligent psychopath who has very little regard for the danger of what his company is doing. In fact, he’s eerily comfortable with Hell and seems to know exactly what he’s doing and what the consequences are. And this is a great little twist on this type of narrative because usually the CEO character is inadvertently biting off more than they can chew. Hayden is actually in complete control of the situation up until this inciting incident, when a cultist employee intentionally triggers a Hellwave that wrecks parts of the facility and opens a portal to Hell.
That’s yet another thing this game does really really well. The characters are actually great. I mean the villain, Olivia Pearce, is a little take it or leave it, but she is compelling enough and doesn’t take up too much screen time. Samuel Hayden is awesome- he’s actually a cyborg who used to be human but transferred his consciousness to beat cancer. He tends to make recommendations and guide the overall direction of the story by telling you what you need to do and providing context. Then there’s the AI, VEGA, who helps you throughout and interacts with you more directly, providing directions. Even though he’s a robot it’s hard not to see him as sympathetic and kind character, a clear contrast to his boss.
And these characters contribute to another key strength of the game- in contrast to it’s previous iterations, this Doom is full of moments. Absolute cinema in some cases. Battling the CyberDemon to gain entry to Hell, meeting Samuel Hayden, getting the BFG, the entire Argent Tower mission…it lends some gravitas to a series that previously never took itself too seriously in the past. And it’s not overly burdened here, but it’s got some weight and meat to the story that was new to the franchise. It made DOOM a franchise that finally, for the first time, put the story where it needed to be and it did so oh so perfectly.
It’s hard to write enough about this game. It’s a wonder, especially as a DOOM fan who once thought the series was cooked. But the good folks at Id proved me wrong. And they did it by combining the best traits of DOOM and modern shooters to make something that transcended your normal FPS. It returned DOOM to the top of food chain. It took one of something that was a relic and made it a centerpiece in gaming once more. And it did so by innovating at every level, from gameplay to story to music to tone. God bless this game and the Hell it raises.
