Bethesda revealed the sequel to the 2016 Doom at last year’s E3. Doom Eternal got more stage time this year, and a release date: November 22, 2019.
2016's Doom was a revelation. It’s blunt humor, bombastic gunplay, ripping and tearing captured my attention for an entire summer. Doom Eternal, the sequel, takes place on a demon-infested Earth rather than a demon-infested Mars, and I’ve been looking forward to hell on Earth since it was announced.
What we all just learned today is that you’re not only fighting demons, but going to new locations, like motherfucking Heaven. Please, please let me punch god, Bethesda and Id!
The lucky ducks in the audience get to play Doom Eternal this very night, but for those of us at home, here’s some gameplay footage from tonight as well. In this clip you’ll see a little bit of Heaven, a lot of punching things in the head ‘til they die, and a chainsaw.
There’s also a brand new Doom Eternal multiplayer mode, called Battlemode. It was described as a “perfect match between demon strategy and player skill.” The demons that you can play as have different abilities that you can use to throw off the opposing Slayer, and the Slayer will have, well, lots of guns. These will be 2v1 battles, with two demons taking on a Slayer. Perhaps they can turn the demon puncher into the demon punchee.
Doom Eternal seems just as big, bloody and full of flying bits of kebab meat as 2016's Doom, which is truly all that I can ask for. There’s also a fancy pre-order edition that comes with a Doom Guy helmet. Here’s hoping they don’t have a bag that comes with that.