Pre-order Doom Eternal

Doom exploded back into action-game prominence in 2016 in the most delightfully unexpected way: In a field of modern shooters that built a culture of tactical action such as taking cover, finding ideal sniping spots and playing gun-chess against other people, Doom's style of run-and-gun, kill everything was splash of old-school water, refreshing and fun to play for older players while presenting a younger generation with a shooter that dumped pure havoc upon them in ways they hadn't seen before.

Now the Slayer is back in Doom Eternal, again finding an Earth that just can't seem to stay out of Hell's way, becoming filled with all manner of demonic creatures. The Slayer's mission, as it has been for years, is blissfully simple: Destroy the creatures of Hell and save humanity.

We got a taste of gameplay recently at E3 2019, and Doom Eternal plays the way you would expect: Push forward and annihilate every enemy you face to stay alive and progress. If you try to play this as a contemporary shooter, you will die in seconds. That's been a Doom fact for ages. The entire experience is built on initiating a fast break of bloody violence, but there's also some critical thinking involved: The method of how the Slayer slaughters a creature determines the kind of helpful goodie it drops.

If you saw a creature in half with a chainsaw, that'll leave you ammo. If you set one ablaze, you'll get boosts to your armor. This requires second-by-second awareness of your ammo and health situation so you can, in a way, kill according to need. The more I did this in the demo, I found myself mentally assembling a "kill plan" depending on what enemies were visually available to me. I enjoyed the assortment of weapons available to me, like a plasma rifle, shotgun(s) and a rocket launcher.

I did get addicted to a feature of the "super" shotgun called the "meat hook," which fires out and actually pulls you closer to your targeted enemy — a true blessing for any shottie-carrying combatant. The meat hook also has non-combat applications, functioning as a grappling hook in the right spots. The Slayer's also got some new moves in the form of some wall-climbing along with the ability to double-jump (and double-dash). This adds another dimension to the combat agility.

Doom was one my favorite games of 2016, and it's good to see that its sequel, Doom Eternal, looks poised to continue its brand of action. It'll add to an already-stacked holiday lineup this coming November.