When Doom: The Darkish Ages Revelations, the upcoming marketing campaign DLC for final 12 months’s glorious modern-Doom prequel, was first introduced on the Xbox Showcase final month, one factor jumped out at me: the basic Doom 2 map seen for a number of seconds within the trailer. As an enormous fan of the legendary authentic pair of Doom first-person shooters lengthy earlier than I fell in love with the more moderen trilogy, my curiosity on this DLC immediately skyrocketed. So after I received a presentation displaying extra Revelations gameplay from Doom director Hugo Martin and received to ask him questions afterward, I instantly requested about that second within the trailer.
“[Revelations] is a celebration of the Doom video games,” Martin mentioned. “We have all the time handled the entire Doom video games as canon. Now we have by no means had the prospect to discover who he was because the Slayer. Earlier than he was the Slayer he was a marine, his title was Flynn Taggart. [So in Revelations] we return within the Nightmare ranges and inform among the Flynn Taggart story.”
“These are modernized variations,” co-studio head Marty Stratton added, talking in regards to the look of the basic ranges particularly. “Historical past with the graphics turned up.”
My Doom superfan thoughts was being blown in actual time. I’ve learn all 4 of the Doom paperback novels from again within the day. That’s the place “Doom Man” first received fleshed out as a personality, together with his title: Flynn “Fly” Taggart. I felt like Marty McFly first seeing the DeLorean in Again to the Future.
Wait a minute, Hugo, are you telling me that Flynn Taggart – the man from the 1993 authentic and 1994 sequel – and the Doom Slayer from Doom (2016), Doom Everlasting, and Doom: The Darkish Ages, are the identical man?
“We do not think about the novels as a part of the trendy Doom collection – the video games, sure, save for Doom 3,” Martin advised me. “Doom 3 was all the time type of an outlier fictionally to us however from the beginning of Doom (2016), we wished to drag collectively all of the video games and their fiction. We took the preferred parts from the novels and comics: his title and his well-known traces.”
Martin went on to explain the basic ranges featured in Revelations: “They’re playable. They’re quick however significant, playable experiences. A part of the theme/narrative method is to really feel it and never watch it. You will play by his recollections.”
So that they’re being selective in regards to the canon, as is their proper, however I discover this oddly satisfying as a fan of the previous Doom video games – and people considerably obscure novels. However right here’s what else I discovered throughout my Revelations presentation: particularly, that fellow followers of Doom Everlasting are most likely going to like this DLC.
That’s as a result of the brand new weapon, the Chain Spear, has a grappling hook capacity that can be utilized for a ton of aerial maneuvers, a la the good center sport within the fashionable Doom trio. Considered one of them particularly enables you to circle round within the air with the chain plunged into your foe whilst you assault. And moreover, Martin confirmed that the Chain Spear can have distinctive glory kills, and extra importantly, that it is going to be completely required to outlive within the endgame content material that makes up roughly 40% of this 10-12-hour DLC. Grasp Arenas, Martin mentioned, will probably be particularly key locations to make sensible use of the spear.
You can too count on loads of new enemy variants, plus some returning buddies. The Archvile was particularly talked about – although right here he’ll summon demons however gained’t resurrect demons, not like within the authentic Doom 2. Oh, and id Software program says that the Ripatorium – the customizable infinite enviornment mode – will get a serious replace for Revelations.
And Martin recommends you full the bottom Darkish Ages marketing campaign earlier than leaping into Revelations, because it has a better base problem than the core marketing campaign. It has six ranges whole – 5 plus the Purgatory hub – that you simply’ll do loads of backtracking by. But it surely gained’t be for nothing; these areas are designed metroidvania-style, so that you’ll be capable of entry new areas inside them as you earn and improve talents in the course of the course of play.
All in all, Martin advised us that Revelations “type of performs just like the fruits of 35 years of Doom.” Doom: The Darkish Ages Revelations drops on July 7 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Collection X|S.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s govt editor of previews and host of each IGN’s weekly Xbox present, Podcast Unlocked, in addition to our semi-retired interview present, IGN Unfiltered. He is a North Jersey man, so it is “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
