Well I finished my tour of duty in Hell! ;)

I played and beat the new Doom's singleplayer campaign over the weekend (PC version, by the way), managing to wring out an impressive 22 hours of playtime (though I was really thorough in my exploration so it might not last other players quite as long). I've got a lotta thoughts on the game, but people might not have time to read all of them, so I've divided my impressions into short and long versions:


The Short Version: Slick, smooth, immensely satisfying combat that offers a surprising amount of tactical depth, coupled with plenty of opportunities for exploration and character growth for people who like a little adventure with their action. When it comes to singleplayer campaigns, the new Doom is the best thing Id Software's released in 20 years, and one of the best FPS games I've ever played, period. As the credits rolled, even with 20+ hours under my belt, I was already starved for more.


The Looooong Version: First things first: Vicky highly recommends you go into Doom's settings and disable the glowing indicator that tells you when enemies are vulnerable to glory kills. It's a lot more challenging and rewarding to have to read an opponent's body language in the middle of a fight to determine if they're vulnerable, rather than getting a big flashing "hit him now" sign that makes it feel more like a lazy QTE sequence. Also, if you're a Doom veteran with a lot of experience, I implore you to play on Ultra-Violence right away. Trust me. It makes the level of intensity just right.

The word "relentless" is thrown around a lot in regards to the new Doom's combat, and it's a pretty accurate descriptor. From the very first moment that you have control of the character, you're shooting stuff. (I love that, by the way. It's probably one of the quickest-starting AAA games that've come out in ages.) While technically this Doomguy moves slower than his 90's predecessor, the action still feels quick and fluid because everything else has been sped up. No longer are you fighting braindead hordes who shuffle and stomp leisurely towards you. These demons are in hot pursuit, hurling projectiles at you with alarming speed, and will readily launch themselves up to higher levels or drop to the ground in order to maintain constant engagement with you. There's just no getting away from them -- not for long. But you have to try. You have to keep running and jumping and climbing as quick as you can, because you simply can't hold them off long enough with your weapons alone.

That's not to say that attacking them isn't an option. Oh, you've got combat options, and lots of them, including nearly a dozen weapons that you can all carry in your inventory at once. That's a big part of what makes the fighting so satisfying. Do you pull out your biggest weapons and try to blow all the baddies into gooey chunks right away? Do you use a softer-hitting weapon and try to stagger them so you can get a glory kill and restore some health? Do you save your instant-killing chainsaw for a particularly tough monster, or use it on something smaller to refill your ammo? If things aren't going so well, maybe you can try a different set of runes to augment your abilities in a way that better suits the scenario, or perhaps you can buy a new alt-fire mode for your weapon and enhance it with upgrade points to increase its functionality. Or heck, maybe you just need to save that berserk or quad damage for later in the siege.

This constant decision-making, both in the heat of battle and between fights, plus the added wrinkles of new and distinctly-behaving enemy types gradually being fed in over the course of the game, keeps the action feeling varied and exciting. It's a particularly satisfying sensation when you come upon the recipe for a successful battle and tear through the nasties that were troubling you before.

But if the game was nothing but fighting, that'd get old pretty quickly. Along with the quieter moments where you're wandering down hallways and blasting a few stragglers instead of surging hordes, the game thankfully -- and somewhat surprisingly -- also features an important element most people forget about when they think of classic Doom's attributes: a hefty dose of good old-fashioned exploration. While the levels, of course, aren't as labyrinthine or nonlinear as classic Doom maps, they're still quite large and allow for a decent amount of backtracking, and there's still a bunch of hidden alcoves and optional rooms to find if you keep your eyes peeled. It's also really rewarding to find these secrets, as they'll count towards your combat rating and award you extra weapon customization points.

The secret areas themselves can contain new weapons, map stations, runes, praetor points (to upgrade your suit's abilities), argent cells (which let you permanently boost your max health, armor or ammo), or even little Doomguy dolls that'll unlock models for the gallery. So while this stuff's all optional, it's generally all so helpful and cool that it's really fun to try to find as much as you can.

Heck, if you look really hard, you can even unlock classic Doom maps. They look and play just like the originals (well, sort of), but with the new styles of enemies and weapons in place of their pixelated ancestors. While these might be the same old maps you've beaten countless times before, the new, tougher, more agile monsters bring a lot more challenge to the table, and make you rethink your tactics.

Okay, so the game's not totally perfect. The beginning of the campaign, with its limited weaponry and weak enemies, is kinda tame, and it takes a little while before stuff really starts to get exciting. The Argent Tower level unfortunately pays homage to some of the less-appealing aspects of late-90's FPS design with its emphasis on jumping puzzles involving constantly moving machinery. And another level a little bit later also recycles the layout of a previous level, just with everything looking more ruined (though new areas and rearranged items and enemies keep it from being a total retread). There's also a few glitches, mostly weirdness with menus but also one time where the game crashed to desktop. But with all the great stuff the game was throwing at me, those problems were forgiven and forgotten pretty easily.

I'll be honest: by the time all was said and done and the credits were rolling, I was genuinely feeling a little choked up. Not because anything sad or particularly affecting happened in the game. I'm just such a huge fan of the series. Doom's my favorite game and it has been for a really long time, and I've been waiting for this new installment since it was announced way back in 2007, nearly an entire decade ago. And to be so hyped up about this for so long, to have it deliver on my hopes and dreams and leave me so incredibly satisfied... I could barely contain my joy. I've never had my anticipation for a game pay off this well.

If you're a classic Doom fan that had doubts about Doom 2016 being anything less than awesome, open the nearest window and eject said doubts through it. Serious Sam, Painkiller, Hard Reset, even Doom 3 -- they tried their best, but this is -- finally, truly -- the new Doom.