"Against all the evil that Hell can conjure, all the wickedness that mankind can produce, we will send unto them . . . only you. Rip and tear, until it is done."
--King Novik, Doom Eternal
Nine months after it was released on other consoles, Doom Eternal has finally appeared on the Switch eShop. Those who prefer playing multiplatform games on systems like the PS4 or Xbox One have had plenty of time to try the game, but now the mayhem of Doom Eternal can be experienced using a handheld system. That it can be played away from a television screen in that year of the original release is quite an accomplishment on its own. That it expands upon the best aspects of the 2016 reboot title is an accomplishment even apart from the portability of the Switch port. Third-person cinematics, new glory kills, an arm blade, a shoulder-mounted flamethrower, and more blatantly satirical comments by the UAC (such as when a hologram of an employee references 666 even though the demons of Doom are not affiliated with a theological kind of realm at all) help Doom Eternal stand out even more from what came right before.
Production Values
Better graphics greet players experienced with the Switch port of the 2016 Doom, with some environments still looking far sharper than others. Some motion blur still remains, unfortunately, but individual frames are still mostly clear on their own. That Doom Eternal is a 2020 console release that debuted on the PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia platforms before coming to the Switch in the same year is a testament to the competence of the team behind the port. Of course, many recent and major console games, including the 2016 Doom predecessor, Wolfenstein II, Wolfenstein Youngblood, and The Outer Worlds have already shown that the Switch is capable of handling such games, albeit with somewhat lesser graphical presentation. Still, Doom Eternal looks better than The Outer Worlds even though the latter came out on other consoles last year and was released much earlier in 2020 on the Switch than Doom Eternal. Voice acting from a variety of characters is secondary but helps develop the lore to a much greater extent than before.
Gameplay
Two things become apparent early in the campaign: the combat has even more options than before and the platforming has been drastically expanded. Regarding the former, a new shoulder-mounted flamethrower can catch enemies on fire, but it can only activate for very short periods and it must recharge like grenades, which are also released from a shoulder-mounted weapon system. Flame belches produce armor shards, glory kills provide health orbs, and chainsaw kills yield ammunition. This more developed way of obtaining specific refills means players have many options to restore various pickups. Other new offensive mechanics include the Blood Punch, an amplified melee attack that inflicts more damage after glory kills fill up a meter, and the Ice Bomb, a projectile that freezes enemies solid but does not harm them on its own.
Regarding the platforming, additions like spinning flame barriers and extra life pickups like 1-Up mushrooms in Mario games evolve the environmental navigation far beyond where the series has taken it before. Some sections even literally look like modified platforming areas from a 3D Mario game! None of the weekly challenges I have seen so far in one of two new XP progression systems actually have achievements focused on platforming, as many pertain more to completing a certain number of levels or multiplayer matches. An upcoming multiplayer mode will supposedly even lets other plays control specific demons in another player's campaign playthrough, possibly the "empowered demons" you must face that have killed other campaign players. However, there is already a more developed mode that lets three players interact.
Battlemode, an asynchronous multiplayer mode, pits two player-controlled demons against the Doom Slayer, who is also controlled by a player. The variety of demons that can be chosen each have their own particular abilities and strengths. In order to win, the demons have to merely kill the Slayer once, and they can respawn after death, but the Slayer must survive all the way until a timer has run out if he or she is to win. Both sides get bonuses after each match, with the victor winning at least three of the total five possible matches. Ironically, the demon team typically has a significant advantage even though the Doom Slayer is a godlike killer in the campaign. It can be far more difficult to kill both demons as the Slayer before of them respawns than it is to kill the Slayer even once as the demons!
Both campaign mode and Battlemode contribute to a shared XP progression system with its own weekly challenge set. Multiple achievement systems also pertain to both the campaign and multiplayer modes, with unlockable skins, backdrops, and other items as rewards for completing specific milestones. For example, using the flamethrower to ignite 140 demons, playing as all five demons in multiplayer, or using the Super Shotgun's new Meat Hook feature to pull yourself to enemies across a certain accumulated distance all result in achievements. In fact, there multiple in-game achievement sets tracked in different menus, all of which could extend the replay value by keeping the attention of players who have already finished the campaign and experimented with Battlemode.
Story
Some spoilers are below.
Billions of human casualties result as Hell's demons invade Earth after the events of the Doom reboot, with the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC for short) endorsing the invaders as saviors even though they have destroyed enormous regions of the planet. The Doom Slayer, situated in his new spacecraft called the Fortress of Doom, begins pushing the extraterrestrials out of key areas as an entity named Kahn Makyr tries to preserve the invasion. She hopes to protect her homeworld of Urdak by siphoning Argent energy from Hell and has made an alliance with the demons. In exchange for new worlds to overcome, the demons will provide her with Argent.
Intellectual Content
The story itself, while more directly lore-heavy than that of the prior game, lacks philosophical substance, which was never the purpose of the Doom franchise. The exploration side of the series is as strong as it ever was, though, with an even larger variety of collectibles. Collectible items--some of which can be used to directly improve weapons and equipment--can often be seen from places where they are inaccessible, with a hidden alternate entryway allowing access from another side. Thus, Doom Eternal does give players a chance to specifically test their observational skills and even their strategic planning for some fairly extreme platforming.
Conclusion
Doom Eternal is a very different game than the 2016 Doom in some ways, with its much more elaborate platforming, 1-Up items, Fortress of Doom, and vastly expanded array of weapons and equipment, but the optional collectible hunting reminiscent of Metroid Prime and brutal combat of the 2016 predecessor return stronger than ever. Even after the campaign and its numerous in-game achievements and the rewards tied to them, Battlemode offers a very different approach to Doom characters and offers achievements and unlockable rewards of its own. What it lacks in philosophical depth, Doom Eternal makes up for with some of the deepest and most frenetic single player combat in recent years. This and its new reasons to possibly continue playing after completing the game, along with the bonus content that comes with the Switch download until December 22, make it a very worthy purchase on the only handheld platform it was made for.
Content:
1. Violence: Demons can have their heads twisted, limbs pulled off, and torsos cut apart. This is one of the most graphic games I have ever played on the Switch platform!
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