DOOM ETERNAL

We discover that three hours in Hell feel like three minutes in Heaven

FORMAT PS4 / ETA 20 MAR PUB BETHESDA SOFTWORKS / DEV ID SOFTWARE

The first thing you notice about Doom’s fiery new Hell on Earth is how much more varied the levels are, and how much bigger. The first level has you fighting your way off a creaking wooden Hell barge crammed with lost souls, before jumping off it into the middle of a city crumbling under siege.

Blasting your way through hordes of hellbeasts still tearing Earth apart, dodging past a skyscraper-sized horned demon, and hopping over the ruins of mechs that have fallen trying to protect the city, you (as the ubiquitous Doom Slayer) make your way to a citadel. Within is a Hell Priest, one of three who are using their power to aid the demonic invasion. Once you’ve dispatched him, you must set off to track down those remaining and stop the forces of Hell. That’s all in the first level of the game.

HELL YEAH

The biggest mistake you could make is thinking that Doom Eternal is just more of the same. Far from it. It’s slicker than ever thanks to Id’s nextgen IdTech7 engine, and the environments only continue to evolve in ever more surprising ways in the opening hours. In our hands-on we leap around the ruined battlements of the Asgard-like Night Sentinel homeworld, battle through a hellish domain, and invade a Hell-cult base atop snowy mountains on Earth. In between we chill out in our Fortress Of Doom, where we can unlock upgrades such as ice' bombs, fight waves of baddies in the Prison Of Doom, and replay missions.