The whole game looks and feels more like a fantasy game in a medieval world of magic than a sci-fi shooter.
Isn’t that the point though? Doom The Dark Ages is a dark fantasy style Doom. You even get a flail and sword in this one. I liked the change of scenery as opposed to yet another set of sci-fi bases, it’s the opposite of what I’d call “milking it” because the simpler option would be to do the same thing again.
To be fair, Quake 1 was always the “fantasy game in a medieval world of magic” compared to DOOM, IMO. Then Quake II took it to full scifi. I considered DOOM to be a scifi shooter from the start, with intentional call backs to medieval era to denote a shift in location.
I’d argue that if you make a game with a style, story, time period and even what the protagonist is that have entirely departed from the original content, you’re just slapping the original’s name on it to boost sales.
If they ever made a Halo game where MasterChief removes his helmet to reveal that he was an orc all along and that he’s now riding a literal giant warthog in battle wielding a stone axe, people would flip their lids over this. Especially since because of that the style and soul of the game people love is now dead unless they do a hard reset of the franchise. I think it’s the same there, except that the transformation was made gradually since Doom 2016 that people didn’t notice as much. It really looks like Bethesda preferred to do medieval fantasy games so they just turned the Doom franchise into it.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure it perfectly capable of being a good game. But is it really a Doom game still?
I’m probably in the minority here, but I much prefer the original Doom and Doom 2 to the Bethesda Doom games. Even 2016’s departed a lot from the style while only retaining the themes and introducing theatrics. I’ve never really cared for “arena” shooters; I like the labyrinths.
A lot of modern Doom community level design for the old doom games focuses around “arenas”, although they feel a bit more free in general than the 2016 ones. I still really liked that game but tend to play the older versions. Maybe I the mapping communities for 2016 take off we’ll see some interesting stuff pop up but I don’t think it has the same enthusiastic community around it
Isn’t that the point though? Doom The Dark Ages is a dark fantasy style Doom. You even get a flail and sword in this one. I liked the change of scenery as opposed to yet another set of sci-fi bases, it’s the opposite of what I’d call “milking it” because the simpler option would be to do the same thing again.
To be fair, Quake 1 was always the “fantasy game in a medieval world of magic” compared to DOOM, IMO. Then Quake II took it to full scifi. I considered DOOM to be a scifi shooter from the start, with intentional call backs to medieval era to denote a shift in location.
I’d argue that if you make a game with a style, story, time period and even what the protagonist is that have entirely departed from the original content, you’re just slapping the original’s name on it to boost sales.
If they ever made a Halo game where MasterChief removes his helmet to reveal that he was an orc all along and that he’s now riding a literal giant warthog in battle wielding a stone axe, people would flip their lids over this. Especially since because of that the style and soul of the game people love is now dead unless they do a hard reset of the franchise. I think it’s the same there, except that the transformation was made gradually since Doom 2016 that people didn’t notice as much. It really looks like Bethesda preferred to do medieval fantasy games so they just turned the Doom franchise into it.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure it perfectly capable of being a good game. But is it really a Doom game still?
I’m probably in the minority here, but I much prefer the original Doom and Doom 2 to the Bethesda Doom games. Even 2016’s departed a lot from the style while only retaining the themes and introducing theatrics. I’ve never really cared for “arena” shooters; I like the labyrinths.
A lot of modern Doom community level design for the old doom games focuses around “arenas”, although they feel a bit more free in general than the 2016 ones. I still really liked that game but tend to play the older versions. Maybe I the mapping communities for 2016 take off we’ll see some interesting stuff pop up but I don’t think it has the same enthusiastic community around it