Doom

Doom is the latest installment of the famous series, where the player takes on the role of a space marine and embarks on a long journey through the corridors of an abandoned space base on Mars to reach Hell itself and destroy as many demons as possible. Gamers can play not only solo but also online, organizing large-scale battles between humans and demons. There is a special editor that allows anyone to create maps or game modes and share them online.

Doom is a single-player first-person shooter from id Software, repeating the classic formula of the original with some carefully added modern mechanics. The game is a reboot of the Doom franchise and the main title in the series since the timeDoom 3.

The game's promotion was helped by current graphics for that time, with impressive effects, cool animations, and support for 4K textures — all thanks to the idTech 6 engine. The game was well optimized and ran stably on all four platforms.

Among the classic gameplay mechanics, it is worth noting the speed and dynamism of the gameplay, an extensive bestiary, the dropping of "armor" and "medkits" from enemies (also scattered around the levels), multi-level access keys, secret areas and passages, and Easter eggs. The protagonist carries a large arsenal of weapons and must methodically destroy enemies. There are 4 difficulty levels for players of different skill levels.

Among the new gameplay mechanics, the standout is melee combat — any enemy can be weakened to such an extent that you can either shoot them in the head or effectively tear them apart with your hands. Also, jetpacks appeared on the suit's soles, allowing you to jump across spaces or jump higher.

Many role-playing mechanics were added: weapon upgrades through modifications, improving the protagonist (doubling health, armor, and ammunition limits) using argent cells, and suit upgrades (local scanner, agility, environmental resistance) after looting the bodies of other space marines.

To unlock some upgrades, you need to complete certain tasks, such as performing a series of kills with specific weapons, and the deeper the upgrade, the more difficult the task. All game menus are available on demand, and information about the game progress is provided by the map and an extensive codex.

The events of Doom take place on Mars, in a huge complex of the UAC corporation, which was searching for new types of energy and unexpectedly opened a portal to Hell. However, the end of the world did not happen immediately. UAC conducted long expeditions into Hell, seeking new technologies, resources, and studying the local fauna.

One of the samples pulled from Hell on Mars was the protagonist, or Doomguy — "The Guy from Hell." The company had made significant progress in its research, but by that time, its employees had fallen under the influence of inhabitants from another, hellish dimension.

From this moment, the fate of the colony was sealed — it took very little time for fanatics to disable the security system, open a portal to Hell, and unleash hordes of demons that captured the Martian complex.

The studio revised the main character's concept. Now Doomguy is an ancient warrior and the only surviving member of the order of knights known as the Night Sentinels. They were tasked with protecting their home and the deities, the Ghosts, from the forces of Hell. He is also called the Soldier of Doom, and demons fear him because he is special — capable of absorbing the souls of those he has killed.

Besides Doomguy, there are only a few important characters in the game:

The events of the game unfold some time after the demons' invasion. The station personnel have been destroyed, and the survivors have succumbed to evil and are now enemies. The only one trying to fix the situation is Samuel Hayden.

He explains to the Soldier of Doom that there is a way to seal the portal between Hell and Mars — to go to the complex on the other side of the planet and find an object called the "Anvil," which will close the tunnel between the worlds. Periodically, the player encounters Olivia Pierce, who will try to hinder him in every way.

Wandering through the spacious UAC complexes, the player can learn a lot from the codex entries and video clips; occasionally, he is also thrown into Hell, where he is addressed not as Doomguy, but as the Soldier of Doom. This is, in a way, a second storyline.

However, the story in Doom, while interesting, is still just ticking a box, and even the final twist doesn't surprise much.

Each level features a main storyline and several secondary quests. Traveling through the Doom locations is directly related to exterminating demons — and for this, the player has a huge arsenal of weapons — from fists, machine guns, and shotguns, to plasma guns, chainsaws, and the BFG 9000.

The player needs to carefully go through each level, find hidden passages, field drones, elite guards — the marines, complete normal and rune trials, and so on. All this will seriously improve his attack and defense stats.

The list of monsters is extensive but incomplete, some appeared in later games of the series, such as Doom Eternal. Here are the main demons of Doom:

Besides the campaign, the game has an arcade mode where there are no story scripts, but all game locations and many enemies to kill in series without getting hit by bullets. For this, the player earns points and, based on the results, takes a place in the leaderboard.

In July 2017, a major update was released, changing the multiplayer and making all additions from the seasonal pass available to all game owners. The progression system was redesigned towards the classic network game. Now, Doom’s online mode offers 18 well-designed maps, 18 types of weapons, 7 playable demons, and 7 game modes.

Modes:

Depending on the mode, starting conditions may change. Let's consider multiplayer based on team deathmatch. Players start with full health and half armor, stock weapons, then explore the map for better weapons, additional armor, and health.

During the match, they can use teleporters, jet packs, and boosters (damage boost, invisibility, regeneration, speed-up), so you need to think strategically and plan your tactics, not just shoot at each other.

There is also a demonic rune that transforms the player into a demon and allows fighting for it. Among demons are Revenant, Baron of Hell, Mancubus, Pinky, Cacodemon, Harvester (an alternative to Summoner), and Wanderer (an alternative to Imp).

For each fight, players earn points, which accumulate into levels. The more active the player (number of kills, assists, and other actions), the more experience they gain. You can also complete various challenges to unlock access to certain features.