Is Doom Eternal's campaign polarizing?

[coffeemm8]

that's the impression I get. Seems like love it or hate it thing especially when compared to 2016

[Ace]

Most people love it & still play it 3 years on, from it's multiplayer or it's modding scene, it's still held in high regard aswell.

Most i find who hate the game have either never played it or have a very severe lack of understanding of it's mechanics & gameplay loop. Don't get my wrong not liking the game is totally fine but they really need to move on with there lives at some point.

[Spoon]

It's bad, Doom 2016 was way better.

[Viddaz]

Story has never been front stage in the franchise. Yes, 2016's was perhaps more developed through cut scenes and dialogue (e.g. being in Samuel Hayden's office waiting for him to be done with his monologue) but I feel Eternal's was more organic and less self-aware.

Either way, Eternal wasn't designed to be a story rich experience as 2016 was. Gameplay and mastery is king here, and I'm happy id software chose this path.

[coffeemm8]

Originally posted by Pickle:

It's bad, Doom 2016 was way better.

How so? Eternal seems more fun

[coffeemm8]

I also really just like the art direction of Eternal compared to 2016

[SuperFly]

Originally posted by coffeemm8:

that's the impression I get. Seems like love it or hate it thing especially when compared to 2016

Yes, D:E's lack of brand-appropriate quality drove players away.
Further toxicity from its very few superfans have also done much to sew discord in the community, which is older than most of them.

D:E sold pre-orders like gangbusters -- but then it couldn't retain 1/3rd of its predecessor's player base on Steam, alone.
Most people lost interest after the first month. It has also held the lowest rating for audience reception out of all the DOOM games for most of its short shelf life.

. . .Objectively, this game did not do the brand justice -- so it's not surprising that it's polarizing to the fandom. A DOOM game needs to deliver, and DOOM:Eternal did not.

[coffeemm8]

Originally posted by SuperFly:

Originally posted by coffeemm8:

that's the impression I get. Seems like love it or hate it thing especially when compared to 2016

Yes, D:E's lack of brand-appropriate quality drove players away.
Further toxicity from its very few superfans have also done much to sew discord in the community, which is older than most of them.

D:E sold pre-orders like gangbusters -- but then it couldn't retain 1/3rd of its predecessor's player base on Steam, alone.
Most people lost interest after the first month. It has also held the lowest rating for audience reception out of all the DOOM games for most of its short shelf life.

. . .Objectively, this game did not do the brand justice -- so it's not surprising that it's polarizing to the fandom. A DOOM game needs to deliver, and DOOM:Eternal did not.

I don't know what your'e on about

[Grampire]

Originally posted by SuperFly:

Originally posted by coffeemm8:

that's the impression I get. Seems like love it or hate it thing especially when compared to 2016

Yes, D:E's lack of brand-appropriate quality drove players away.
Further toxicity from its very few superfans have also done much to sew discord in the community, which is older than most of them.

D:E sold pre-orders like gangbusters -- but then it couldn't retain 1/3rd of its predecessor's player base on Steam, alone.
Most people lost interest after the first month. It has also held the lowest rating for audience reception out of all the DOOM games for most of its short shelf life.

. . .Objectively, this game did not do the brand justice -- so it's not surprising that it's polarizing to the fandom. A DOOM game needs to deliver, and DOOM:Eternal did not.

This lilely hinges on biased interpretations of Steam Charts - which I don't think anyone wants to subject anyone to again for whatever number of times we've already been through it. My eyes can only roll so much.

The game was a commercial and critical success by most accounts that at least attempt impartiality.

Doom Eternal isn't perfect, and at this point and in this forum it's mostly about opposing opinions doing whatever they can to caste the other side as "unreasonable fanatics," young children, old men, whatever.

Doom Eternal did well and it's not as much of a reach to say so as anyone wants to believe. Like everything ever made there are plenty of people who don't like it.

-------
ON TOPIC

The story/campaign of this game is bonkers and campy, just like you'd expect from a Doom game.

The story provides a stage for the gameplay and that's it. It's a delivery system for the gameplay, which is the clear focus of the game.

I enjoyed the campaign a lot, and the first DLC was absolutely incredible once you work your way up to it. But that's just my opinion.

Compared to 2016? It's not as serious/cool guy Grey and blacks, and it doesn't even pretend to take itself seriously. 2016 was a great game and the story is not the reason - it was again the gameplay.

I much prefer Eternal's campaign as its much more tightly focused and really emphasizes the things the game does best. 2016 let's you break the game about half-way through, which is my biggest criticism.

Neither one story wise holds up to any amount of serious scrutiny whatsoever. Don't play Doom for story - period, ever.

[Sar]

My biggest criticism of D2016 is the 8 demon limit, they give you way OP tools but don’t give you enough mooks to really chew them up in a satisfying manner. Imagine having the same OP Siege Mode but you fight a dozen of Hell Knights and not two, and they’re coming from all directions. At least I will always have Sam for that.

That’s perfectly subjective though, I know many reviewers complained about battles in the DLCs being “gruelingly long” and I was just screaming (figuratively) for more once I was in the fun zone.

[Grampire]

Originally posted by Sar:

My biggest criticism of D2016 is the 8 demon limit, they give you way OP tools but don’t give you enough mooks to really chew them up in a satisfying manner. Imagine having the same OP Siege Mode but you fight a dozen of Hell Knights and not two, and they’re coming from all directions. At least I will always have Sam for that.

That’s perfectly subjective though, I know many reviewers complained about battles in the DLCs being “gruelingly long” and I was just screaming (figuratively) for more once I was in the fun zone.

You get to a point where you feel like you can't die and you're pretty much right lol. It's amazing.

[Sar]

Originally posted by Grampire:

You get to a point where you feel like you can't die and you're pretty much right lol. It's amazing.

I'm bad at videogames and also didn't use BFG/chainsaw outside of boss fights, so I actually died a lot at the last arena of VEGA, the one immediately before the Akira elevator. It's both pretty open and cramped and features a lot of dangerous demons in a tight space. Imagine my disappointment when Argent d'Nur ended up being way, way easier. It feels like the 3 big Wraith arenas have less monsters, but they're probably comparable to VEGA, they just give you like 10 times more space so some demons like Cyber Mancs who spawned across the arena literally can't even hit you. "Lol" indeed. And the big wave before the Spider is 3 Barons without any support on a huge empty arena with lots of jump pads. Like, you fought 2 Barons around midgame, but can you handle... THREE? Spoiler: yeah you can.

[Kyller92 AKA Cinos]

It's not really polarizing. Just a loud minority that like to show how much they dislike a game.

[UNBREAKABLE]

More people finished Eternal's campaign compared to 2016, from that perceptive Eternal's campaign was actually made much better. Part of that is the fact the last act of the game isn't a boring repetitive slog fest.

Just a few noisy people who won't ever actually play the game and understand.

[tcassat]

I'm going to start playing the game now because I waited all these years for ID Software to remove the cancer called Denuvo, but that's another question...

From what I saw in the community, my impression is that the polarization happens because a minority of fans of the Doom 2016 style didn't really like the path taken by Doom Eternal, which seems to me to be a more "gimmicky" game. However, I personally think that Doom Eternal made the right choices, because Doom 2016, in my humble opinion, has somewhat poor gameplay. Doom Eternal really seems like a natural evolution of that repetitive, one-note gameplay, which is now more varied and complex.

But again, I haven't played the game yet to get a better idea. I just hope it's not as bad as Doom 2016 lol. I hope my brain can manage 10 thousand cooldowns at once too.

[Hundinger]

Originally posted by tcassat:

I hope my brain can manage 10 thousand cooldowns at once too.

Give it time. It will become second nature eventually.