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| DOOM 25th Anniversary Wallpaper. Taken from Slayers Club. |
With the release of The Ancient Gods Part 2, "Doom Slayer Saga" has concluded and its finale was quite rough. If you're keeping an eye on DOOM community (or, more specifically, it's "nu-DOOM" part), you would've noticed how latest DLC for DOOM Eternal got rather mixed reviews in various aspects: gameplay, story, lore... And, even from "observer perspective", it's easy to see why. Thankfully, situation wasn't that bad: id Software and community listened to each other, so it seems more peaceful now.
That's partically what I want to talk about this time. However, since I'm just not able to play "DOOM 16" (not to mention DOOM Eternal), I would like to focus on story/lore from both games as an retrospective of this modern take on the franchise. I think it's a good moment to do that as we have a complete arc in this current DOOM universe.
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| I played through Rip & Tear mission like that on I'm Too Young To Die, obviously... |
As a Warcraft fan that sees his favorite series getting destroyed, there're some red flags and decisions in current DOOM narrative that I don't like and I would like to point out before its too late... or if it's not too late. Unlike Blizzard, id Software seems more invested in their franchise and actually listens to community's feedback. This time there's actual hope that perhaps they will listen, but I really doubt that.
Grim Prelude.
Before going over current iteration of this game, I think it's important to mention DOOM 4 story as that's where it started. Thanks to Noclip's documentary series about DOOM 2016, we got some details about so-called "Call of Doom" from id Software developers itself. In short, it was a project that went too far from the series' roots and didn't felt like a good DOOM game. Hugo Martin summed it up quiet well:
"As a concept, I can see why they went there because I would probably want to explore that too... if it wasn't a DOOM game, you know. Because it sacrificed... to tell a bigger story, it sacrificed the Doom Slayer and DOOM is, is, is about one guy involved in big things. And DOOM 4 Classic was more about the big things."
The idea of simple man against demons on Earth does sound appealing and interesting because, in some way, that's what DOOM 2: Hell on Earth was and it's not surprising that id Software initially wanted to go back to that idea in DOOM Eternal DLC's before settling on The Ancient Gods series. Funny enough, but Bethesda's description of DOOM Eternal Deluxe Edition still has original preview for Year One Pass:
"Access to two campaign add-ons to release within first year of DOOM Eternal’s launch date. Featuring new perspectives and new ways to play, these standalone stories explore the cataclysmic events that led to earth’s fall against the demons."
Although I probably shouldn't be surprised as that's Bethesda's store...
Choosing The Path of DOOM.
I think the reason why many people still prefer the story of 2016 over Eternal and TAG is due to circumstances surrounding its creation that, again, were talked about in the next part of Noclip's series. These limitation, this struggle of coming up with the right way of presentation result in this great self-aware narrative. Limitations bring in creativity and id Software managed to use that to their advantage.
Both story/lore are simple and goofy with grim sparkle on it. Even though DOOM 3 isn't really my thing, I liked how DOOM 16 put all three mainline games together in one package. Things like Codex and Corrax Tablets are there and often contain some pretty neat stuff (that I actually don't really remember, lol). However, you wouldn't lose much from skipping them as I think that the game still manages to showcase the basics of that plot through great gameplay... with a few unskippable scenarios. It's kind of annoying to some, but hey... It is what it is.
Hugo Martin: "All stories, they say, the bad guys have to take something away from the in order for the audience to understand that the bad guy is bad. <...> So, we're like 'Oh, the demons...' Like, well... You land on Mars and don't know it's demons yet. And then you found out its demons and 'oh my god!' And then somebody even asks, like 'What do you think they're?' and they're like 'I think they're the demons..." You know..."
*Danny O'Dwyer laughs.*
Hugo Martin: "And, and... And then, uh-h-h... That's what we did. We laughed. *smiles* Because we're like 'That is ridiculous', you know. Like, who cares? Like, you know... 'They have pointy teeth. They might be vampires...' *laughs*"
Doom Slayer wasn't confirmed to be a Doomguy at the moment: just one of those "hooks" that id Software later could've use in whatever way they deemed necessary. I really like how they managed to balance him through backstory in order to keep him more grounded like in previous games. He's this god-like, awesome and unstoppable killing machine, but he was trapped in sarcophagus. His colleagues have fallen, just like Argent D'Nur that was absorbed by Hell. It just works.
Even though he has this Praetor Suit created by "The Wretch" that harnesses demon's energy and was blessed by Seraphim with power and speed. He's definetely not just a human marine that destroys demons and overcomes all odds through his iron will, but all the background details with all its losses make up for it.
The Fight is... Eternal?
I think it's safe to say that DOOM 16 surpassed id Software's and Bethesda's expectations. Concerns that were raised from them holding on to review copies of the game were crashed by praises from everyone after its release. The hype was real and it was obvious that sequel was just a matter of time. DOOM was back and people wanted more.
And they got just that because DOOM Eternal is just awesome. Hugo Martin said that they're building a DOOM universe during QuakeCon 2018 panel and I was completely on board. I was excited, but not too fanatical about story/lore stuff. I guess it's just a long-lasting effect of previous state of these aspects in older DOOM games... and maybe the fact that I was getting increasingly annoyed and frustrated with Warcraft yet again, but this time on entierly new level.
Just to be clear, I don't want to make too much comparisons between two franchises in their current canon form. I think it would be insulting to id Software and their work on the series. It's not that bad, but many red flags started to raise up in the base game and then in DLC's that I just need to point out before DOOM gets its own Shadowlands.
Initially I looked at things more lightly, but not after The Ancient Gods. Even though the game saved the self-aware and cheesy tone from previous title, things were doubled. Visuals have also changed and went closer to the original games and slightly more cartoony look, which is fine by me. Maybe that's just me, but it feels more closer to classic DOOM. You still can ignore most of the story and skip cutscenes, but at the same time its also more on front in gameplay. It reminds me about that "two chairs" phrase.
It's fine if you're building an actual universe this time around, but damn... They clearly haven't planned it through with all these retcons, especially in TAG. Like others, I'm not really a fan of a change of Samuel's character and him being a Seraphim. How Argent D'Nur is actually mostly intact, but I guess its actually mostly fine. Absence of Hell's landscape from 2016 is a letdown, but overall variety of locations is a plus. While some things are good, it seems like DOOM is getting too big for its own good without proper continuity.
All these twists and changes with that scream in Urdak and status of The Dark Lord and Father... You know, looking at all this after previously mentioned quotes about "keeping it simple" makes it all more puzzling:
"Father is the God of DOOM and The Dark Lord for his creation... Oh wait, actually their roles were reversed this whole time and Davoth was behind all!.. Well, in reality there's actual god behind the scenes that we would meet and he was upset about Khan Maykr's death, not The Dark Lord..."
If you actually want to develop an extend universe for the series, how about just stick with what you had instead of changing things because that's easier. These moves in retrospective will only push away "lore nerds" from DOOM and saying that as a Warcraft fan that hates himself because of all scuffed shit I've seen Blizzard to do in last couple of years.
Back to Backstory.
You might be wondering why I meant with that made up quote about "actual god behind the scenes"... Well, that's what Hugo Martin said during recent Game Director stream. Again, such lore reveals are similar to what Blizzard does in interview, streams, tweets, you name it... I mean, okay... Maybe I'm just too mean. It's just that I'm used to Blizzard's bullshit and developer saying something like "Well, it was always planned like this" seems like a bullshit to me by default. Since so far I was talking about story/lore as a whole, I would like to stop my train of thoughts with analys of one specific answer.
I've dedicate its own post about the subject of Doomguy's family where I talked about how them being dead would be a terrible decision for the franchise... and then it was confirmed to be true, or so people thought. Because I actually went and watched the stream on YouTube and...
Joshua Boyle: "What about Doomguy/Doom Slayer family? There's a photo under the desk in the Fortress of Doom. Hot topic question there."
Hugo Martin: "That's his wife and kid."
Joshua Boyle: "Boom."
Hugo Martin: "That's it."
Joshua Boyle: "How about that?"
Hugo Martin: "It was his wife and kid before all of this stuff happens and, uh-h-h... That's who that is."
Joshua Boyle: "Love it."
He doesn't outright say that they were killed and it seems to be a case of broken telephone where people just heard what they wanted to hear and pass it on as a fact without actual and direct confirmation. In other words, there's hope that Doomguy's backstory will stay cool and become even better.
Perhaps I didn't do a great job with expessing my thoughts about curren DOOM canon. I can see that, but I tried my best while not going too far into the process since, after all, it is DOOM. Honestly, series needs a break and I'm hoping that id Software just sit down and asked themselves again if they're sure about what all this here.
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