Bethesda reveals first breathless, blood-drenched gameplay footage of Doom Eternal
And it's coming to Switch!
Bethesda and id Software have revealed the first gameplay footage of the next Doom instalment, Doom Eternal - which is set to launch on Xbox One, PS4, PC, and, yes, Switch.
Doom Eternal is a direct sequel to 2016's excellent Doom reboot, and was first announced in June, during this year's E3. That particular reveal was accompanied by a teaser trailer, and word that id Software would do a proper unveiling in August, as part of QuakeCon 2018. And lo, QuakeCon is now here.
To get its surprisingly substantial unveiling rolling, id Software teased a few of the new additions to Doom Eternal, a game about "killing bad ass demons with big guns in unbelievable places".
id's first goal this time, it said, was to create the "the strongest, most powerful hero we've ever created", and the result is a positively beefy new lead, who sports heavily modified armour, and a variety of new tools and abilities - including the Ballista gun, which can spear demons with explosive bolts, and a Super Shotgun that features a rather nasty looking"meathook".
We also got a look at some appropriately hellish new opponents; Doom Eternal will feature twice as many enemies as in the previous game, including updated favourites and reimagined classics, such as a new-look Pain Elemental and Arachnotron.
As for the long-promised gameplay footage, it certainly delivered on the core Doom staples: we got a whole lot of rippling spacemuscle exploding demons in an endless, utterly over-the-top shower of shredded flesh. And, oh, what lovely looking giblets they were.
Opening on the impressively vast sprawl of a demon-ravaged, demon-infested Earth city, it didn't take long for Doom Eternal to reach the kind of high-velocity carnage that made Doom 2016 such a treat. In among the destruction, we even got a glimpse of the aforementioned new enemies, and a new visual flourish whereby every bullets strips away more and more of your destructible opponents' flesh, until there's not a whole lot left.
A little later, id offered footage of the Slayer's equally messy arrival on Phobos, the setting for the original Doom, and even teased one other new, Dark-Souls-esque feature: in Doom Eternal, you'll be able to take control of a demon and invade another player's campaign, even teaming up with fellow bad apples to make a Slayer's life just that little bit more miserable.
All in all, the first proper look at Doom Eternal offered exactly the kind of obscenely violent, breathlessly paced carnage you'd want from a follow-up to 2016's Doom. Its arrival on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Switch should be quite the occasion.