Doom Eternal‘s third level, the frozen-over Cultist Base, kicks off with a little platforming sequence, and if you’ve been keeping up with the game then that might not be too surprising. You’re probably aware that alongside chaotic combat with tough demons, you’ll be doing a lot more than rushing to the next fight. In our three-hour hands-on preview of Doom Eternal, we experienced first-hand just how platforming and traversal has changed things. As to why it’s been emphasized so much in Eternal, we asked game director Hugo Martin about that.
Martin prefaced, “A criticism of DOOM 2016 is that it was kind of like skate parks and arena fights; hallways to the next arena, fight, hallways to the next arena, fight. And the arena fights were great.” He then continued, “But in between the combat arenas, we really needed to make sure that we can engage the player just as much with the spaces outside of the arenas as we could inside…and expand the scope of the levels quite a bit.”
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You’re given tools that coincide with this design philosophy, such as the double dash ability, swinging on monkey bars, and wall climbing on specific surfaces. Levels look and feel bigger, and present more intricate ways for getting from point A to B. It also makes the search for secrets and hidden content a bit more involved.
In our experience, platforming elements certainly take some getting used to, especially with this being an FPS. But Martin said it’s meant to be part of Eternal’s ramp-up in getting you to master the several aspects of Doom Eternal: “They’re all of them skill-based traversal puzzles. What would be challenging in the beginning of the game becomes second nature at the end of the game.”
Doom Eternal’s third level, Cultist Base, kicks off with a bit of platforming.
Platforming and traversal isn’t just isolated in between combat scenarios, though. Doom Eternal also emphasizes these elements with more spacious combat arenas, giving you more room to navigate these fights and search for much-needed pickups. You can both create space or close the gap between demons depending on the situation, and even pull off aerial glory kills–the Super Shotgun’s hookshot adds to the numerous ways you’ll be moving around in combat, too.
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