Doom 2016 vs Doom Eternal vs Doom: The Dark Ages

Which of the modern Doom trilogy is your favorite?

  • Doom 2016

    Votes: 126 62.1%
  • Doom Eternal

    Votes: 57 28.1%
  • Doom: The Dark Ages

    Votes: 20 9.9%

  • Total voters
    203
The biggest problem is that the quality of Doom 2016 is about the same quality as The Dark Ages. The formula was already perfected. ID made some gameplay changes to differentiate between the two games, but the experience isnt necessarily better. The series cannot positively evolve anymore, like an Uncharted 2 or The Witcher 3 can
DOOM is quite literally one of the OG Boomer Shooters. It and its predecessor Wolfenstein 3D invented the FPS genre

There is no need to evolve beyond shoot demons with your guns and there never was. I don't know what modern ID is doing, just give the DOOM audience what they want! Go ask John Carmack and John Romero what they want if you don't know!
 
DOOM is quite literally one of the OG Boomer Shooters. It and its predecessor Wolfenstein 3D invented the FPS genre

There is no need to evolve beyond shoot demons with your guns and there never was. I don't know what modern ID is doing, just give the DOOM audience what they want! Go ask John Carmack and John Romero what they want if you don't know!
DOOM has always mixed things up between entries, to great success. I certainly don't want the same thing over and over again.
 
2016 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Eternal
Haven't played TDA beyond the first level yet.
 
I've finished all 3 but DOOM 2016 was the most enjoyable. (I also stuck a lot of time into community made SnapMaps.)
Eternal had too many "stay in this general area and slaughter wave after wave of demon until we open a door/clear a route".
The Dark Ages was fine but felt a bit gimmicky with the shield and flail.
 
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2016 > Eternal > Getting punched in the face > Accidentally pouring spoilt milk in your cereal > Not being able to sleep at 2am because your neighbor is a dipshit > Being isekai'd into the actual dark ages as a fucking peasant > Doom: The Dark Ages
 
DOOM has always mixed things up between entries, to great success. I certainly don't want the same thing over and over again.
It could evolve using the foundation of the original games. Changing isn't always evolution or innovation. I don't think making Doom mostly arena/waves based, with a more fragmented gameplay or "story driven" is an evolution. And I don't hate any main entry, even I think Doom Eternal isn't necessarily "more Doom" than Doom 3 (yes, I said it).

Once I said this, I haven't played Dark Ages yet (a more story driven Doom game with parries and shield a la nuGoW is a little roll eye to me even it looks entertaining though). About 2016 and Eternal? 2016 is more Doom than Eternal, but Eternal maybe shines better by itself. Anyway, I will probably replay them soon, because I am playing a Doom marathon (currently with Doom 3).
 
It could evolve using the foundation of the original games. Changing isn't always evolution or innovation. I don't think making Doom mostly arena/waves based, with a more fragmented gameplay or "story driven" is an evolution. And I don't hate any main entry, even I think Doom Eternal isn't necessarily "more Doom" than Doom 3 (yes, I said it).

Once I said this, I haven't played Dark Ages yet (a more story driven Doom game with parries and shield a la nuGoW is a little roll eye to me even it looks entertaining though). About 2016 and Eternal? 2016 is more Doom than Eternal, but Eternal maybe shines better by itself. Anyway, I will probably replay them soon, because I am playing a Doom marathon (currently with Doom 3).
That exactly what they do though? The foundations are broadly the same. You can tell its Doom just by looking at it. Just they all play differently with added mechanics. They might not all work for me personally but I prefer that to just more of the same.

The story can just be easily ignored and skipped in DA, I think I watched one cut scene.

2016 is the most "Doom" game for me, they nailed the feel of the OG but brought it bang up to date.
 
I go back and forth between Doom 2016 and Eternal as to which one is the best best Dark Ages is definitely the worst of the three. None of them are bad games though.
 
Gaf hates Eternal because its a skill game, however it is one of the best shooters of all time not just the best Doom.
It is not a game for everyone.

Which is why when it hits, it hits hard.

Its basically textbook example of making something divisive that Kojima keeps talking about while making safe sequels and walking sims.
 
Doom 2016 - Eternal and what ever Dark ages is.

It's good that they try different things, but unfortunately I don't really like anything about Dark Ages. I played it a little further, but somehow everything is a step backwards.

The gameplay is worse, enemy designs look significantly worse than before.
Music is worse.
This Glory kills system replacement is just bad.
Controlling this giant monster sounds interesting on paper, but the implementation is very poor.
Graphics are somehow worse even with path tracing.
 
I had some fun with Doom 2016, but I wouldn't put it in a list of my favorite fps.
Doom Eternal was complete dog shit. Only played a couple of hours and gave up.
Haven't even tried Doom Dar Ages and don't plan on ever playing it.
 
Console? Because on PC DA looks awesome (if you have the hardware).
Yep. They shouldn't have forced RT because these consoles are not there and it added nothing and made it look worse in some ways (image quality wise). I have no doubt it looks better on PC but subjectively I would still prefer 2016 even then because I think everything was more handcrafted there. Not just graphics but the combat itself, the animations (no floating things for example), the weapons you pick up were part of the game world, the combat was more up close and personal, every enemy was that, an enemy to fight with but in Dark Ages half of them are just cannon fodder that are blown to smithereens just by looking at them. My point is that 2016 was really immersive and instead of following that path they went to the opposite way.
 
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Eternal is the best one, game's pure adrenaline and some of the most fun I've had in an FPS.
 
Doom Eternal was just too big for me. Too many customizations, upgrades, sidequests, collectibles. It feels bloted like an AC game. Doom 2016 was more balanced in that regard.

Haven't played Doom The Dark Ages yet.
 
Doom 2016 - Eternal and what ever Dark ages is.

It's good that they try different things, but unfortunately I don't really like anything about Dark Ages. I played it a little further, but somehow everything is a step backwards.

The gameplay is worse, enemy designs look significantly worse than before.
Music is worse.
This Glory kills system replacement is just bad.
Controlling this giant monster sounds interesting on paper, but the implementation is very poor.
Graphics are somehow worse even with path tracing.
Agree on all points. It doesn't help that the animation system is exactly the same as in 2016 but due to missing the glory kills it even feels less. In 2016 the animations were mindblowing and felt "nextgen". But in 2025? Not so.
 
That exactly what they do though? The foundations are broadly the same. You can tell its Doom just by looking at it. Just they all play differently with added mechanics. They might not all work for me personally but I prefer that to just more of the same.

The story can just be easily ignored and skipped in DA, I think I watched one cut scene.

2016 is the most "Doom" game for me, they nailed the feel of the OG but brought it bang up to date.
Doom was a FPS made based in horror media like Evil Dead 2, Aliens and the H.R Giger work, and Dungeons & Dragons, not memes or a Marvel-like lore.

Level design is one of the biggest reasons why classic Doom still holds up even nowadays. There was a lot of criticism against CoD clones using a comparison of a cinematic shooter's level design with e1m1 design, and praise when keycards back in 2016.

Another point is you couldn't know where the next monster will appear because the encounter design variety. Serious Sam and Painkiller are great, but they're not very Doom-like or not soooo old school FPS, and the misconception with them was because the genre changed at the time (military shooters and Half-life-like games were very popular), and specially because, and I'm sorry, the seventh console gen era was mostly a travesty of FPS genre.

Story was just context and nothing else for Doom by choice, and yet Doom 3, Eternal and probably Dark Ages ignored this (being in later games worse in a way because wanting to be far more fast paced games at the same time). I remember when people applauded watching the Doomguy breaking monitors because not caring about nothing but killing demons like the player in 2016, in what sense are more cutscenes, codex collectables and pop up tutorials more consistent with that?

And I'm pretty sure arcade games, light pseudo action RPGs and semiautomatic platformers have nothing to do with Doom basis and don't add anything to it, and yet people dismiss Doom 3 for aping Half-life and System Shock. And btw, yes, horror themes had a big presence in Doom, even in classic games. Heavy metal and killing armies of demons was an important part of course (specially in Doom 2 and Plutonia Experiment) but the same were flickering lights, ominous horror music, surreal nightmarish hellish imagery, being surprised by a dangerous monster appearing in crazy ways, being tense for the next and hearing their creepy noises. Also, even having its badassery and sense of humor, the demon invasion isn't a joke by any means. And I'm not even counting saturn/psx Doom ports and Doom 64.

The original Doom vibe was split with 3, and still it is mostly with nuDoom (more in Eternal and Dark Ages than 2016).

I haven't mention about the modding tools, another important part of Doom's impact and longevity being ignored in Dark Ages, a joke in 2016, and ignored in Eternal until the last year. Even the now so maligned Doom 3 is better in this regard.

And I say all this as someone who enjoyed 2016 and Eternal and planning to replay them. I understand their appeal. 2016 was a very fun and solid FPS appearing in the genre's worst time, Eternal has a demanding and challenging combat system and it's mechanically interesting by its own. Their verticality, inspired by its son Quake, is a great addition, and I'm interested in Dark Ages. Despite all I said Doom still remembers far more of its roots than other western franchises like Tomb Raider for example (not a high bar though). But looking all the historical revisionism about Doom's intended vision based on Brutal Doom and nuDoom games prove how some important things of this franchise are being ignored or misinterpreted.
 
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We seriously need a Doom 2016 remastered in idtech 8 with patch tracing for its 10th anniversary next year.
I played 2016 last week, which inspired this thread, at 4K 120fps, and it is a beautiful game still. The only thing that stood out is blurry textures when you're less than ~5ft away. Otherwise it stands next to games released today, imo.

Says a lot about (lack of) graphical progress in general, but still.
 
I think the bigger problem is being forced to use mechanics so the game plays right. Most people just want to turn their brain off and shoot shit.
On the lowest difficulties people can kill everything with almost any gun.

 
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I've played 2016 a lot and loved it, skipped Eternal for now as I'm pretty sure thay gameplay isn't for me, I prefer choosing my own few weapons, powering them up and sticking with them for the most part.

Dark Ages looks like something I'd really enjoy though, a nice balance of 2016 and Eternal style. The parry mechanic looks like Metroid Dread in some of ways, though I worry that fighting certain enemies who are invincible until you parry enough green attacks will be a bit boring, Dread had that to an extent too though.

The price of DA at launch put me off though, if I couldbe got it for closer to £45 I'd jump right now, at £60+ I'll wait for a sale.

I kept buying too many "AAA" games at launch and then either bouncing off them or not enjoying them at all, AC: Shadows being the latest example, I got sucked in my the graphics and the (seemingly) fun combat + destruction physics but the skill tree and general progression was pants. Not to mention the general animations for NPCs and facial animations outside the most important cutscenes was garbage and put me off.

I skipped all ACs after Unity due to the above animation and motion capture changes and I fell for this one going back to that level of quality stupidly.

Side mission's content can be rote af but as long as the actual moment gameplay is fun enough, characters are well written, have good animations and face capture it keeps me engaged. Horizon: FW is a prime example, the side stuff is mostly a bunch of fetch quests with little surprises but the actual conversations look and sound amazing so it keeps me interested enough to want to travel to the pin and do them.

Not so much with modern AC games... wtf happened, Unity was so fun for me, I loved that game. Exploring Paris was so fun and it had enough variety in the side stuff and the riddle puzzles and murder mysteries were also just that right level of challenge.
Huh? Dark Ages is literally nothing like Eternal and 2016. There is no "balance"

The only thing that Dark Ages shares with Eternal and 2016 is the names of the characters and the Demons. None of the demons look like their previous counterparts. The Cacodemon was offensively changed in Dark Ages.
 
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2016 is more consistent. Amazing soundtrack. Gameplay first and foremost. It's basically a Metroid game on steroids

Eternal is kinda like if Santa and the easter bunny did a party, having thanksgiving food mixed with crack. It's too much and at the same time too limited, and fast as fuck

Dark Ages is... fine. Is the Quake 4 of Doom series. Some great stuff, but didn't achieve greatness
 
Finally i voted for Dark Ages because i wanted a new Quake and it had some things in it that reminded me of it, second would be 2016 and eternal third, i liked eternal at the time but now i'm tired of this git good bullshit sorry...
 
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