We made no secret of our love of Doom Eternal, giving it a score of 9.5 out of 10. Having spent a greater amount of time getting involved in the recent weeks, and keeping an eye on the opinions of other players and reviewers, we’ve seen that, although still widely loved, the game can also be contentious. As we see it, a lot of this has been due to the game’s systems expanding, which added a great deal of complexity when compared to Doom 2016’s more streamlined experience.
In the greater context of gaming, this has been a conversation that has been a hot topic on many message boards for decades. It can be a battle of purists versus progressives but, in our opinion, there is easily room enough for everyone.
In more general terms, the most common sort of evolution we’re talking about is so well illustrated by Doom Eternal’s extended systems. Gain health through glory kills, armor through fire, ammo through the chainsaw, and solve the combat puzzles which result from these concepts, this is the new gameplay loop. In essence, Eternal has shifted from a more straightforward experience to a game with a heavy emphasis on active resource management.
This raises questions on where exactly growth is necessary, and where added complexity might be considered extraneous fluff. For some players, Doom Eternal crossed that line and crossed it with a mighty vengeance. For others, Eternal raised the bar to new and unexplored heights. Taken together, this illustrates how much these ideas are raw matters of opinion, rather than anything approaching objective fact.
If we take a look back, we could also consider the Legend of Zelda games which, while almost always well-received, have worked on the back of some bloated or unnecessary systems over the years. As big fans of the 2D series, for example, we found ourselves bouncing off of the stylus controls of the DS games all those years ago, and the Wii controls added for later entries.
On the other hand, some growth beyond the borders of the games themselves has been universally embraced. For example, the online casino industry is one of the strongest in this regard, with targeted developments that do nothing but benefit players’ playing styles.
For New Zealand players, for example, casino bonuses for Kiwis have helped many with bonus cash, free spins, and simple-to-understand reviews. Similar claims can be made for the likes of Steam sales which, despite the platform being hit-or-miss, are universally loved. Both of these examples, by not modifying the base product, manage to avoid the typical problems which can and do arise from internal evolution.
Taken in full, the reasons for growth around and within games is obvious. Even if technology remained the same, the industry still needs to create something new, to inspire old customers, and to appeal to new. Ultimately, this means balancing holding onto what is loved against taking a swing for what could be the next big thing.
For exterior services like sales and bonuses, this has proven to be a relatively simple and effective pursuit. Changing the game themselves, which often have diehard fans of decades following closely, however, is never going to have one right answer. Sometimes the developers and players win, and sometimes everyone loses. Only by keeping the conversation moving, and developing a dialogue, can we hope to shape these aspects communally. With that in mind, let’s all agree that motion blur should be disabled by default, and that frame-rate is much more important than 4K.
