No talk, all action. Weapon and monster balance; each time you get plasma, you are happy; you muster all of your attention each time you encounter an archvile. Level design, mixing unsettling sceneries with mazes and puzzles. And you feel the frenzy of hell, with armies fighting with you and infighting each other.
For years the only remotely close thing to that was The Painkiller series. Recently we got Doom 2016 (which is beautiful, pace-wise, and atmosphere-wise) and Doom Eternal (mechanically faster, cartoony, and somewhat cheap story).
For me, the weapon damage to enemy damage in Doom (and its comparison in Duke Nukem) is part of it - in Doom, the common level enemies take a single shotgun shot, or possibly two. It enables you to get in to kind of flow state and with good reflexes etc, avoid damage.
In Duke Nukem, they introduce the pigs from pretty much the end of level 1, and there isn't a common weapon that can kill them before they can get at least a shot off. It's the same with most of the enemies they introduce after the pigs, as well.
The fact that in Doom the common grunts and shotgunners are hitscanners but have a bit of delay to firing and the imps fire physical projectiles leads to more tactical choice and literal maneuvering during a firefight.
I am sure there are arguments to be made about the increased complexity and breadth of Duke Nukems weapons, but both the damage they deal and the common enemies don't allow for the same flow.
Although I don't like the slow parts with 3d platforming.
I was super excited to try Doom Eternal because I was one of the original Doom and Quake generation.
Sadly, I was really disappointed – it felt really linear, a series of set pieces delivered on a conveyor belt, like an old-fashioned arcade game. I installed the raytraced version of Doom 2 and enjoyed replaying it far more – even though Quake 2 wasn’t the best of ID’s titles.
it is just constantly shouting "this is a game!" in a way that for me personally, prevents any immersion in the world they have created
Try Doom 2016 if you haven't already. You can turn off some of the arcardy elements in the "advanced" video settings.
Turning off that, crosshairs, certain HUD elements, adding film grain etc. makes it more cinematic...
I think there are two main groups of DOOM gamers. One group, who considered the original games to be more of a survivor horror experience - you are stuck in the middle of nowhere, with only a shotgun and hordes of monsters blocking your path. Try to survive with the limited amount of supplies you have. The second group is people who consider DOOM to be more of an arcade experience - you are not stuck with the demons, they are stuck with you.
The first group might not like Doom 2016 too much, but the second group would love it (and love mods such as Brutal Doom).
Its fast-paced dynamics are built-in. You don't hide, you charge, you shoot while running. You bring hell to knees at their own game with sheer firepower and brutality.
Unless, as you say, it is a "reverse survival horror" https://www.reddit.com/r/Doom/comments/ew1gfu/doom_is_a_surv...
In that line, I retrospectively see Doom 2016 as an interaction between two villains. Samuel Hayden, a well-mannered mastermind. And you no-talk all-action, resolving all with force, and ripping demons with your bare hands.
https://medium.com/@aaronnemoyten/doom-eternal-is-great-and-...
I’m confused. Isn’t this exactly what original Doom is?
Doom 1/2 monsters dont't crawl to you and then patiently wait for you to hit whatever gamepad button to play a funny animation[1]. They were dumb, sure, but look at the basic zombies in Eternal: they almost don't move. They exist only for the glory kills bonanza for E3 presentations, they aren't even dangerous. Look at the analysis[2]:
> They should be chiefly considered as targets for glory kills, the flame belch or the chainsaw, depending on the player's current need for health, armor, and ammo respectively.
Literal fodder. Yet they have 13 funny animations.
Compare it to a Zombieman [0]: it's puny and doesn't pose a risk... until you get them in numbers and/or you are at the low health. And they are actively trying (as all other monsters) to get closer to you!
And if we talk about a map design here then even D1 maps are not linear (eg [3] or [4]) and were more restricted by the technology (2.5 engine) and performance (386DX as a minimal CPU in SysReq always been a butt of the joke) than actual design. There is a lot of linear levels too, but you still progress them on your own pace and usually you can retract your steps all the way to the start.
Overall both D2016 and Eternal (especially Eternal) is just Quake 3 in Doom setting, especially with all that platformer bullshit and fight arenas.
[0] https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Zombieman
[1] https://youtu.be/31qYHl6Op2I?t=499
[2] https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Zombie_(Doom_Eternal)#Tactical_ana...
[3] https://doomwiki.org/wiki/E1M6:_Central_Processing_(Doom)
The new Doom games are their own thing. And if I was going to recommend either Doom (2016) or Doom Eternal, it'd be the former. Doom Eternal's game design is a bit bloated.
It's a damn shame how modern shooters just don't go hard on mobility/melee satisfaction. Being able to dodge opens up a whole new word of combat interactivity.
Maybe I should reinstall that again...
Also Doom had monstet infighting, that seems to exist mostly in other ID games and engines based on their games (half life has this great AI).
Also check out advanced gzdoom mods. The gzdoom engine never stopped innovating and now supports near full 3D environments with slopes, room over room, dynamic lighting, etc. but still has the same core frenetic and fast gameplay of the core engine. Here's a good taste of what's out there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2Db5O5-xk0
Just be wary of letting people manipulate your nostalgia.
Come on! These game push that your character is some special forces, super fit, well coordinated, carrying 5 different weapons - including a bazooka - plus all the other gadgets like night vision goggles, radio, drone etc etc.
But if you are under enemy fire and sprint up to a below waist high fence or 3 foot ladder it is a 10 second obstacle rather than a 1 or 2s diveroll.
Never again Ubisoft...
Some future 40 year old will tear up thinking about the good ole days of Fortnite etc.
I am sure that players will fondly remember Fortnite 30 years from now, but I doubt there will be as much of an active community around actually playing or modding it as there is now for Doom. If nothing else, because games like it (with centralized multiplayer only and with much of their appeal coming from active support by the developers) live and die with their commercial success.