Some years are good ones for certain sorts of games. For example, 2019 is certainly the year of the Terminator . Once could say the same for Pokemon , given Pokemon Sword & Shield is coming to the Nintendo Switch, Team Rocket appeared in Pokemon GO and Pokemon Masters is coming in Summer 2019 . But, there’s one other series where 2019 is truly its year. That’s DOOM , which is celebrating 25 years in the best possible way, with all sorts of amazing games that are going to people’s gaming experiences better.
Bethesda, id Software and everyone who makes DOOM great is going all out to show the 2016 DOOM release wasn’t some fluke. Instead, it is showing why the first-person shooter has always been good and beloved. The biggest of which is DOOM Eternal . While the previous release was a reboot, this installment is running with it. It is hell on earth. Twice as many demons as before are showing up in this DOOM , bringing with it new enemies like a DOOM Hunter and reviving classic foes like an Archvile. It’s giving people more of the action they want.
But, it seems like diversifying is also the key to making 2019 a DOOM ed year. DOOM Eternal is introducing a new kind of multiplayer called Battlemode that stays true to everything we know about the series, while still giving a new experience. Here, one person is a DOOM Slayer and the other two are two demons. The demons, which can be ones found in the game, have the ability to summon other monstrosities and use special abilities to try and kill the Slayer to win. Meanwhile, the lone human must wipe out the two major demons. It is different and invigorating in a series where people might have gotten accustomed to everything it could offer.
There’s only part of what is being done to show make sure DOOM gets the attention it deserves this year. At QuakeCon 2019, Bethesda and id surprised everyone. It relaunched all of the original DOOM games on modern platforms. That meant people with Android devices, Nintendo Switch systems, PS4s, and Xbox Ones could suddenly go back to DOOM, DOOM II and DOOM 3 again. While some of this wasn’t too surprising, as games like DOOM and DOOM II had gone multiplatform before, DOOM 3 was a shock.
That isn’t to say this 25th anniversary hasn’t been without its hiccups. There were two major ones with the rereleases of DOOM, DOOM II and DOOM 3. One involved copies of DOOM and DOOM II on the Xbox One. If someone had purchased the Xbox 360 versions, then deleted them, they found a paywall had gone up when Bethesda initially shadowdropped them on the Microsoft Store during QuakeCon 2019. Bethesda quickly remedied the situation. What took a little longer to workout was a login issue. All versions of the game initially forced a login with a Bethesda account, resulting in an unintended always-online escapade. Bethesda confirmed this was due to the games supposedly having a loyalty account benefit and confirmed this will be changed in an update.
DOOM is having a banner year. Even if you are worried about DOOM: Annihilation, the direct-to-DVD movie coming out on October 1, 2019, there are so many other games coming out to keep the series relevant. The rerelease of DOOM, DOOM II and DOOM 3 shows why these early games were so important to the history of first-person shooters and the series developed a fanbase. DOOM Eternal is going above and beyond to give people more of what they want while trying something new. Everything is coming together in a positive way.