DOOM Eternal - The Ancient Gods Part Two - Review

When ID Software said they were doing DLC for DOOM Eternal, I was not sure what to expect, would it be small and challenging, or massive in scope and easy to play through. It turns out it was neither of those, it was challenging and massive in scope and that was only Part One, now that Part Two is out, the question is, could it get any more intense, the answer was yes, yes it could.

Part Two picks up where the first left off, with the Dark Lord (no, not Voldemort) heading back to his keep, to await your arrival, should you make it there. But in order for the Slayer to get there, you need to obtain a key, which can be found at the peak of the World Spear, one of the new locations. Getting to that key is a fight and that does not take into consideration the waves of enemies that will aim to do all they can to destroy you. No the fight comes from the new enemies and understanding the new weapons and with those in hand, you can push on. While there is little in terms of new lore to discover here, at least compared to Part One, there are still fragments of story to be told, though a lot of it falls to the wayside, when your main objective is simple, get to the Dark Lord and end him.

The problem that I have with the story is that it is completely pointless, not that the tale isn’t somewhat interesting, but the focus on it, just seemed unnecessary for what DOOM is. On top of that, once you do manage to defeat the Dark Lord, it just ends and by that I mean there is maybe a minute of cutscene and the game is done. I have no issue with stories not having massive or dramatic endings, but when story is part of your focus, a well-rounded ending is important and this does not have that at all. None of this wouldn’t be of any concern, if the game didn’t try to focus on a grander threat, which they have been alluding to since the main game and the first expansion, but as they did, not getting a satisfying ending is a letdown. Though I will say, I do enjoy the symmetry of how it comes to a close, that was a nice touch.

Speaking of nice the game has added a few new elements to it, some are enemies and one smashing new weapon to enjoy, as well as a new movement mechanic, though that one I am still unsure about. The enemies are not all new, unlike Part One, but instead are modified versions of existing enemies, there is the Armoured Baron who is a massive pain to take down, much like a Marauder, not in that they are a danger, they just take a lot of effort. The other enemy that I liked was the stone imp, they are not a real threat, purely because they are still an imp, but you can’t just take them out with a well-placed shotgun blast. That is the big thing here, is that this new version of the imp and the other type as well, both require you to adjust your normal behaviours and I was not expecting something like this to appear. The most dangerous new enemy though is the screecher zombie, purely because they are weak enough to be killed by the fringe of any attack you happen to shoot in their general direction, but when they die, they buff all enemies in range like something crazy.

This can be a challenge, more so if the enemies it is buffing are Doom Hunter or the Pain Elemental, because all enemies become faster and more durable. Thankfully though, you can fight back with the new hammer weapon, which, when available will let you smash a massive amount of enemies at once. The hammer can actually serve two goals, the first is to crush smaller enemies and those around in a single hit, the second and more important comes when you are fighting Marauders or other nasty demons. When you stagger select enemies, you can actually use the hammer to make that last longer, letting you throw a lot of attacks at them, while they are unable to recover. There was one point when there were two Marauders and being able to stun one for a while and deal significant damage, whilst just avoiding the other was great.

Sadly though, it is not all good news, there is a new mechanic, these floating hook points, that let you use the super shotguns hook, to spin you around corners in the air, or just clear larger gaps. When you can see that you need it, you can make pretty good use of them, sadly though, these times are few and far between, as the game often puts them around blind corners and you will only know it is there, when you jump out into the air and have to dash and double jump to it. If the game auto switched to the required gun, to allow you to use them, it wouldn’t be such an issue, but it doesn’t and while bringing up the weapon selector wheel, does slow things down, you can still miss your window.

The other issue that I had is the length, it only takes a few hours to get through the dlc and while I was not expecting some 12-hour epic, I was hoping for a little more. The developers seemed to have taken the feedback from the first dlc on board and lowered the opening difficulty, something that many had issues with in DLC 1, but while it starts off more welcoming, it doesn’t last that way. The issue is the final boss fight just feels like a slower marauder fight, which is quite the odd way to go, I can understand why they chose that path, but I don’t agree that it was the way to go for all of it.

On the presentation side of things, excluding the new demons, the rest look as you would expect, the new ones are mostly just rethemed versions of ones you already know as well. The locations were the real stars for me, with the three locations being as different in theming from each other as you can get, but still wonderfully DOOM, even though there is a lot of green in one of them. The final moments of the game, before you get into the final boss are also delightful in scale, but feel a little out of place, mostly due to how the story shapes up and there is a distinct Avengers Endgame visual happening, but it is still fun. I also got some Halo-esq vibes from the last big cutscene, before the boss, not for any particular reason, other than scale. The soundtrack keeps the action going, the music is once again outstanding and, even though the genre of music that you could consider DOOM is not my type of music, it works so well with the game that it matters not.

The Ancient Gods Part Two is a decent ending to DOOM Eternal, just not amazing. The story builds up in a way that makes it seem like there will be much more, but it just ends, with barely a whisper and while the game tries to build up the final boss as a massive challenge, he just isn’t. The modified enemies and new locations help keep things fresh, while the familiar demons and intense music ground things with a sense of familiarity. While the ambition behind the DLC might have been lofty, the end result is one that doesn’t quite reach those heights but is still fun while it lasts.

The Score

8.0

Review code provided by Bethesda

The Pros

+New enemy types add enough variety to the basic gameplay to keep you guessing

+Each of the locations are visually stunning and yet still feel like DOOM

The Cons

-Length really isn’t here, there is a good chunk of game, but not what many might expect

-The story and final boss, both kind of just fizzle out and don’t really feel satisfying