Hellscream
He/Him- 2,445
- 1,400
Ah, do you want an invite to the DOOM discord i made?
-
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DOOM Discussion Thread
- Thread starter Gasper
- Start date
ShionAH
He/Him- 21,057
- 7,790
Sure
- 951
- 388
It's probably not native to hell because it could easily become the new prince given the work it put it being way more than base Azhrak
Hellscream
He/Him- 2,445
- 1,400
No like it's straight out stronger than wraith enhanced Ahzrak
Thats why i said it can't be a normal demon, imo the one that would make the most sense is the champion titan
Hellscream
He/Him- 2,445
- 1,400
I wonder wtf this shit is
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- 388
Yeah ik
And royalty in hell is based on strength and base Azhrak was prince which wouldn't have happened if the creature was a hellborn
Imo it doesn't look like the champion titan too because it's head is far more humanoid and lacks horns from the brief glimpses we've seen
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Hell absorbing the cosmic realm?
Hellscream
He/Him- 2,445
- 1,400
Bruh wtf it might be belias
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We're going to need accurate readings of the slayers durability based on this if a big but strong demon is beating him half to death and tearing his armor.
Hellscream
He/Him- 2,445
- 1,400
Not really?..
Prince Ahzrak withstood hits from the slayer with the dreadmace, and straight out overpowered him strength wise, slayer got pissed and destroyed Ahzrak
This demon isn't just a big random strong demon either It's the most ancient Hell Priest, and has direct ties to the high council of hell, which is made up of the most powerful demons, basically the rulers of Hell in Davoth's absence
What this says is basically Belias > Transformed prince Ahzrak, and we don't even know exactly what happens yet
The armor that was ripped is also not his praetor suit, it's sentinel armor, his praetor suit gets made in this DLC
Hellscream
He/Him- 2,445
- 1,400
Yeah, im 99% sure it's Belias, same voice, same amount of fingers on their hand. similar hairtype
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Guess what, the Kratos pfp guy is still stalking me on my wall.
Hellscream
He/Him- 2,445
- 1,400
Just ignore tbh
I've seen his posts, especially on reddit he's spreading those fake mails with Marty Stratton, as a "debunk"
The mention of dimensions, which in this specific scenario obviously referred to universes due to Midnight's question..
Literally just says every dimensions is connected to Hell, which we already knew refers to universes in this instance.
Or like the "myriad of dimensions enfolded in his arms" statement, we also know it's referring to universes, as it's talking about the totality of the cosmology.
Idk what it was supposed to debunk either way, as universes can also be higher dimensional by themselves and are shown to be
Edit: I've watched through some of his videos on his youtube channel...
Last edited:
Hellscream
He/Him- 2,445
- 1,400
Would you look at that, a dimension that is.... higher dimensional
Gewsbumpz_dude
Any/All- 3,717
- 974
Yeah, ignore him. As someone who has dealt with him directly before, and know how he scales, he isn't worth your time.
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Image doesn't load for me. But yeah, I don't take that guy seriously, but he's still annoying if he's just bothering random people on message walls.
Would you look at that, a dimension that is.... higher dimensional
BoastJr
He/Him- 2,988
- 4,388
Thread '1/4 FINALS|DOOMSLAYER VS KLEIN MORETTI'
https://vsbattles.com/threads/1-4-finals-doomslayer-vs-klein-moretti.192363/
https://vsbattles.com/threads/1-4-finals-doomslayer-vs-klein-moretti.192363/
Hellscream
He/Him- 2,445
- 1,400
New Buzzsaw demon coming in the DLC, this game has by far the most enemies we've seen in a DOOM game
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Summary:
Players are encouraged to re-read "The History of the Sentinels" codex from DOOM Eternal before playing the DLC.
The DLC is not retconning existing lore.
The civil war storyline remains intact.
Daisy the rabbit has not been retconned.
The DLC explores events leading toward the civil war but does not reach the Doom Slayer's imprisonment in the sarcophagus.
Hugo explained that considerable effort went into ensuring consistency with previous games and expanding the lore without contradicting established canon.
Chat, are you still with us? Chat!
It's uh
That's so funny. So, Chat was probably
just watching me. They're like, "He has
no idea that he's
happening?
in the same room streaming.
That part is factually true. And
Thank you for uh
for being really with us with the
technical struggles of
trying to do a setup that this room is
not set up for the exact configuration
of cuz it has to get reconfigured every
time we kind of do a new thing.
Uh and this was a new thing. So, right
now it's a single camera to rule them
all.
Uh pretty cool, I'd say.
Uh
I mean, let's just start from the
beginning like we just started. So,
this is the first time we've been on
since
Revelations. Like the nuggets were the
name of the DLC.
So many different scenes and demons and
everything that got shown in the
trailer. Like how you feeling since that
happened?
headphones. Is there any way to to tweak
that?
could be
Was it just those two?
There we go. Should be good now.
Okay, so the question was uh
How do I think Say it again?
remember the last time we streamed we
hadn't shown we'd only done nuggets and
then kind of preamble but we hadn't
shown the trailer yet, the announce
trailer, which was a few weeks ago, but
how are you feeling since? How's the
reception been? How's the How's the
feeling in the office been?
guys, we we wanted so badly to share
as much as we could.
Wait, is this reconnecting?
Right there.
to be able to reconnect with everybody
and
finally get to reveal the trailer. I
hope you guys liked it. I mean it it uh
you know, there's a lot in there as you
saw and I really loved all your guys
breakdowns.
A big shout out to all of the fans I
kind of simp.
Uh there's so many of them, you know,
and you guys are making just great
videos.
Uh I forget his name, Far Far Vain and
uh I think Dinosaur the Heretic is
another one who's really just making
some great content. Of course, Orville
Gaming, Midnight. Midnight's video, big
shout out to Midnight. Are you here?
Your um
video breakdown was really accurate.
Well, I don't want to say too much
because then I'm giving away parts of
the story, but yeah.
There's uh there were some good theories
in there, buddy, and and a lot of them
were really good. I was teasing uh
Midnight in our in our little uh
breakout session yesterday. That was
fun.
now it's it's good. So,
uh the big nugget for today, I'll just
start off with it, is that the title of
the DLC is Revelations. And that's
that's what it is.
have a field day with that one.
have another shot of this coffee.
sip.
ran super late and I was I was up till
like 3:30 in the morning. I'm a little
tired today, but damn it's good. I'm I'm
ready to do it.
So, it been awesome. I think you guys
picked up on everything that we were
putting down. I mean, that was really
fun. You you got all the little bits.
Obviously, the Flint Taggart I we we
William, Perry, and Josh, myself,
everybody involved uh
William cut a beautiful edit to make
sure that there was that great shot of
the girl at the end holding the bunny.
You guys totally picked up on that.
That's not an accident. I mean, that was
framed in such a way so you guys if you
paid attention Everything about Doom is
about leaning in and we try to make
everything worth your time.
been a lot of love for uh the work that
we're doing and that we're you know,
we're we're trucking away here and then
you know, making stuff that we love and
you guys you guys are super into it.
We're happy to make it for you. So,
all of those all of those response
videos were were freaking awesome.
I do have an agenda item today.
I kind of Simp and let me really quick
on those streams I kind of Simp who
joins you
on your streams when you guys do like
the breakdowns. You guys they have been
putting on
awesome streams. Let me try to bring up
YouTube and and um
chatting in YouTube. Icon, who's been
joining you on your streams lately?
English accent?
Dinosaur the Heretic.
writer and you really have great
theories. Um and I really appreciated
like
this is about redcons and what is a
redcon, what is not a redcon. So, I I we
we talked it through. It's like, you
know, the planet of Febeth for example.
When he says the lost city of Febeth it
was like an unnamed city on the planet
of Febeth. Should we have done a better
job of clarifying that? Absolutely. Uh
so, I understand the confusion there. Um
And in terms of like preparation, if I
had homework for you guys for the DLC,
there were some theories that was going
around, you know, on on I on Icon of
Sin's um
uh DLC stream. I've I've got the chat
open here.
things that I've said, and I will only
ask you this cuz if I say too much, you
guys are going to figure it out. But,
read the history of the Sentinels from
the Doom Eternal Codex. It's a It's a
six six or seven part series. Um it's
very fun to work on, and
you know, we have read that a bajillion
times, you know, since it was written,
and certainly read it a whole bunch to
make sure that anything we do in this
story, you know, really doesn't feel
like it's retconning anything. Again,
we're like
that that's kind of a a summary, you
know, of the events that happened a a
biblical retelling of the events.
You know, a historical document. A lot
of the image imagery in there, you know,
was meant to kind of like the reference
we were making was like those etchings
and and biblical paintings that we see
representations
of the narrative being told. Not
necessarily
you know, I I I think it's just
important that everybody read the
history of the Sentinels. So, I don't
want to say too much, but one of the
things that was brought up on on your
stream, Icon,
it's not that it was wrong. I just think
that you guys need to reread. I don't
want to say what it is. Just just just
reread it.
where that stuff was at?
watching um
you know, and and playing through
Revelations, you know, it's fresh in
your mind. That That's all I'd ask.
should we talk about?
man, I'm trying to think, too, cuz
there's been
there's been so many good chats I've
seen
already like incredible fan art coming
out of shirtless Slayer.
being like just burying their head in
his chest just being like [laughter]
this is the guy. Like I can't believe
it. Some people
You take that armor off and you're like,
"Hold on." You still got armor on.
so, when we made um
the the moment where the Doom Slayer
came out of the sarcophagus
there was there there's a shot of a guy
we cut to his face and his reaction shot
to you emerging. That used to be a
woman. And there was nothing behind it.
It was just, you know, hey, you know,
there's men and there's women in part of
this occult.
And it it had a certain tone to it cuz
cuz she seemed, you know, interested and
enamored with the fact that somebody was
emerging emerging from what was once an
empty coffin.
would would react to that.
beefcake Slayer, I'm like, I don't know,
maybe we should have just left it there.
I thought it was I thought it was really
cool because it just sold the power of
the Slayer, you know what I mean? Like
he's this mythic figure rising from a
pool of blood.
is just like, oh well, that's what I was
worried about. I mean, we're never
trying to We never do this
intentionally. We're not We're not
trying to like, oh, let's make him, you
know, uh whatever. I I see people online
like uh whatever y'all's name is for
like hunky dudes in 2026.
are.
to do. It is funny to see you guys uh
react to it that way.
Scott filter. It's supposed to feel like
a '90s action film and everybody just
kind of looks their best, you know, in
in those.
something.
Yeah, chat, what is what is the new
That's a good gen whatever we're up to
question. So, chop dunk, that's the bad
version, right? That's like the old
whether he had a a good body at some
point, it's it's over, it's over. What
is the new term for
like a hunk? Is there one? Or have you
guys
daddy or like
saying.
Michigan Gonzo says launch the beefcake.
Is beefcake still around? That's good
That's good to know.
I didn't know if that one went out of
fashion here. Oh, Chad. Of course, Horde
Mode Gaming says Chad. I guess Chad's
still
it's hilarious, but not not by design,
not intentional, by the way.
That's just how he looks.
seen
so much stuff? Um, what's this a good
something that I have queued that we can
try to do, it's over there. I'll have to
do it, which is fine cuz I have to turn
off some stuff when we do it, is
we've shot a bunch of different art of
slang stuff, which is really fun to get
back in this room and have Hugo kind of
walk through
just like the the overview of, you know,
how some of this amazing art got made
for Revelations, but the one that's
coming out tomorrow, I thought it'd be
nice since it's, you know, it's only a
couple hours from now, if we maybe
premiere it here, and then I have the
concept art for it, too.
don't know if they're going to be able
to see us for a minute, but they can see
the content, and that's the important
part. Cuz we're doing all this
live, and and you see the struggle is
real, pain is real, but Doom is forever.
So, we we get through that I'll be
right back.
that's his name from now on.
trust his judgment. All [snorts] right.
So, we're going to switch to
this guy and I'm maybe turn
I'm looking tired.
let's watch this.
For the Pain Elemental, this is the new
Pain Elemental, which is super cool.
Uh done by Alejandro. I think this is
just a really [music] fantastic piece of
art. And this character looks awesome in
the game. So, he just works right away.
Honestly, we haven't changed his design
too much uh from what you've seen all
the way back to the original Doom. You
know, he's still [music] throwing uh
some form of lost souls at you. But,
it's just a really really cool character
and uh he fits in with that cosmic realm
motif perfectly.
let's switch to this.
So, these are the These are the some of
the concept art we've seen so far and at
the end, we'll show you the full screen
version of the one that's going to go
live tomorrow. So, what we looking at
right here? Hugo.
this before. Uh you know, these giant uh
drills are drilling into the the surface
of of the core of Hell.
And we kind of have this fiction. Again,
I didn't want to say too much about it,
but that Hell is like this living place.
And uh and beneath all the ice, you
know, we find the beating heart of Hell.
Beating heart of Hell where the essence,
you know, runs and is is the purest in
its purest form. And we certainly know
that the makers in particular, the Khan
Maker, is has developing an interest,
you know, uh in the demon's elixir, in
the in the essence uh as we know it to
to be in the Doom fiction. So,
you know, we're staying true to the
timeline as we know
that uh
Well, you know what? I don't want to say
too much. There's some great juicy bits
of dialogue and things that the Khan
Maker talks about the Slayer's
involvement of of how they came to know
the demons and and the gifts that they
brought. And uh we'll explore that a
little bit in the DLC. So, this is
one of the primary locations associated
with with that bit of fiction. So, I
think you guys are going to love it.
accurate name is Hell's Core for this
one, right?
screwed up because
Tyler was teasing me yesterday cuz Bone
Hell and Nosious and Witches and like
that's the same, you know, it's always
like, you know, Sam's base was really
Arc Complex from Doom Eternal, but we
used to call it internally Sam's Sam's
base. But, yeah, I think I think Icell
is the official name or Hell's Core. I
think in the I think in the level it's
called Hell's Core.
we shared this one on social I'm going
to say last week as um
What is it? The something council?
get to see them.
Big shout-out to the the art teams
involved and certainly this is just a
gorgeous piece of concept art. I believe
this was made You know what? I don't
want to say who made this. I should know
who made this, but I'll probably screw
that up. So, I think it was Nate, but it
but it might be someone else. But, it's
it's uh
Yeah, it's awesome. We see them there
and and this is in their chamber where
the Slayer you know, will will come to
to stand before them and he will be
judged.
And I think we can see from the trailer
that that that might not go so well. So,
yeah. And and in this place they have a
special power, the all-seeing High
Council. I I think like
I'm [snorts] really impressed honestly
with the fan theories from Icon and
Midnight and all you guys breaking this
stuff down. We love making this stuff
for you. Really appreciate you joining
us.
Coming along with us on this journey. I
always consider
fiction and and lore and story to be
kind of like the nutritional content
that that helps uh
you know, when you when you play through
this this this game, you know, it
sustains you. Without it, it it kind of
can kind of feel like a a a
one-dimensional experience, you know? I
think that the the lore and the fiction
gives any experience just kind of depth
for those Even if you're not into it,
you know, you just it kind of needs to
be there. It's
I think the rulebook for this was
written by Tolkien and, you know, so
many other people, you know, a while
ago, perfected by George Lucas in my
opinion with the original Star Wars. And
we're just following the IP development
rulebook. So, everything in the world
has meaning, everything has a history.
Uh do our do our best to tie it all
together. And uh we really appreciate
you guys joining us, you know, and and
stick and hang in hang hanging along for
the ride.
Um and honestly, I think some of the
fiction you guys come up with this just
straight-up awesome. You know, where
possible, maybe we could do something
with Slayers Club Live or something cuz
I just heard some really awesome stuff.
And honestly, like I said, a lot of you
guys' theories is actually pretty
spot-on. I don't want to say which, but
some of them are And one or two of them
are a little bit off, so you got to read
the history of the Sentinels. But, um
we showed this one next, which we
finally got to reveal the name of
Buzzsaw on social
Buzzsaw." And I got I'm going to We're
very transparent here, and I'm going to
be honest, we're very self-aware. Once
someone poked fun of it, I was like,
"Yeah, maybe it's a little too on the
nose."
you know, we got names like Pinky and
things like that. It just It just seemed
appropriate. There There's definitely an
an element of of that self-awareness to
the Doom brand that we could have a name
like that. I don't dislike the name. I
just thought it was funny when somebody
was like, "His name is Buzzsaw?" And I
was like, "Yeah. God damn it."
character. So, he's
a little bit on him as a chess piece,
you know, he will pressure the player,
and he's tuned for the spear. So, the
spear the way that we balance the game
and make sure that the spear doesn't get
out of hand and all the mobility it
brings is we've got a character like the
buzzsaw who's fast. He's an evasive
pressure unit. He can get in your face.
He can get out. He he has great uh you
know, um
What do we What do we call that area of
denial attacks?
you out of
hangs close to them for too long with
the shotgun, he's got a great clear out.
pretty lethal projectile and he's just
tough, man. You know, if you get two of
those on the battlefield at the same
time, you got a problem. One isolated,
sure. But, if you get a couple of them,
there's some encounters where we pair
him with like a commando and it's it's
kind of hairy.
a mobile unit that's almost mobile like
a Whiplash, but now with a shield you
have to break before you start doing
damage. Like that shit's crazy.
Doom the the the Revelations DLC
uh we'll reintroduce uh counters. So, I
think that there's um you know, I
consider that Dark Ages is really a new
IP. When you think about it, the combat
loop is so different than 2016 and
Eternal. When you played Eternal, when
we started development, we started with
the base combat loop from Doom 2016. We
didn't change it. You know, so it is
still very much the same, but then we
layered mechanics on top of it which
made it it was it was basically like
Doom 2016, you know, um
refined. It it it added a layer of depth
that wasn't in I don't think 2016 needed
it, but certainly if you're going to
make it a sequel to that loop and expect
it to be engaging, we needed to layer on
a lot of the the strategies that we did
some of the switching and weak points
and then certainly counters like the
sticky bomb in the Cacodemon's mouth.
So,
now that this is an opportunity with the
DLC for Dark Ages,
that gave us a chance to do that, you
know, with this combat loop. We've got
the grounded slayer, you know, the
parry, the stand and fight. And so, it
has been an absolute joy to to get a
second swipe at this and start layering
on a layer a level of a complexity I
don't want to say complexity, but an
opportunity for skill expression. That
that is the word, skill expression. And
part of that is counters. And and those
counters come from the spear and a lot
of the spears upgrades. And so, uh yeah,
I uh what an example of that would be
this guy, you know, his whole body is
covered, but his head is exposed at all
times. And he's vulnerable to head
shots. Head shots falter him. So,
that'll be a really fun meta for you to
explore and and uh an opportunity for
skill expressions as you nail him with
that rail spike from across the arena,
get him to expose himself, and then burn
him down really quick. You're going to
want to do that cuz he's tough.
[clears throat] like a super heavy? I
think he's in that like
where
you still have to do you still have to
pay attention to them, you still have to
deal with them and and put them in front
of the order of anyone else
Andor is going to take too much to keep
somebody like them that's so mobile on
the field, right?
They're like a good pressure unit. And
like Hugo said, like the area of denial
thing is cool because I don't I I think
he's a really cool chess piece in the
fact that where he fits in, he isn't
another version of something else in any
way really.
All right, so that's what he looks like
uh right here. So, the next one
I think this is yeah, this is okay, so
everybody sees it, they go it's pain
elemental. But technically, just like
with uh cosmic baron, instead of baron
[snorts] of hell, this is the cosmic
elemental. So, this is the brand new uh
addition. And man, like I love how
was it like a tough decision or were you
guys like automatically the Cacodemon
and the and the and the Pain Elemental,
they're going to get cosmic? Like
they're going to stay in that realm cuz
they look like they're from there.
absolutely. And what's really great from
a combat perspective, we really were
able to add in more AI, more more chess
pieces to the chessboard to add a little
bit more
layers to to the combat loop of of Doom
the Dark Ages. It feels great. And
again, this guy was designed with the
spear in mind. You know, he's very
tough.
He he he occupies that Y axis, you know,
he'll get the player to look up and pay
attention to him, which creates
opportunities for the pressure units on
the ground.
So, he's
he's a good he's a good chess piece. He
really brings something to the to the
fight. And then a great counter to him
because counters are a big part of this
experience via the shield us sorry, the
spear if you choose to upgrade your
spear. And it and invest in this
particular ability, spear throw, if you
unlock it, purchase it, and then begin
to upgrade it,
there's there's some really great
counters in there for him.
For him in particular, but also the
Cacodemon, which is which is really
really fun. You're going to be really
the decision-making, you know, will go
up in this DLC. Again, because that's
any kind anytime we have a DLC, it's our
opportunity to to layer on a level of
let's say complexity on top of the base
campaign and its combat loop. And it
feels good. There there is there is
certainly room to do that. I think with
the the big lesson learned with the
hammer
is that it's better to replace a tool
than it is to add a tool. So, that's why
the spear is interchangeable with with
the shield. It's not necessarily you
have a shield while also a new input
that you have to press to use the spear.
You swap them out. And that that opens
it up to allow us to do a lot more with
that tool, you know, than than we were
able to do with the hammer. But, there's
a little bit of hammer in there. You'll
be happy to see that. There's a slam.
Slam is one of the abilities. It feels
pretty awesome.
coolest things is like
you know, redesigning like always like
starting kind of fresh with the combat,
so it doesn't, you know, at all emulate
the game before it with Eternal in the
Dark Ages. Like the shield saw is such a
huge deal where you have left hand and
you have right hand, but
things that you can kind of like kind of
do them at the same time.
bit.
like you can throw like let's pick a
Mancubus. You can throw the shield saw
on him. It's spinning in them and then
you kind of burn him down with your
right hand, but
going back to what you were just talking
about about like
instead of adding something new, adding
like a different dimension and something
different is now with the spear, there's
all kinds of incredible things the spear
can do
completely freed up to be attacking the
entire time. Your spear is like, you
know, you can throw and eventually when
you upgrade your spear, there's an
orbit. Uh
It's the best.
for controller players. Like we see you,
we hear you. We know with the meat hook
that was in Eternal, you know, it's it's
really hard as a controller player to
kind of like navigate it properly and to
kind of shoot or do anything else while
you're in the middle of, you know, like
a long meat hook. But, now when it kind
of just auto orbits when you hold down
that input, you can just be burning
down, switching to another kind of node,
hooking on that like
the verticality options, [snorts] even
re-hooking when you're in there. We saw
it in the trailer. There's that one
moment, right, where
uh I think it starts out. There's like a
bridge with some imp stalkers.
Perry, who's our video editor, who did
the capture for that, shoots them, hooks
onto that, jumps over another one,
throws a shield in,
and then does what what uh what Hugo was
talking about with essentially like the
the hammer type move which is the the
ground pound yeah and then the slam on
the on the the spear so you just like
the utility of it
while you're still keeping your right
hand active you can still switch to you
know like in I think in that we we kind
of tried to make it we had a version
that before where there was a lot of
different switching on the right hand
and it was just kind of too much to
process like when you're making a
trailer you need to have black belt
stuff but it still needs to be like
I understand what I'm looking at I can
process cuz it's so much new stuff
happening you know what I mean
backtracking on the Doom the Dark Ages
combat loop not at all if we introduced
quick switching with the weapons in your
right hand that would have been
basically bailing on the the Doom the
Dark Ages combat loop the guns are the
rhythm guitar yes you could beat the
whole game with one of them that is by
design you know it's it's all about
preference just like it was in Doom 2016
I mean in 2016 you could have rolled
with the grenade launcher the whole time
and and
the the remote detonate many people did
it was really fun we wanted to get back
to that but we wanted to maintain all of
the the decision-making and and and all
of the strategies that were that came
with Doom Eternal this time we put it in
your left hand so the spear as he said
is all about that but yeah you'll you
could still just lay down damage and no
you can't quick switch with weapons you
can quick switch with the spear and the
shield the orbit is good for everybody
it it is certainly a great utility to
control the players but in particular
what we see with mouse and keyboard
players high skill you could use it as a
repositioning tool so it basically Z
targets and you begin to orbit around
whichever character that you're locked
on to and then an upgrade or or part of
the perks of using that is it will it
will there's great synergy between like
heat blast
and and and ricochet for example from
the shredder or the the haste upgrade
with with the skull crusher so those
things will charge while you're in orbit
delivering damage you know to the
characters which is a really sick meta,
especially for the U accelerator players
out there.
Uh and it's just like with the shield,
there's a lot of metas between the
shield and a lot of the the upgrades of
of the guns in the base game, and we did
a lot of that with the spear. So,
it feels it feels so awesome. You guys
are really going to love it.
Um [clears throat]
yeah, a lot of an opportunity for skill
expression and the repositioning via
orbit. The meat hook this time is just
so deep.
depth uh involved. Uh lot more nuance
because it's not tied to a single
weapon, so we were able to do more with
it, which which just feels awesome.
of all, you guys play the DLC period.
It's only like it's almost Is it a week
away? It's close to that, on the 7th of
July, but
the We were talking about this this the
other day, like the end game content is
really where
everything starts to click as far as cuz
by that point you have enough things
upgraded on your spear.
upgrade stuff is mainly, other than you
kind of getting broken down from
obviously, as you see in the trailer,
when you're down to whatever we're
calling it Daddy Chad Chatty, whatever
whatever version of the Slayer doesn't
have his armor, you're kind of building
that stuff back up progressively, but
the most important stuff that you're
kind of putting resources into that
you're finding is for the left hand and
the the chain spear. And my god, by the
end of the game, when you start kind of
getting, okay, the dash can be like But
one of my favorite things, okay, stand
and fight, really the best application
in base game is probably like cyber
demon slayer.
him, you're waiting for his attack to
come, you're parrying that It's
maybe firing up or or, you know, getting
your enhanced shot ready on your right
hand, but you're just burning him down
mano e mano, standing toe-to-toe. So,
now, with the chain spear, first of all,
all the stuff we just said of the
mobility, you can move around, but one
of my favorite favorite things
for those really nasty hit scan enemies,
like you the cyber demon, like uh the
arachnotron, is there's a an upgrade for
the the chain spear where uh you do like
a back dash and it you you've seen it in
the trailer.
feeling cuz it's weird like you're both
now more mobile and you're just denying
hit scan, you know, uh projectiles which
are like the most annoying things to get
hit by. That when you start
comboing it. So, it's still new utility
on the ground. It's not just air stuff
and vertical stuff.
believe, and which
I know for [clears throat] like people
like Mayo who love to stack falters and
you know, the the fighting game
aficionados out there with they love the
falter aspect of the Doom games. We love
that you guys picked up on that that we
put that in there. Uh yeah, it's it's a
great opener. Yeah, you you create a
falter with some of those hit scan AI.
Uh it used to shred. It used to be
really powerful and it would mess them
up really good. We've [clears throat]
since nerfed that a bit because it was
kind of OP.
We were able to spend
honestly the last couple of weeks
just really hyper-focused on
refining [clears throat] and
polishing every encounter. We want to
make sure that we've got a couple of
skill checks per every map, a couple of
meaningful combat puzzles for you to
solve. And certainly the end game
content, we want that to feel like a
super hard, as you said, black belt
challenge. And one thing we found in
that was that ricochet, when we put it
through its paces, if it did too much
damage, you could kind of, you know,
ride it like an exploit. So, it's still
there, feels awesome, you get the
falter, you're able to defend yourself.
Ano- another thing that that it does, uh
my favorite thing to do that you guys
are just going to love and it's in the
trailer is just the melee slash, sorry,
the the slash parry. I mean, you really
feel like a Jedi, like uh you know, I
think a white belt move um
is Mayo on here?
Uh you know, I I I'd almost associate it
with um
you guys's mayo here cuz he's so into
this kind of stuff. But uh I would
almost associate it with like the evade
in Sifu versus the parry, you know, and
one has more utility than the other. And
so, I think dash is super great. It's
it's a shorter dash than Eternal. So,
the repositioning isn't as big as
Eternal, but it's totally meaningful.
But really what you want to do is stand
your ground, stand and fight, and slash
and and you know, with the spear. Cuz
that uh that has an added bonus that you
could hit the green projectiles back,
but you also get a falter from enemies.
So, you could stop an AI right in its
tracks uh with a well-timed uh slash.
And it's hard. The I would say that it's
it's a it's a harder maneuver to pull
off than parry with the shield, but it's
it's a it's honestly it's it's so
satisfying. So, um yeah, that's my
favorite meta. It's just learning the
learning the the patterns of every AI
and and then doing the slash to to
basically have like a lightsaber
fight with them. It feels amazing.
Midnight the cabron said, "Release the
mayonnaise." So, we're looking for
seeing if mayo's here. And then, who
said that? That was a good one. Uh I
think it was chicken burger man. Let me
see. I got to
Rip and Tear says, 'Hey Josh and Hugo,
apologize
in advance for getting a little deep,
but I can give you both a massive Wait,
but I can just But can I just give you
both a massive thank you for your
efforts, blood, sweat, and tears you've
put into the Doom since 2016. Doom is my
lifelong passion and the way it has
evolved for the last decade is nothing
less than perfection. From the bottom of
my heart, thank you for everything you
have done. I genuinely wouldn't be alive
if it wasn't for you and Doom. I was in
a very, very dark place during lockdown
and you and Doom Eternal got me through
it. Thank you so much.'"
Yeah, that means a lot to us. Oh, wait.
Got me out of that hole and you
consistently kept a smile on my face by
playing your games and watching your
streams. Thank you very much, uh, guys.
You are literally my heroes. Well, thank
you. You're our hero. All you guys are.
Yeah, we really, really appreciate that.
Uh,
we're happy to do it for you. It's
awesome that, you know, uh, and
honestly, Josh is able to put together
this Friday night fight, all the things
that we've been able to do to engage
with the community. It's big credit to
this guy, you know, and
tonight gets the credit, but we're here
for here.
wouldn't even be on.
Uh, the but now I we're we're really
appreciating it. We love making this. It
was pretty cool. Skill-Up asked us a
really good question yesterday
and he was just like, you know, it was
very, very There was a nice compliment
wrapped up in the question and, uh,
about us being able to produce all this
content in the last 10 years, you know,
two DLCs, three games, uh, three DLCs
now and two games and
yeah, it it it's awesome. We love doing
it, you know. We got to We got to honor
the franchise, you know. Doom Doom is
important. It's important to you. It's
important to us.
So, uh, we love doing it. It's such an
awesome franchise. I'm not giving away
Look, ain't talking about what we're
doing next, any stuff like that. I just
want to say like I love We love making
Doom though, you know, like and there's
just
there's still so much more to do with
it, I think. Look, you guys have gotten
used to it. You let us reinvent the
combat loop every time. So, don't expect
stand and fight if we did this again.
know, we think it's awesome. We loved
jump and shoot from Doom Eternal,
clearly, you know, but like there's a
whole new loop in there, you know, and
and we've dabbled We talked about a
little bit on the stream, so we love
making this stuff for you guys and and
Doom deserves it, dude. Every every
couple of years a new Doom experience,
come on. That's awesome. That's like a
To me, that's like a new Metallica
album.
A new metal album. Like I I need There
There aren't a lot of metal albums that
get made. I need a really good one every
once in a while, you know?
it,
awesome.
Nothing we'd rather be doing.
Trevor Baggins was asking, "Should I
read the Doom books before playing?"
piece that I've always thought was canon
to the franchise, which was the Flynn
Taggart stuff, you know?
Um
I think we flipped I think we slipped
Flynn Taggart in there somewhere else.
I'm sure you guys could tell us.
It might have been I can't remember.
the um
in Eternal like maybe like a some kind
of reference in one of the comics or
like one of the books or something?
good?
Zao says, "In Eternal, it was the
password for Doom 2." That's what it
was.
Yeah.
the rabbit Daisy is not retconned. Read
the codex when you play the game. I want
to call that stuff out just cuz I don't
want you guys to get worried. It's not
It's not retconned. And our path to the
civil war is not retconned. You guys
have to play the whole game and
obviously this is about the events
leading to the civil war, but how we
arrive there, Soul factories, that all
remains intact. I don't want to say how
far we go, how many chapters of the saga
on our way to the civil war we tell, but
we are absolutely beginning that
journey, you know, and all of it's
headed towards the Slayer eventually
getting trapped in that sarcophagus,
which we don't cover. This That would be
like a 30-hour DLC if we hit that stuff.
So
in intact, you know, I'm happy to say
and and uh yeah, it's great It's great
to fill out this story, you know, and
deliver on all this stuff that you guys
have been reading about for so long.
the most
We're really self-aware. We take the
feedback super seriously.
I know that the the element with Samuel
Hayden
and that first he was a seraphim and
then and then the element with Davoth
and and the way that that fiction landed
and the way it was executed on in
Ancient Gods 2, like you guys wanted
more.
I The lesson there in my opinion was not
so much like that the story itself you
didn't like or the twist in terms of the
fiction, but that being able to Well,
some of you may have not have liked
that, but the
being able to to um
You A good story like that, you know,
you have to in order to have something a
twist pay off.
You know, uh
and then when you replay it, you're
like, "Oh, when he said this
particular, it's just short too short.
That's it. It's like this payoff of this
twist didn't quite have enough oomph to
it because there wasn't enough time
stuff up.
we wanted to make it bigger so that way
we could have enough time to tell a good
story that felt uh you know, complete.
planting seeds. We're able to like, you
know, take our time a little bit more.
We've got the stuff with Merrick, which
I have to say like again, Midnight, good
job on the Merrick theories.
I'm not going to say anything. You have
wanted a berserk sword in the game for
quite some time. That stuff you've been
off on. But uh
dreams sometimes.
fact that there is a berserk sword in
[laughter] the game."
Okay."
I didn't know that.
get a berserk sword in the game from a
gameplay perspective, that might be a
good video. I swear I'm down. I think
the issue is
uh I mean the spear is so the spear
was an honest attempt at getting
we loved the
the crucible from eternal. I loved your
suggestion about the berserk sword.
Don't get me wrong. Totally awesome. But
it's figuring out a way to incorporate
the slashing of a sword in in the moment
to moment game play.
I look I
I'm very honest about things I like and
dislike about the games we make you know
art's never perfect. It's never
never perfect. It it's just you know um
I forgot what that saying is you're
you're never finished. It's just time to
hand it in or something. There's there's
That's a good one. That's a new one
today. There's some there's some saying
about that you know [laughter]
art is never complete. But um
Yeah, I think that that the the crucible
in eternal it was more like a glory
kill. It was more like a chainsaw
execution which was cool and it looked
visually good. But I I wanted a sword
that that could be you know weaved into
the combat loop and used in combination
in concert with melee and guns. And I
think we've really achieved that with
the spear. So the spear is not just you
know you could use it like an actual
spear like a Spartan spear. But it's
also a sword. You could slash with it
cut enemies in half. Again you could
slam down with it like a hammer. So you
could throw it like a Spartan spear. So
it is multiple tools and it's a grapple
hook. So this thing does a lot of stuff
and the sword is our attempt to get you
your berserk sword.
The sword element of the spear is is our
attempt of giving you guys the berserk
sword that that midnight has wanted for
so long.
sword it's so god damn big that it would
almost be some some weird like close
BFG. But then if it's a close BFG then
we have the problem of all the stuff
with glory kills in in the combat loop
which is now you've slowed down combat.
Which in eternal works cuz you have
glory kills. So if we're doing like if
we're making a cyber demon sashimi with
three slashes, that's really kind of
like the same length as it would take
for a glory kill, but it's a single
version just to launch into it. So, it
fit that loop. I mean
That's a good nugget that
the the the spear comes with some glory
kills. So, yeah. We're able to give you
guys back some glory kills for I believe
super heavies.
execute them with the spear, you get
some nice glory kills with that. So,
there's a stabbing of a cyber demon in
the trailer. I'm sure it's the one.
He gets stabbed in the neck. There's a
good one for the Agadon.
But again, not we're not going to
we are not going to you know
red con the the combat loop from dark
ages. So, we still mean it when we say
that you know glory kills killing this
this many AI does kind of slow things
down. So, if used sparingly, we were
able to fit it in.
We've actually on that front, here's
another good nugget. We've extended
[clears throat]
the the the the execution states. So,
when the when the enemy gets the purple
highlight and they're dazed and you're
able to execute them, when you went up
to nightmare, the length of time that
they were staggered for was shorter than
hurt me plenty, which made doing the
Spartan you know Leonidas combo thing,
you could pull off two or three.
trickier four if you were really fast.
But like uh now you could you could pull
off three and four more you know more
routinely, especially when you stagger
like a group of imps. From a balance
perspective, we tested it that didn't
really break anything on nightmare at
all and it just made you feel cool. And
that was honestly the intent of of the
design to let you do it a little bit
more.
makes the game It just makes you feel
more like you know a Spartan from the
movie 300.
here today, guys.
the Berserk sword take a long time to
wind up and its swing be a short AoE for
clearing space around you."
is again, what we were talking about the
the slam for the uh the chain spear.
That's kind of what it does. It's kind
of what it is. You know what I mean?
Like it's doing an AoE. The only The
cooler thing about that though is, you
know, half the time you're doing it,
you're probably doing it from the air
cuz you're pulling yourself around. Like
so you're actually able to like, you
know, you're like a a bomber looking
down to see kind of like what area you
want to like focus in on, which is it
feels nasty. It's
it's it's awesome. It it is a good
feeling tool.
He's asking me how long is the DLC? I'll
leave that to your real life to talk
about that.
pooper. The we have certain rules and
things we should shouldn't shouldn't
talk about.
before. I don't want to do like hours
cuz I think in some of the stuff we have
coming out maybe next week.
Uh
our old friend Archie. Archie is back.
going to pull you around the arena. An
elusive unit, I should say.
chess pieces.
he reminds me of and I've never thought
about it cuz it's an arch file and I
just like that son of a you're just
trying to like catch him and get him is
there's parts of him that are almost
like prowler-like in in how evasive and
good at being evasive he is.
sure. Yeah, it's a great AI. It feels
really good to fight him. So, you guys
are going to love that. It's great. He
he his summons are nasty, but there's a
counter to his summons with the spear,
you know, so invest in the stab and and
you could you could use his counters use
his summons against him.
AoE blast and it falters everybody and
going to be making with that that spear.
We've said this before you guys, you're
going to think that the spear is
underpowered when you first get it.
actually a really good shout cuz this is
like right when you start the DLC you're
going to get There's the first level you
play through. You still got the the
shield saw before the events take place
that that kind of bring you to the
purgatory hub and then when you get the
chain spear it's going to feel like it
doesn't do and all the things Yeah, like
all the things you're expecting it to do
cuz you have the chain, you know, the
shield saw you're so used to like all
the inputs there.
it. It's going to take you the entirety
of the DLC so that's base game which is
about 60% of the experience
experience and it's meaningful. End game
is not just oh, go play through the
levels again but with different combat.
It's all new content. It's it's really
good. I think it's the best part of the
DLC because that's where we we assume
that by the time you get to end game
you're a black belt and now we're going
to test you. So
there's a ton of content in there
all kinds of trials and arenas and you
know, classic levels and new new new
paths through through the maps so it's
it's great. Um
of
Eternals DLC and like the best spiciest
arena combat it is waiting for you with
like a slightly higher rung and by
slightly I mean once you, you know, put
your head against the wall and you
realize how fast and how much you need
to combo everything you've learned and
your upgrades are like significant at
that point in end game. I think it'll
push people further and I think they're
going to go nuts on end game stuff.
that's the last tier and then um
what what is the final There is a there
is a final we just call him internally
an uber boss and and we're getting
really good feedback. I think you guys
will really like that boss. It's been
said internally by the testers that it's
the best boss we've ever made. So, I
think it is.
It's really cool. It'll test your skills
with the spear
and the shield. And then after you beat
him, you unlock a series of master
arenas which are like the ultimate test.
They're so much fun. And then after
that, you're going to unlock a ton
of content for the repertorium. So, you
just keep unlocking content. It's pretty
cool. Um
I brought that up though because I think
that yeah, if you stick with the spear
and invest in it, again, it just
continues to progress and sort of
catches up to the to the shield. Does it
surpass it? It's really preference. I
mean, they're designed to kind of be
equal to each other, but but it's all
about play styles. Like if you want to
stay grounded and do the stand and fight
thing, then use the shield. If you want
to be more, you know, mobile,
you could use the spear. But in in
moments in end game, you'll be asked to
use both. Which is which is really cool.
Um Yeah, it's it's a it's so it's very
satisfying. It's I think it's really
well paced. I think that's a criticism
of Ancient Gods again, one and two.
Because they're not that long. I mean,
they're pretty long. They're really
experiences, but we we don't have time
to ramp you into it. So, we just kind of
hit you right away. Whereas this this is
this is more of a climb. A couple of
notes on
since you since we're talking about this
think there's a there's an aspect that
where the shield, you know, is damaged
and then gets gets repaired. So, we
rebalance the shield for the middle part
of the experience, which is really good.
Cuz if you have a fully powered shield,
but then like a tier one spear that you
haven't upgraded yet, that that's going
to be really hard to balance.
because he got his ass kicked and the
shield was destroyed fictionally, it
allowed us to rebalance the shield for
the base campaign. But eventually,
you'll you'll you'll repair it and then
it'll return to full power. But then
your spear will be just about at full
power. Um
were talking about you can upgrade it so
that you can quick switch in your left
hand between the chain spear and the and
the shield saw. And at that point, when
you start to have both of what all those
can do chained together, no pun intended
or pun intended, it feels incredible.
And and uh
on that, I was going to say one big
thing, I mentioned this to Mayo. Um
we are rebalancing
uh two abilities uh from from the shield
that I think and the mace.
the game has settled and we see like a
lot of the strats from nightmare
players. Yeah. You know, it's obvious it
it's it's kind of the double tap super
shotgun, you know, from 2016 all over
again where a fully maxed out heaven
splitter uh you know, shield rune is a
little bit OP.
it allows you to put, you know, get
multiple uh super shotgun blasts into
their chest. So, rather than try to
balance other things
going to bring down for the whole game,
base and DLC, uh the stun lock times of
the heaven splitter. So, it still you
know, gives you an opportunity to shut
everybody off, but not for not nearly as
long. We we we brought it down quite a
bit cuz it was it was pretty it was
pretty OP.
and then the the the mace against super
heavy, so characters like the Komodo,
the cyber demon, we just uh
we we rebalanced it against super heavy,
so you can't delete super heavy so quite
so quickly,
Which we've play tested a bunch and
there wasn't one player uh who felt like
that that wasn't warranted.
is better for it. I was watching I was
actually watching one of Mayo's streams
and he was playing awesome. He was
having a really good time, but like uh
it was such a funny stream. Um and then
he uh but then, you know, like once he
got really tested, you could tell that
he would just gravitate to the mace,
which is what we want.
things. He And that's just one example.
I mean, internally, we've just got hours
of footage of people, you know, really
min-maxing Heaven Splitter and the mace
upgrades, and it just makes for a meta
that isn't really It's a It's a It's a
hole in the fun zone. Right. There was a
crack in the fun zone. We had to shore
it up. Uh we got really good feedback.
People are enjoying it. So, even when
you get the shield back, you know, uh
those that kind of meta has been
rebalanced. So, it still works. Uh we
have a player who really loves Heaven
Splitter and mace. So, it's not to make
it uh you know, it's still viable.
That's important. But, it just isn't
like brain dead, you know.
you know, when we say the max min is
like something like the dread mace is so
strong,
it's one of those things just like the
super shotgun in 2016. When you just get
used to that distance and stuff, you're
like, "I'm not even going to think. I'm
just going to go to what I know works to
the next enemy to the next enemy." And
then all of a sudden, you're like,
"Shit, I'm kind of relying on the mace.
And now I'm not, you know, I'm not doing
like cuz when we added the, you know,
even inputs where you could switch melee
later on with the base game, it feels
amazing to do it. But, you know, we
noticed that a lot of people just
wouldn't do it as much because you just
kind of rely on the strength of the
dread mace. So,
armor just feels awesome.
talked about that already. And that's
that's my go-to. It feels really good.
heavies, what I really love is it makes
the gauntlet viable again cuz the
gauntlets to me are the most fun melee
tool.
and fourth hit of the gauntlets, you
know, is is super strong. So, um
there. And then knowing like the combo's
going to, you know, end and and
definitely throw whatever's in front of
you out.
get more extensive lore for the cosmic
realm, void realm. The current codexes
are pretty vague and don't really
explain much outside of impossible
geometry. Same with the old one being an
ancient deity, but nothing more is said.
Yeah, there's some there's some more in
there. I think that you'll learn a
little bit about his connection uh the
ancient one to to their world and and
not too much though. Actually, I I will
admit that I don't know that it goes too
deep.
mysterious, but I don't disagree. Like
even hearing you say that we probably
could have went more into that stuff.
It's it's good feedback.
lore in general as far as the codex was
definitely not skimped on at all in the
DLC. Like it's significant.
The amount of work that went into make
sure that we're not retconning anything.
Dude, yeah, and
a huge amount of work went into the lore
again. So,
a ton of work went into the combat
stuff. Uh the combat stuff has just been
we put so many coats of wax on it, you
know, just to try to make sure that it
feels really good. And and by the way,
like on that, you know, balance is a big
part of it. So, for those of you that
that unlock all the content, complete
the experience, beat the Uber boss, beat
the master arenas,
uh and you want more, just wait because
there's a massive dump that happens
afterwards in the repertorium where you
just going to get a ton of insane
encounters unlocked that you guys could
just go to town on. So,
Um
Let me see what else. Will we have
another Doom game which sets between
Doom 2016 and Eternal? There's a little
mystery to how Slayer got his I don't
think so. I don't think that time period
is something that we would explore. But
that has been an ongoing question. I I
don't disagree with you.
Why not just remove the shield entirely?
Looks like the spear can do everything
the shield can plus more. So, why would
we still use the shield? You don't have
to. I mean, I think Alex Pavel 12, it's
just player preference. That player
preference and player choice is an
absolute
uh
design pillar of Doom the Dark Ages.
There is a fun zone. There There There
is certainly optimal ways to play, not
just one, and player choice is a big
part of that. So, if for those that just
want to use the shield, they they loved
it so much, great, use the shield.
We really worked hard to make sure those
two things are balanced. And as Josh
said, I don't do this too much, but for
the real action action game aficionados
out there, the the real crack is in
quick switching between the spear and
the shield. Like that. So, we kept it
because that's where that min-max DPS
insanity exists is is when you could
basically [snorts] parry a green
projectile, you know, with with the
shield, get the daggers, then then, you
know, throw it and stun-lock an enemy
with the shield, then switch to the
spear and do all of this in midair, and
then just come down with a slam or or or
a or a stab or a spear throw. You could
do psycho things with these tools.
Um and that's why we kept it, you know.
That's where the really the
what what
I know a lot of streamers call it weapon
tech. You know, we we introduced weapon
tech and we introduced movement tech
into the Dark Ages combat loop, and it
feels awesome.
in Eternal where it was more
prescriptive with, you know, counters
specific to different weapons. Like we
had talked about this We were talking
about this the other day.
Dark Ages was designed in such a way
where like, whether it's the shield
runes, which like they aren't just
upgrading and becoming better and better
shield runes. They're all situational.
They're all play style. And kind of like
an RPG, like
it was specifically made so, let's say
accelerator is your favorite weapon,
like you could literally main it the
entire game. You know what I mean?
Change around with maybe like which one
you're using as far as the the mods for
it, but in general, it's like it really
is like the slay your way, like build
your combat style, change it up if it
feels like whether it's the level or a
boss fight or something, but like it it
isn't like as prescriptive in the way
that it's supposed to be like player
expression, skill expression.
used the saw cleaver the whole game. I
never switched away from the saw
cleaver.
completely on that.
like, I don't want anything else. This
thing [laughter] rocks.
I loved that about that game. I loved
that I could just stick with this and
continue to upgrade it. So, you could
beat the whole game with the
accelerator, you know, and and that's
that's by design. So, uh yeah, player
choice is is a is a is a really big part
of the whole experience.
Um the shield is awesome, but not
What did he say? The shield is awesome.
Uh Saleem Saleem says the shield is
awesome, but nothing wrong having an
alternative. It had a lot of skill
ceiling and have a place that was
absolutely
a blast quits? We can't talk about that.
I
That That's always been a weird piece of
fiction.
where it's like it's one thing, you
know, I have to ask you. So, you were
talking about the lore you guys were
writing, the late nights, trying not to
retcon anything, making sure it's
biblically accurate from '93 Doom to
now.
Do you start to feel a little bit like
George R. R. Martin where he needed like
that couple in like wherever the hell
they were to be like, here's your
characters and here's what they've done.
It's like, they Christ, cuz I have no
idea.
Let me Let me read the history of the
Sentinels again.
to do it. You're like, I did it, so now
you
accurate. There's something that happens
in the story and I really really really
wanted to make sure that it's not a
retcon and it's not. I could I could
defend that just like I could defend the
the the planet of Hebeth. I could defend
this. It It's I've always thought of it
this way. It It's not like, oh, this
would be cool. Like it It's It's always
been in my mind to be a part of of the
arc of the story. And uh yes, so I think
uh keeping track of that stuff has been
tricky, but you know, to- totally worth
it. Um
I I Sneaky Jay Cool says, "Is there
anything you guys can say about
Repetitorium 3.0?" You You just did the
patch notes. What do you think we can
say?
press stuff already that we passed
around during the announce. We can say
that
there's a lot there. It's not just the
the chain spear as something that
becomes available after you finish all
of the end game content. Um it's not
just the enemies. There's some more
content there, but
I don't want to say too much because I
really
for the aficionados like Sneaky Jay Cool
and and uh especially the folks that
spent not just so much time playing
other people's encounters, but making
their own and kind of jamming together.
think, for you guys because one in
particular when I saw it, I was like,
"You son of a *****."
that happens
as soon as you buy the DLC. So, there
Well, not even I think when the DLC
releases, everybody gets an update,
right?
stuff.
of life update that really does some
great things for the Repetitorium. We
We've given you the option to toggle on
and off the wave timer. So, some of you
wanted it so they just spawn back in
right away like it originally was, so
you can do that, or you can leave it the
way it is.
There is uh preset slots now, so when
you guys make your encounters, you can
save them. I think you get a ton of
slots, so you don't have to remake the
encounter every time. Uh we've shortened
the codes to to to copy-paste and share
other people's encounters, so that's
that's much it's quality of life thing,
it's much easier. Uh I think we've
included like health pickups.
have berserk pickups. We have BFC
pickups. So, these are things. So, you
can make a more sophisticated encounter,
you know, with with some health items
that can spawn in, you know, with the
AI.
Uh there's more stuff. There's a ton.
And that'll all just unlock as as soon
as the DLC drops for everybody.
more, too, to that. But, those are some
of the highlights. And then, after you
beat the DLC, we really had to save it
because if we gave it away to you right
away or at a certain milestone
anybody, this was my choice. Is that um
I wanted the content to have meaning.
the fully upgraded spear and you could
just run to the repertorium and just
start using it, then I think the feeling
of of, you know, the the power fantasy
that's earned, that's always been our
philosophy, you know, that that just
gets kind of nerfed
get a ton of quality of life stuff as
soon as the DLC drops, everybody will.
But, you are definitely going to earn a
lot more content as you play through the
DLC, which feels really good.
That's it. It's not some kind of clever
like you know,
I don't know, live service-y thing. We
just wanted it to have meaning.
it doesn't have meaning.
talking about this the other day where
you're like, if we just gave you the
chain spear fully upgraded, we gave you
every demon from the DLC immediately
repertorium 3.0
somebody might just go into repertorium,
play a little bit of it like, I hate the
the chain spear.
Go back and fix it and make it again
because you missed every tutorial, you
missed every natural build-up and kind
of like evolution of the chess pieces
that you're faced to kind of
sure that it feels like it has value.
gauntlet at the end. Like I I I stress
enough how good
the the DLC is is amazing. The campaign
expansion is amazing, but
for the combat, once you've earned it at
the very end when we start pushing you
into master arenas, like
it's really where like you're going to
be I mean you're going to be ear to ear
the whole time smiling because there's
so many great moments.
AI is is incredible for enemies, but and
the chain spear just like the more you
start upgrading it and realizing like
the potential of all the things you can
do with it. But when it all comes
together at the end. And and the boss
fights, too. You talked a little bit
about them, but I honestly I actually
agree completely with
had like favorites over the years like
from different parts of the franchise,
but
boss fights in Dark Ages are the best
and I agree. I think they are. Not for
everybody. I realize boss fights can be
controversial, but like
uh got a lot of good praise and feedback
for the boss fights in Dark Ages and I
think these are better.
way where like
in Eternal, I think some of those things
like uh
even just like presentation-wise like
fighting the Khan Maykr, like seeing the
wings go out. Like there's some great
crazy ass moments.
um
the Creed fight, the first time I did it
I was like holy this really does
feel like a culmination of things like
Like I remember the first time in 2016
when you fight What the hell was the
name of them? The two
coolest way.
old like '93 and and and you know, Doom
2 it's like you're just fighting a
cyberdemon. He's just another big ass
sprite out there. Like maybe the arena's
cool that you're fighting in, but it
doesn't feel like you're really locked
in.
the cyberdemon that second phase where
it closes in, I was like, you son of a
Like we're cooking now. And I
honestly feel like that's only gotten
better and better and in Dark Ages,
especially in Revelations, it really
feels like it's kind of peak.
boss fight and all the imbalances that
came with it cuz we know a lot of you
guys get frustrated by him. He laid the
groundwork for what would come in Dark
Ages and now in the DLC. You know, like
you can't you know, not everything is
going to be a 10 out of a 10.
the issue with the Dark Lord was was
just the boss with that he his ability
to re-earn health was tuned too
aggressively. Like he's able to extend
the fight in a way that could become
more frustrating than fun.
rebalance that. But like
so many of the lessons learned with the
with Samur you know, Samur Maker, you
know, what's fun, what's you know,
just hard for the sake of hard.
You're never going to get it perfect
because like boss fights are are a test
and so not 10 out of 10 people aren't
going to all feel like it's perfect. But
like
boss fights have improved with every
game.
And hopefully you guys feel the same and
I think the DLC
yeah, that that trend continues for
sure.
And I I think it's smart too cuz like
I think a lot of the stuff as always
with both the combat loop and the
evolution is you have to take risks. And
bosses are one of those places where
like
it's risky as cuz we're stopping
the player in a golden path
again, Marauders were already made.
skill level of a Marauder? Well, it's
like part of that is you have to stretch
it out. You have to have versions of it
where and you know,
is it always perfect like ah he heals
too much or he heals too many times or
you know, all these things are all but
you know, like everything else it's like
I mean with our community
they get so goddamn good at these. I've
seen play-throughs that make him look
like he's the the easiest boss in the
world. You know what I mean?
So,
it's been it's been great. It's all a
learning experience And uh I think you
guys are really going to love
you know, what you what you see in the
DLC there. And honestly, I you got I'm
calling it. Guys, remember this. Uh
Ripped 'n' Tear Gaming, Sneaky Jay Cool,
Hato, uh Icon of Sin, Midnight, you
know, everybody who who's got a channel.
I believe that what we call the Uber
Boss, you'll know who it is when you see
it. I think that's the best boss we've
ever done. You feel free to say uh Mayo
Midnight can clip this and say this is
what he thinks, but he is wrong.
it and save it.
me up. After you beat it, let me know.
your words. I'll make a five-part
five-part video series about why you are
wrong today."
it's good.
Anyway, what else?
I saw uh I think it was Doomer 77.
Somebody was asking about the Doom 2
levels and the IDKFA shotgun. I think
let's save that because we talked
next week. Uh not from us, but from from
some friendly faces that is maybe going
to get into that. And I want to save
that kind of exclusively for them.
it and was like immediately like
the wheels of spinning and the the
conversations have been
going to come in. Everything got screwed
up with some version of when we added a
certain thing into Discord and now
everything's discombobulated and and I
feel like gameplay with no video just
with audio. I just I feel like this was
just hanging out cuz you know, we
we missed last one for for for tech
stuff uh different tech issue. With this
one, I feel like we got it just barely.
I love how it's like we're working so
hard to get revelations out. We we we
did a million streams up to them. We get
we get the announcement out. Can't turn
a camera on. Can't get here. We do it
tonight. Nightmare situation. Horrible
start, but we got here. We have one
camera. Hopefully you can hear us.
single camera.
says, "I hear reverb."
I'm sorry, DJ Skeleton.
no flesh, you're just bones, and so it's
just bouncing off walls and hitting your
skeleton. I don't know. I'll take full
responsibility. Also, slick chairs.
We're getting shout-outs on the chairs.
These are some good ass chairs.
These are great.
get all this really sick branded
content.
streams of all time, lol."
much, sir. See, it's it's it's
authentic.
They really got to see behind the full
curtain of
polished. You know, you you start to
You know, you start to suspect things.
rails, a little bit too authentic.
make [laughter] computers work.
problem today. I'll tell you that
right now. We fixed it. No, absolutely.
[laughter]
Um
me set up the stream.
crazy.
a vertical stream. We're just doing it
like live to like Instagram or
something. We're like, "Check us out.
Live now on Instagram."
live on Friendster."
anymore." We're like, "It let us start
the stream. I don't know. It's it's
rolling, so."
week's stream.
Britney Spears? We're like, we don't
know how to stop the song. I'm really
sorry. We actually can't.
So, we will be back next week. Um
I'll [snorts] be back in Maryland. Hugo
will be right here. And it'll it'll be
the the we can we can play the game and
you can see lower thirds and a bunch of
branded all around us and not the
scramble at the beginning, but anything
that you're thinking between now and
then as far as uh
that if
uh by the time you get to the end end
end of the DLC end game master arenas,
you've beat it all, slayer trials gold
on everyone, classic levels,
you've played through the my nightmare
levels, you've you've done all the
things. Um Uh and then
this is a good nugget, midnight. You
guys are all going to love this. This is
a good one. I can say this.
Um and then you watch the credits
and you hang out for the end cuz there's
a little surprise at the end of the
credits. And that's a big juicy nugget
that y'all are going to freak out about.
And once you get there,
and then uh you know, and and you and
you uh well, no, the I'm sorry, the
credits play
at the end of the base game.
surprise for you.
then that's when you play the end game.
uh and you just really like 100% the
experience and from a content
perspective.
Uh I think that you will feel that this
is the best Doom experience we've ever
made. That that's uh that's a bold
statement, but I but I think it is. I
think our Ancient Gods is the best, but
to a certain group of players,
terms of pacing, that's all. Like, it's
just got a pace to it that's super
awesome, but it it it can feel I mean,
it's fair to say like a little overly
dense.
because we were given the time and the
space to to make it, you know, a a much
meteor
experience this time, which it's fair to
say we're not going to name ours, but
it's definitely the double the size of
Ancient Gods 1,
um easily. Um
we just had more room to make a more
complete and satisfying experience. From
a combat perspective, from a progression
perspective, abilities, metas, skill
ceiling, skill expression, from a
narrative and lore perspective, level
design. We haven't even talked about
that, but that It is literally the best
level design we've ever That I can say
without question, you know? This is And
that's no disrespect. We have made sick
levels. So, let's just say it it it
takes its place among the best Doom
levels ever made. That's all I'll say
cuz I You can't say best. There's too
many. I mean, Arc Complex, you know,
Foundry,
you know, Super Gore Nest, uh Mars Core.
Like, these these are some really good
levels.
any, you know? This takes its place
right among those. So, big shout out to
the to the whole level and combat design
team and Brandon Souders and everybody
involved. And the art team, they don't
get enough love.
next week. I want to start giving
Andrew, Evan, you know, Billy,
respect that they deserve, you know? Cuz
cuz they're the engineers, man. This
stuff wouldn't be possible without them.
So, we'll get a good list going. We'll
we'll talk about that stuff. But, yeah,
overall, I think by the time you get to
the to the end of of this and you beat
the final master and you've completed
the experience and unlocked the And then
and then honestly and then played the
repertorium content.
ranks as one of the best Doom
experiences that team this team's ever
done. It really does feel
and this is not just marketing shtick,
that between, you know, the lore
elements from Doom 93, the way that
we're able to, you know, finally flesh
out some of the fiction from Doom 2016
with the wretch
you know, elements from the DLCs. This
really feels like not just a game for
Doom the Dark Ages fans. It feels like a
celebration of Doom. That's what it
feels like. Like it's If you're a fan of
Doom, this just kind of feels like
Yeah, just just like the culmination of
30-plus years of of Doom, you know,
turned into one giant ass, you know,
experience um with a satisfying
beginning, middle, and end, and it's
awesome. I think you guys are really
love it. So,
maybe maybe I've hyped it up too much.
You know what I'm saying? I'm saying
that.
I'm like
goodbye, cuz that's like you nailed it.
That's it.
Listen, opinions vary, but that's
that is the internal opinion, I will
say. I I think everybody who plays it,
they're like, "Yeah, no." You know,
there's no It's hard to say best, but
it's just like among the best
experiences we've ever made. Let's just
call it that, you know?
And look out for that scene at the end
of the
um
It's It's good.
you know how it is with always trying to
get content done, like
I just feel like I've never been in this
office before where everybody is so
universally stoked and proud of what
they done. Not that that isn't always
the base, it is, but I just feel like
there's like a lightness and an ease to
being like
it's not just down to the wire, we're
getting everything like Of course,
there's still things. There's always
other things to polish and bugs to fix
and stuff. But, the content and like the
meat of what's there, I feel like the
whole team is just so rallied behind
like this is it, which feels totally
incredible. You know what I mean?
haven't heard about one more bug saw one
more here and there.
which is considered definitely a part of
the content. You'll see when you unlock
it that like for the super black belts,
for the for the uh you know, the speed
runners, just just dive into that stuff.
Once you get to the end game, you'll see
like it it's completely nuts.
So, uh yeah, I do. I agree. I think
everybody just feels really proud, you
know. We put a lot of effort into it. We
were given the time to make something
awesome.
We think you guys you're going to dig
it. It's it's uh yeah, it's it's really
it's really really good. I'm just
reading you guys' responses. Yeah. I
think uh
read. Queen Anne's Revenge uh says it's
going to be Daisy Pike scene at the end
of the credits. Could you imagine if we
just up-res'd it? We just made it over
again? Oh, that'd be so evil. Kind of
want to do it now, but that [laughter]
would be awesome. Marty's like, "You're
not doing it." I'm like, "Son of a
*****."
was so many people on Twitter that I
could tell didn't know about the Daisy
on the spike head thing cuz they were
like, "Why would they do this? This is
so messed up." And I'm like, "Dude,
that's part of the fiction."
that's why I made I made like a Tik Tok
and Instagram video that's like the
history of how that happened
specifically to be like, "You guys,
we're not sickos. This is like
No head. There's a head. There's a
spike." Like It was this all part of,
you know.
Come on.
it up. And uh
you guys again.
And uh yeah, we'll be playing some more
uh some more next week in in lead up to
the to the DLC.
Yeah. All right. Well, we'll see you
guys next week. Have fun. We'll see you
in the videos. We'll see you in the
comments. We want to see your fan art.
We want to see your your your damn Every
single lore, you got to get it out now
because as soon as we launch this thing,
the lore is is set. It's accurate.
stream. I'll jump on. I just I just
listen. I can't I'm not going to give
anything away, but like yeah, I want to
I want to hear your guys' theories on
this stuff. This is it. We only got like
another week plus left, so
you can.
true until next week, so
right, we'll see you guys soon. See you
next week. Later.
It's uh
That's so funny. So, Chat was probably
just watching me. They're like, "He has
no idea that he's
happening?
in the same room streaming.
That part is factually true. And
Thank you for uh
for being really with us with the
technical struggles of
trying to do a setup that this room is
not set up for the exact configuration
of cuz it has to get reconfigured every
time we kind of do a new thing.
Uh and this was a new thing. So, right
now it's a single camera to rule them
all.
Uh pretty cool, I'd say.
Uh
I mean, let's just start from the
beginning like we just started. So,
this is the first time we've been on
since
Revelations. Like the nuggets were the
name of the DLC.
So many different scenes and demons and
everything that got shown in the
trailer. Like how you feeling since that
happened?
headphones. Is there any way to to tweak
that?
could be
Was it just those two?
There we go. Should be good now.
Okay, so the question was uh
How do I think Say it again?
remember the last time we streamed we
hadn't shown we'd only done nuggets and
then kind of preamble but we hadn't
shown the trailer yet, the announce
trailer, which was a few weeks ago, but
how are you feeling since? How's the
reception been? How's the How's the
feeling in the office been?
guys, we we wanted so badly to share
as much as we could.
Wait, is this reconnecting?
Right there.
to be able to reconnect with everybody
and
finally get to reveal the trailer. I
hope you guys liked it. I mean it it uh
you know, there's a lot in there as you
saw and I really loved all your guys
breakdowns.
A big shout out to all of the fans I
kind of simp.
Uh there's so many of them, you know,
and you guys are making just great
videos.
Uh I forget his name, Far Far Vain and
uh I think Dinosaur the Heretic is
another one who's really just making
some great content. Of course, Orville
Gaming, Midnight. Midnight's video, big
shout out to Midnight. Are you here?
Your um
video breakdown was really accurate.
Well, I don't want to say too much
because then I'm giving away parts of
the story, but yeah.
There's uh there were some good theories
in there, buddy, and and a lot of them
were really good. I was teasing uh
Midnight in our in our little uh
breakout session yesterday. That was
fun.
now it's it's good. So,
uh the big nugget for today, I'll just
start off with it, is that the title of
the DLC is Revelations. And that's
that's what it is.
have a field day with that one.
have another shot of this coffee.
sip.
ran super late and I was I was up till
like 3:30 in the morning. I'm a little
tired today, but damn it's good. I'm I'm
ready to do it.
So, it been awesome. I think you guys
picked up on everything that we were
putting down. I mean, that was really
fun. You you got all the little bits.
Obviously, the Flint Taggart I we we
William, Perry, and Josh, myself,
everybody involved uh
William cut a beautiful edit to make
sure that there was that great shot of
the girl at the end holding the bunny.
You guys totally picked up on that.
That's not an accident. I mean, that was
framed in such a way so you guys if you
paid attention Everything about Doom is
about leaning in and we try to make
everything worth your time.
been a lot of love for uh the work that
we're doing and that we're you know,
we're we're trucking away here and then
you know, making stuff that we love and
you guys you guys are super into it.
We're happy to make it for you. So,
all of those all of those response
videos were were freaking awesome.
I do have an agenda item today.
I kind of Simp and let me really quick
on those streams I kind of Simp who
joins you
on your streams when you guys do like
the breakdowns. You guys they have been
putting on
awesome streams. Let me try to bring up
YouTube and and um
chatting in YouTube. Icon, who's been
joining you on your streams lately?
English accent?
Dinosaur the Heretic.
writer and you really have great
theories. Um and I really appreciated
like
this is about redcons and what is a
redcon, what is not a redcon. So, I I we
we talked it through. It's like, you
know, the planet of Febeth for example.
When he says the lost city of Febeth it
was like an unnamed city on the planet
of Febeth. Should we have done a better
job of clarifying that? Absolutely. Uh
so, I understand the confusion there. Um
And in terms of like preparation, if I
had homework for you guys for the DLC,
there were some theories that was going
around, you know, on on I on Icon of
Sin's um
uh DLC stream. I've I've got the chat
open here.
things that I've said, and I will only
ask you this cuz if I say too much, you
guys are going to figure it out. But,
read the history of the Sentinels from
the Doom Eternal Codex. It's a It's a
six six or seven part series. Um it's
very fun to work on, and
you know, we have read that a bajillion
times, you know, since it was written,
and certainly read it a whole bunch to
make sure that anything we do in this
story, you know, really doesn't feel
like it's retconning anything. Again,
we're like
that that's kind of a a summary, you
know, of the events that happened a a
biblical retelling of the events.
You know, a historical document. A lot
of the image imagery in there, you know,
was meant to kind of like the reference
we were making was like those etchings
and and biblical paintings that we see
representations
of the narrative being told. Not
necessarily
you know, I I I think it's just
important that everybody read the
history of the Sentinels. So, I don't
want to say too much, but one of the
things that was brought up on on your
stream, Icon,
it's not that it was wrong. I just think
that you guys need to reread. I don't
want to say what it is. Just just just
reread it.
where that stuff was at?
watching um
you know, and and playing through
Revelations, you know, it's fresh in
your mind. That That's all I'd ask.
should we talk about?
man, I'm trying to think, too, cuz
there's been
there's been so many good chats I've
seen
already like incredible fan art coming
out of shirtless Slayer.
being like just burying their head in
his chest just being like [laughter]
this is the guy. Like I can't believe
it. Some people
You take that armor off and you're like,
"Hold on." You still got armor on.
so, when we made um
the the moment where the Doom Slayer
came out of the sarcophagus
there was there there's a shot of a guy
we cut to his face and his reaction shot
to you emerging. That used to be a
woman. And there was nothing behind it.
It was just, you know, hey, you know,
there's men and there's women in part of
this occult.
And it it had a certain tone to it cuz
cuz she seemed, you know, interested and
enamored with the fact that somebody was
emerging emerging from what was once an
empty coffin.
would would react to that.
beefcake Slayer, I'm like, I don't know,
maybe we should have just left it there.
I thought it was I thought it was really
cool because it just sold the power of
the Slayer, you know what I mean? Like
he's this mythic figure rising from a
pool of blood.
is just like, oh well, that's what I was
worried about. I mean, we're never
trying to We never do this
intentionally. We're not We're not
trying to like, oh, let's make him, you
know, uh whatever. I I see people online
like uh whatever y'all's name is for
like hunky dudes in 2026.
are.
to do. It is funny to see you guys uh
react to it that way.
Scott filter. It's supposed to feel like
a '90s action film and everybody just
kind of looks their best, you know, in
in those.
something.
Yeah, chat, what is what is the new
That's a good gen whatever we're up to
question. So, chop dunk, that's the bad
version, right? That's like the old
whether he had a a good body at some
point, it's it's over, it's over. What
is the new term for
like a hunk? Is there one? Or have you
guys
daddy or like
saying.
Michigan Gonzo says launch the beefcake.
Is beefcake still around? That's good
That's good to know.
I didn't know if that one went out of
fashion here. Oh, Chad. Of course, Horde
Mode Gaming says Chad. I guess Chad's
still
it's hilarious, but not not by design,
not intentional, by the way.
That's just how he looks.
seen
so much stuff? Um, what's this a good
something that I have queued that we can
try to do, it's over there. I'll have to
do it, which is fine cuz I have to turn
off some stuff when we do it, is
we've shot a bunch of different art of
slang stuff, which is really fun to get
back in this room and have Hugo kind of
walk through
just like the the overview of, you know,
how some of this amazing art got made
for Revelations, but the one that's
coming out tomorrow, I thought it'd be
nice since it's, you know, it's only a
couple hours from now, if we maybe
premiere it here, and then I have the
concept art for it, too.
don't know if they're going to be able
to see us for a minute, but they can see
the content, and that's the important
part. Cuz we're doing all this
live, and and you see the struggle is
real, pain is real, but Doom is forever.
So, we we get through that I'll be
right back.
that's his name from now on.
trust his judgment. All [snorts] right.
So, we're going to switch to
this guy and I'm maybe turn
I'm looking tired.
let's watch this.
For the Pain Elemental, this is the new
Pain Elemental, which is super cool.
Uh done by Alejandro. I think this is
just a really [music] fantastic piece of
art. And this character looks awesome in
the game. So, he just works right away.
Honestly, we haven't changed his design
too much uh from what you've seen all
the way back to the original Doom. You
know, he's still [music] throwing uh
some form of lost souls at you. But,
it's just a really really cool character
and uh he fits in with that cosmic realm
motif perfectly.
let's switch to this.
So, these are the These are the some of
the concept art we've seen so far and at
the end, we'll show you the full screen
version of the one that's going to go
live tomorrow. So, what we looking at
right here? Hugo.
this before. Uh you know, these giant uh
drills are drilling into the the surface
of of the core of Hell.
And we kind of have this fiction. Again,
I didn't want to say too much about it,
but that Hell is like this living place.
And uh and beneath all the ice, you
know, we find the beating heart of Hell.
Beating heart of Hell where the essence,
you know, runs and is is the purest in
its purest form. And we certainly know
that the makers in particular, the Khan
Maker, is has developing an interest,
you know, uh in the demon's elixir, in
the in the essence uh as we know it to
to be in the Doom fiction. So,
you know, we're staying true to the
timeline as we know
that uh
Well, you know what? I don't want to say
too much. There's some great juicy bits
of dialogue and things that the Khan
Maker talks about the Slayer's
involvement of of how they came to know
the demons and and the gifts that they
brought. And uh we'll explore that a
little bit in the DLC. So, this is
one of the primary locations associated
with with that bit of fiction. So, I
think you guys are going to love it.
accurate name is Hell's Core for this
one, right?
screwed up because
Tyler was teasing me yesterday cuz Bone
Hell and Nosious and Witches and like
that's the same, you know, it's always
like, you know, Sam's base was really
Arc Complex from Doom Eternal, but we
used to call it internally Sam's Sam's
base. But, yeah, I think I think Icell
is the official name or Hell's Core. I
think in the I think in the level it's
called Hell's Core.
we shared this one on social I'm going
to say last week as um
What is it? The something council?
get to see them.
Big shout-out to the the art teams
involved and certainly this is just a
gorgeous piece of concept art. I believe
this was made You know what? I don't
want to say who made this. I should know
who made this, but I'll probably screw
that up. So, I think it was Nate, but it
but it might be someone else. But, it's
it's uh
Yeah, it's awesome. We see them there
and and this is in their chamber where
the Slayer you know, will will come to
to stand before them and he will be
judged.
And I think we can see from the trailer
that that that might not go so well. So,
yeah. And and in this place they have a
special power, the all-seeing High
Council. I I think like
I'm [snorts] really impressed honestly
with the fan theories from Icon and
Midnight and all you guys breaking this
stuff down. We love making this stuff
for you. Really appreciate you joining
us.
Coming along with us on this journey. I
always consider
fiction and and lore and story to be
kind of like the nutritional content
that that helps uh
you know, when you when you play through
this this this game, you know, it
sustains you. Without it, it it kind of
can kind of feel like a a a
one-dimensional experience, you know? I
think that the the lore and the fiction
gives any experience just kind of depth
for those Even if you're not into it,
you know, you just it kind of needs to
be there. It's
I think the rulebook for this was
written by Tolkien and, you know, so
many other people, you know, a while
ago, perfected by George Lucas in my
opinion with the original Star Wars. And
we're just following the IP development
rulebook. So, everything in the world
has meaning, everything has a history.
Uh do our do our best to tie it all
together. And uh we really appreciate
you guys joining us, you know, and and
stick and hang in hang hanging along for
the ride.
Um and honestly, I think some of the
fiction you guys come up with this just
straight-up awesome. You know, where
possible, maybe we could do something
with Slayers Club Live or something cuz
I just heard some really awesome stuff.
And honestly, like I said, a lot of you
guys' theories is actually pretty
spot-on. I don't want to say which, but
some of them are And one or two of them
are a little bit off, so you got to read
the history of the Sentinels. But, um
we showed this one next, which we
finally got to reveal the name of
Buzzsaw on social
Buzzsaw." And I got I'm going to We're
very transparent here, and I'm going to
be honest, we're very self-aware. Once
someone poked fun of it, I was like,
"Yeah, maybe it's a little too on the
nose."
you know, we got names like Pinky and
things like that. It just It just seemed
appropriate. There There's definitely an
an element of of that self-awareness to
the Doom brand that we could have a name
like that. I don't dislike the name. I
just thought it was funny when somebody
was like, "His name is Buzzsaw?" And I
was like, "Yeah. God damn it."
character. So, he's
a little bit on him as a chess piece,
you know, he will pressure the player,
and he's tuned for the spear. So, the
spear the way that we balance the game
and make sure that the spear doesn't get
out of hand and all the mobility it
brings is we've got a character like the
buzzsaw who's fast. He's an evasive
pressure unit. He can get in your face.
He can get out. He he has great uh you
know, um
What do we What do we call that area of
denial attacks?
you out of
hangs close to them for too long with
the shotgun, he's got a great clear out.
pretty lethal projectile and he's just
tough, man. You know, if you get two of
those on the battlefield at the same
time, you got a problem. One isolated,
sure. But, if you get a couple of them,
there's some encounters where we pair
him with like a commando and it's it's
kind of hairy.
a mobile unit that's almost mobile like
a Whiplash, but now with a shield you
have to break before you start doing
damage. Like that shit's crazy.
Doom the the the Revelations DLC
uh we'll reintroduce uh counters. So, I
think that there's um you know, I
consider that Dark Ages is really a new
IP. When you think about it, the combat
loop is so different than 2016 and
Eternal. When you played Eternal, when
we started development, we started with
the base combat loop from Doom 2016. We
didn't change it. You know, so it is
still very much the same, but then we
layered mechanics on top of it which
made it it was it was basically like
Doom 2016, you know, um
refined. It it it added a layer of depth
that wasn't in I don't think 2016 needed
it, but certainly if you're going to
make it a sequel to that loop and expect
it to be engaging, we needed to layer on
a lot of the the strategies that we did
some of the switching and weak points
and then certainly counters like the
sticky bomb in the Cacodemon's mouth.
So,
now that this is an opportunity with the
DLC for Dark Ages,
that gave us a chance to do that, you
know, with this combat loop. We've got
the grounded slayer, you know, the
parry, the stand and fight. And so, it
has been an absolute joy to to get a
second swipe at this and start layering
on a layer a level of a complexity I
don't want to say complexity, but an
opportunity for skill expression. That
that is the word, skill expression. And
part of that is counters. And and those
counters come from the spear and a lot
of the spears upgrades. And so, uh yeah,
I uh what an example of that would be
this guy, you know, his whole body is
covered, but his head is exposed at all
times. And he's vulnerable to head
shots. Head shots falter him. So,
that'll be a really fun meta for you to
explore and and uh an opportunity for
skill expressions as you nail him with
that rail spike from across the arena,
get him to expose himself, and then burn
him down really quick. You're going to
want to do that cuz he's tough.
[clears throat] like a super heavy? I
think he's in that like
where
you still have to do you still have to
pay attention to them, you still have to
deal with them and and put them in front
of the order of anyone else
Andor is going to take too much to keep
somebody like them that's so mobile on
the field, right?
They're like a good pressure unit. And
like Hugo said, like the area of denial
thing is cool because I don't I I think
he's a really cool chess piece in the
fact that where he fits in, he isn't
another version of something else in any
way really.
All right, so that's what he looks like
uh right here. So, the next one
I think this is yeah, this is okay, so
everybody sees it, they go it's pain
elemental. But technically, just like
with uh cosmic baron, instead of baron
[snorts] of hell, this is the cosmic
elemental. So, this is the brand new uh
addition. And man, like I love how
was it like a tough decision or were you
guys like automatically the Cacodemon
and the and the and the Pain Elemental,
they're going to get cosmic? Like
they're going to stay in that realm cuz
they look like they're from there.
absolutely. And what's really great from
a combat perspective, we really were
able to add in more AI, more more chess
pieces to the chessboard to add a little
bit more
layers to to the combat loop of of Doom
the Dark Ages. It feels great. And
again, this guy was designed with the
spear in mind. You know, he's very
tough.
He he he occupies that Y axis, you know,
he'll get the player to look up and pay
attention to him, which creates
opportunities for the pressure units on
the ground.
So, he's
he's a good he's a good chess piece. He
really brings something to the to the
fight. And then a great counter to him
because counters are a big part of this
experience via the shield us sorry, the
spear if you choose to upgrade your
spear. And it and invest in this
particular ability, spear throw, if you
unlock it, purchase it, and then begin
to upgrade it,
there's there's some really great
counters in there for him.
For him in particular, but also the
Cacodemon, which is which is really
really fun. You're going to be really
the decision-making, you know, will go
up in this DLC. Again, because that's
any kind anytime we have a DLC, it's our
opportunity to to layer on a level of
let's say complexity on top of the base
campaign and its combat loop. And it
feels good. There there is there is
certainly room to do that. I think with
the the big lesson learned with the
hammer
is that it's better to replace a tool
than it is to add a tool. So, that's why
the spear is interchangeable with with
the shield. It's not necessarily you
have a shield while also a new input
that you have to press to use the spear.
You swap them out. And that that opens
it up to allow us to do a lot more with
that tool, you know, than than we were
able to do with the hammer. But, there's
a little bit of hammer in there. You'll
be happy to see that. There's a slam.
Slam is one of the abilities. It feels
pretty awesome.
coolest things is like
you know, redesigning like always like
starting kind of fresh with the combat,
so it doesn't, you know, at all emulate
the game before it with Eternal in the
Dark Ages. Like the shield saw is such a
huge deal where you have left hand and
you have right hand, but
things that you can kind of like kind of
do them at the same time.
bit.
like you can throw like let's pick a
Mancubus. You can throw the shield saw
on him. It's spinning in them and then
you kind of burn him down with your
right hand, but
going back to what you were just talking
about about like
instead of adding something new, adding
like a different dimension and something
different is now with the spear, there's
all kinds of incredible things the spear
can do
completely freed up to be attacking the
entire time. Your spear is like, you
know, you can throw and eventually when
you upgrade your spear, there's an
orbit. Uh
It's the best.
for controller players. Like we see you,
we hear you. We know with the meat hook
that was in Eternal, you know, it's it's
really hard as a controller player to
kind of like navigate it properly and to
kind of shoot or do anything else while
you're in the middle of, you know, like
a long meat hook. But, now when it kind
of just auto orbits when you hold down
that input, you can just be burning
down, switching to another kind of node,
hooking on that like
the verticality options, [snorts] even
re-hooking when you're in there. We saw
it in the trailer. There's that one
moment, right, where
uh I think it starts out. There's like a
bridge with some imp stalkers.
Perry, who's our video editor, who did
the capture for that, shoots them, hooks
onto that, jumps over another one,
throws a shield in,
and then does what what uh what Hugo was
talking about with essentially like the
the hammer type move which is the the
ground pound yeah and then the slam on
the on the the spear so you just like
the utility of it
while you're still keeping your right
hand active you can still switch to you
know like in I think in that we we kind
of tried to make it we had a version
that before where there was a lot of
different switching on the right hand
and it was just kind of too much to
process like when you're making a
trailer you need to have black belt
stuff but it still needs to be like
I understand what I'm looking at I can
process cuz it's so much new stuff
happening you know what I mean
backtracking on the Doom the Dark Ages
combat loop not at all if we introduced
quick switching with the weapons in your
right hand that would have been
basically bailing on the the Doom the
Dark Ages combat loop the guns are the
rhythm guitar yes you could beat the
whole game with one of them that is by
design you know it's it's all about
preference just like it was in Doom 2016
I mean in 2016 you could have rolled
with the grenade launcher the whole time
and and
the the remote detonate many people did
it was really fun we wanted to get back
to that but we wanted to maintain all of
the the decision-making and and and all
of the strategies that were that came
with Doom Eternal this time we put it in
your left hand so the spear as he said
is all about that but yeah you'll you
could still just lay down damage and no
you can't quick switch with weapons you
can quick switch with the spear and the
shield the orbit is good for everybody
it it is certainly a great utility to
control the players but in particular
what we see with mouse and keyboard
players high skill you could use it as a
repositioning tool so it basically Z
targets and you begin to orbit around
whichever character that you're locked
on to and then an upgrade or or part of
the perks of using that is it will it
will there's great synergy between like
heat blast
and and and ricochet for example from
the shredder or the the haste upgrade
with with the skull crusher so those
things will charge while you're in orbit
delivering damage you know to the
characters which is a really sick meta,
especially for the U accelerator players
out there.
Uh and it's just like with the shield,
there's a lot of metas between the
shield and a lot of the the upgrades of
of the guns in the base game, and we did
a lot of that with the spear. So,
it feels it feels so awesome. You guys
are really going to love it.
Um [clears throat]
yeah, a lot of an opportunity for skill
expression and the repositioning via
orbit. The meat hook this time is just
so deep.
depth uh involved. Uh lot more nuance
because it's not tied to a single
weapon, so we were able to do more with
it, which which just feels awesome.
of all, you guys play the DLC period.
It's only like it's almost Is it a week
away? It's close to that, on the 7th of
July, but
the We were talking about this this the
other day, like the end game content is
really where
everything starts to click as far as cuz
by that point you have enough things
upgraded on your spear.
upgrade stuff is mainly, other than you
kind of getting broken down from
obviously, as you see in the trailer,
when you're down to whatever we're
calling it Daddy Chad Chatty, whatever
whatever version of the Slayer doesn't
have his armor, you're kind of building
that stuff back up progressively, but
the most important stuff that you're
kind of putting resources into that
you're finding is for the left hand and
the the chain spear. And my god, by the
end of the game, when you start kind of
getting, okay, the dash can be like But
one of my favorite things, okay, stand
and fight, really the best application
in base game is probably like cyber
demon slayer.
him, you're waiting for his attack to
come, you're parrying that It's
maybe firing up or or, you know, getting
your enhanced shot ready on your right
hand, but you're just burning him down
mano e mano, standing toe-to-toe. So,
now, with the chain spear, first of all,
all the stuff we just said of the
mobility, you can move around, but one
of my favorite favorite things
for those really nasty hit scan enemies,
like you the cyber demon, like uh the
arachnotron, is there's a an upgrade for
the the chain spear where uh you do like
a back dash and it you you've seen it in
the trailer.
feeling cuz it's weird like you're both
now more mobile and you're just denying
hit scan, you know, uh projectiles which
are like the most annoying things to get
hit by. That when you start
comboing it. So, it's still new utility
on the ground. It's not just air stuff
and vertical stuff.
believe, and which
I know for [clears throat] like people
like Mayo who love to stack falters and
you know, the the fighting game
aficionados out there with they love the
falter aspect of the Doom games. We love
that you guys picked up on that that we
put that in there. Uh yeah, it's it's a
great opener. Yeah, you you create a
falter with some of those hit scan AI.
Uh it used to shred. It used to be
really powerful and it would mess them
up really good. We've [clears throat]
since nerfed that a bit because it was
kind of OP.
We were able to spend
honestly the last couple of weeks
just really hyper-focused on
refining [clears throat] and
polishing every encounter. We want to
make sure that we've got a couple of
skill checks per every map, a couple of
meaningful combat puzzles for you to
solve. And certainly the end game
content, we want that to feel like a
super hard, as you said, black belt
challenge. And one thing we found in
that was that ricochet, when we put it
through its paces, if it did too much
damage, you could kind of, you know,
ride it like an exploit. So, it's still
there, feels awesome, you get the
falter, you're able to defend yourself.
Ano- another thing that that it does, uh
my favorite thing to do that you guys
are just going to love and it's in the
trailer is just the melee slash, sorry,
the the slash parry. I mean, you really
feel like a Jedi, like uh you know, I
think a white belt move um
is Mayo on here?
Uh you know, I I I'd almost associate it
with um
you guys's mayo here cuz he's so into
this kind of stuff. But uh I would
almost associate it with like the evade
in Sifu versus the parry, you know, and
one has more utility than the other. And
so, I think dash is super great. It's
it's a shorter dash than Eternal. So,
the repositioning isn't as big as
Eternal, but it's totally meaningful.
But really what you want to do is stand
your ground, stand and fight, and slash
and and you know, with the spear. Cuz
that uh that has an added bonus that you
could hit the green projectiles back,
but you also get a falter from enemies.
So, you could stop an AI right in its
tracks uh with a well-timed uh slash.
And it's hard. The I would say that it's
it's a it's a harder maneuver to pull
off than parry with the shield, but it's
it's a it's honestly it's it's so
satisfying. So, um yeah, that's my
favorite meta. It's just learning the
learning the the patterns of every AI
and and then doing the slash to to
basically have like a lightsaber
fight with them. It feels amazing.
Midnight the cabron said, "Release the
mayonnaise." So, we're looking for
seeing if mayo's here. And then, who
said that? That was a good one. Uh I
think it was chicken burger man. Let me
see. I got to
Rip and Tear says, 'Hey Josh and Hugo,
apologize
in advance for getting a little deep,
but I can give you both a massive Wait,
but I can just But can I just give you
both a massive thank you for your
efforts, blood, sweat, and tears you've
put into the Doom since 2016. Doom is my
lifelong passion and the way it has
evolved for the last decade is nothing
less than perfection. From the bottom of
my heart, thank you for everything you
have done. I genuinely wouldn't be alive
if it wasn't for you and Doom. I was in
a very, very dark place during lockdown
and you and Doom Eternal got me through
it. Thank you so much.'"
Yeah, that means a lot to us. Oh, wait.
Got me out of that hole and you
consistently kept a smile on my face by
playing your games and watching your
streams. Thank you very much, uh, guys.
You are literally my heroes. Well, thank
you. You're our hero. All you guys are.
Yeah, we really, really appreciate that.
Uh,
we're happy to do it for you. It's
awesome that, you know, uh, and
honestly, Josh is able to put together
this Friday night fight, all the things
that we've been able to do to engage
with the community. It's big credit to
this guy, you know, and
tonight gets the credit, but we're here
for here.
wouldn't even be on.
Uh, the but now I we're we're really
appreciating it. We love making this. It
was pretty cool. Skill-Up asked us a
really good question yesterday
and he was just like, you know, it was
very, very There was a nice compliment
wrapped up in the question and, uh,
about us being able to produce all this
content in the last 10 years, you know,
two DLCs, three games, uh, three DLCs
now and two games and
yeah, it it it's awesome. We love doing
it, you know. We got to We got to honor
the franchise, you know. Doom Doom is
important. It's important to you. It's
important to us.
So, uh, we love doing it. It's such an
awesome franchise. I'm not giving away
Look, ain't talking about what we're
doing next, any stuff like that. I just
want to say like I love We love making
Doom though, you know, like and there's
just
there's still so much more to do with
it, I think. Look, you guys have gotten
used to it. You let us reinvent the
combat loop every time. So, don't expect
stand and fight if we did this again.
know, we think it's awesome. We loved
jump and shoot from Doom Eternal,
clearly, you know, but like there's a
whole new loop in there, you know, and
and we've dabbled We talked about a
little bit on the stream, so we love
making this stuff for you guys and and
Doom deserves it, dude. Every every
couple of years a new Doom experience,
come on. That's awesome. That's like a
To me, that's like a new Metallica
album.
A new metal album. Like I I need There
There aren't a lot of metal albums that
get made. I need a really good one every
once in a while, you know?
it,
awesome.
Nothing we'd rather be doing.
Trevor Baggins was asking, "Should I
read the Doom books before playing?"
piece that I've always thought was canon
to the franchise, which was the Flynn
Taggart stuff, you know?
Um
I think we flipped I think we slipped
Flynn Taggart in there somewhere else.
I'm sure you guys could tell us.
It might have been I can't remember.
the um
in Eternal like maybe like a some kind
of reference in one of the comics or
like one of the books or something?
good?
Zao says, "In Eternal, it was the
password for Doom 2." That's what it
was.
Yeah.
the rabbit Daisy is not retconned. Read
the codex when you play the game. I want
to call that stuff out just cuz I don't
want you guys to get worried. It's not
It's not retconned. And our path to the
civil war is not retconned. You guys
have to play the whole game and
obviously this is about the events
leading to the civil war, but how we
arrive there, Soul factories, that all
remains intact. I don't want to say how
far we go, how many chapters of the saga
on our way to the civil war we tell, but
we are absolutely beginning that
journey, you know, and all of it's
headed towards the Slayer eventually
getting trapped in that sarcophagus,
which we don't cover. This That would be
like a 30-hour DLC if we hit that stuff.
So
in intact, you know, I'm happy to say
and and uh yeah, it's great It's great
to fill out this story, you know, and
deliver on all this stuff that you guys
have been reading about for so long.
the most
We're really self-aware. We take the
feedback super seriously.
I know that the the element with Samuel
Hayden
and that first he was a seraphim and
then and then the element with Davoth
and and the way that that fiction landed
and the way it was executed on in
Ancient Gods 2, like you guys wanted
more.
I The lesson there in my opinion was not
so much like that the story itself you
didn't like or the twist in terms of the
fiction, but that being able to Well,
some of you may have not have liked
that, but the
being able to to um
You A good story like that, you know,
you have to in order to have something a
twist pay off.
You know, uh
and then when you replay it, you're
like, "Oh, when he said this
particular, it's just short too short.
That's it. It's like this payoff of this
twist didn't quite have enough oomph to
it because there wasn't enough time
stuff up.
we wanted to make it bigger so that way
we could have enough time to tell a good
story that felt uh you know, complete.
planting seeds. We're able to like, you
know, take our time a little bit more.
We've got the stuff with Merrick, which
I have to say like again, Midnight, good
job on the Merrick theories.
I'm not going to say anything. You have
wanted a berserk sword in the game for
quite some time. That stuff you've been
off on. But uh
dreams sometimes.
fact that there is a berserk sword in
[laughter] the game."
Okay."
I didn't know that.
get a berserk sword in the game from a
gameplay perspective, that might be a
good video. I swear I'm down. I think
the issue is
uh I mean the spear is so the spear
was an honest attempt at getting
we loved the
the crucible from eternal. I loved your
suggestion about the berserk sword.
Don't get me wrong. Totally awesome. But
it's figuring out a way to incorporate
the slashing of a sword in in the moment
to moment game play.
I look I
I'm very honest about things I like and
dislike about the games we make you know
art's never perfect. It's never
never perfect. It it's just you know um
I forgot what that saying is you're
you're never finished. It's just time to
hand it in or something. There's there's
That's a good one. That's a new one
today. There's some there's some saying
about that you know [laughter]
art is never complete. But um
Yeah, I think that that the the crucible
in eternal it was more like a glory
kill. It was more like a chainsaw
execution which was cool and it looked
visually good. But I I wanted a sword
that that could be you know weaved into
the combat loop and used in combination
in concert with melee and guns. And I
think we've really achieved that with
the spear. So the spear is not just you
know you could use it like an actual
spear like a Spartan spear. But it's
also a sword. You could slash with it
cut enemies in half. Again you could
slam down with it like a hammer. So you
could throw it like a Spartan spear. So
it is multiple tools and it's a grapple
hook. So this thing does a lot of stuff
and the sword is our attempt to get you
your berserk sword.
The sword element of the spear is is our
attempt of giving you guys the berserk
sword that that midnight has wanted for
so long.
sword it's so god damn big that it would
almost be some some weird like close
BFG. But then if it's a close BFG then
we have the problem of all the stuff
with glory kills in in the combat loop
which is now you've slowed down combat.
Which in eternal works cuz you have
glory kills. So if we're doing like if
we're making a cyber demon sashimi with
three slashes, that's really kind of
like the same length as it would take
for a glory kill, but it's a single
version just to launch into it. So, it
fit that loop. I mean
That's a good nugget that
the the the spear comes with some glory
kills. So, yeah. We're able to give you
guys back some glory kills for I believe
super heavies.
execute them with the spear, you get
some nice glory kills with that. So,
there's a stabbing of a cyber demon in
the trailer. I'm sure it's the one.
He gets stabbed in the neck. There's a
good one for the Agadon.
But again, not we're not going to
we are not going to you know
red con the the combat loop from dark
ages. So, we still mean it when we say
that you know glory kills killing this
this many AI does kind of slow things
down. So, if used sparingly, we were
able to fit it in.
We've actually on that front, here's
another good nugget. We've extended
[clears throat]
the the the the execution states. So,
when the when the enemy gets the purple
highlight and they're dazed and you're
able to execute them, when you went up
to nightmare, the length of time that
they were staggered for was shorter than
hurt me plenty, which made doing the
Spartan you know Leonidas combo thing,
you could pull off two or three.
trickier four if you were really fast.
But like uh now you could you could pull
off three and four more you know more
routinely, especially when you stagger
like a group of imps. From a balance
perspective, we tested it that didn't
really break anything on nightmare at
all and it just made you feel cool. And
that was honestly the intent of of the
design to let you do it a little bit
more.
makes the game It just makes you feel
more like you know a Spartan from the
movie 300.
here today, guys.
the Berserk sword take a long time to
wind up and its swing be a short AoE for
clearing space around you."
is again, what we were talking about the
the slam for the uh the chain spear.
That's kind of what it does. It's kind
of what it is. You know what I mean?
Like it's doing an AoE. The only The
cooler thing about that though is, you
know, half the time you're doing it,
you're probably doing it from the air
cuz you're pulling yourself around. Like
so you're actually able to like, you
know, you're like a a bomber looking
down to see kind of like what area you
want to like focus in on, which is it
feels nasty. It's
it's it's awesome. It it is a good
feeling tool.
He's asking me how long is the DLC? I'll
leave that to your real life to talk
about that.
pooper. The we have certain rules and
things we should shouldn't shouldn't
talk about.
before. I don't want to do like hours
cuz I think in some of the stuff we have
coming out maybe next week.
Uh
our old friend Archie. Archie is back.
going to pull you around the arena. An
elusive unit, I should say.
chess pieces.
he reminds me of and I've never thought
about it cuz it's an arch file and I
just like that son of a you're just
trying to like catch him and get him is
there's parts of him that are almost
like prowler-like in in how evasive and
good at being evasive he is.
sure. Yeah, it's a great AI. It feels
really good to fight him. So, you guys
are going to love that. It's great. He
he his summons are nasty, but there's a
counter to his summons with the spear,
you know, so invest in the stab and and
you could you could use his counters use
his summons against him.
AoE blast and it falters everybody and
going to be making with that that spear.
We've said this before you guys, you're
going to think that the spear is
underpowered when you first get it.
actually a really good shout cuz this is
like right when you start the DLC you're
going to get There's the first level you
play through. You still got the the
shield saw before the events take place
that that kind of bring you to the
purgatory hub and then when you get the
chain spear it's going to feel like it
doesn't do and all the things Yeah, like
all the things you're expecting it to do
cuz you have the chain, you know, the
shield saw you're so used to like all
the inputs there.
it. It's going to take you the entirety
of the DLC so that's base game which is
about 60% of the experience
experience and it's meaningful. End game
is not just oh, go play through the
levels again but with different combat.
It's all new content. It's it's really
good. I think it's the best part of the
DLC because that's where we we assume
that by the time you get to end game
you're a black belt and now we're going
to test you. So
there's a ton of content in there
all kinds of trials and arenas and you
know, classic levels and new new new
paths through through the maps so it's
it's great. Um
of
Eternals DLC and like the best spiciest
arena combat it is waiting for you with
like a slightly higher rung and by
slightly I mean once you, you know, put
your head against the wall and you
realize how fast and how much you need
to combo everything you've learned and
your upgrades are like significant at
that point in end game. I think it'll
push people further and I think they're
going to go nuts on end game stuff.
that's the last tier and then um
what what is the final There is a there
is a final we just call him internally
an uber boss and and we're getting
really good feedback. I think you guys
will really like that boss. It's been
said internally by the testers that it's
the best boss we've ever made. So, I
think it is.
It's really cool. It'll test your skills
with the spear
and the shield. And then after you beat
him, you unlock a series of master
arenas which are like the ultimate test.
They're so much fun. And then after
that, you're going to unlock a ton
of content for the repertorium. So, you
just keep unlocking content. It's pretty
cool. Um
I brought that up though because I think
that yeah, if you stick with the spear
and invest in it, again, it just
continues to progress and sort of
catches up to the to the shield. Does it
surpass it? It's really preference. I
mean, they're designed to kind of be
equal to each other, but but it's all
about play styles. Like if you want to
stay grounded and do the stand and fight
thing, then use the shield. If you want
to be more, you know, mobile,
you could use the spear. But in in
moments in end game, you'll be asked to
use both. Which is which is really cool.
Um Yeah, it's it's a it's so it's very
satisfying. It's I think it's really
well paced. I think that's a criticism
of Ancient Gods again, one and two.
Because they're not that long. I mean,
they're pretty long. They're really
experiences, but we we don't have time
to ramp you into it. So, we just kind of
hit you right away. Whereas this this is
this is more of a climb. A couple of
notes on
since you since we're talking about this
think there's a there's an aspect that
where the shield, you know, is damaged
and then gets gets repaired. So, we
rebalance the shield for the middle part
of the experience, which is really good.
Cuz if you have a fully powered shield,
but then like a tier one spear that you
haven't upgraded yet, that that's going
to be really hard to balance.
because he got his ass kicked and the
shield was destroyed fictionally, it
allowed us to rebalance the shield for
the base campaign. But eventually,
you'll you'll you'll repair it and then
it'll return to full power. But then
your spear will be just about at full
power. Um
were talking about you can upgrade it so
that you can quick switch in your left
hand between the chain spear and the and
the shield saw. And at that point, when
you start to have both of what all those
can do chained together, no pun intended
or pun intended, it feels incredible.
And and uh
on that, I was going to say one big
thing, I mentioned this to Mayo. Um
we are rebalancing
uh two abilities uh from from the shield
that I think and the mace.
the game has settled and we see like a
lot of the strats from nightmare
players. Yeah. You know, it's obvious it
it's it's kind of the double tap super
shotgun, you know, from 2016 all over
again where a fully maxed out heaven
splitter uh you know, shield rune is a
little bit OP.
it allows you to put, you know, get
multiple uh super shotgun blasts into
their chest. So, rather than try to
balance other things
going to bring down for the whole game,
base and DLC, uh the stun lock times of
the heaven splitter. So, it still you
know, gives you an opportunity to shut
everybody off, but not for not nearly as
long. We we we brought it down quite a
bit cuz it was it was pretty it was
pretty OP.
and then the the the mace against super
heavy, so characters like the Komodo,
the cyber demon, we just uh
we we rebalanced it against super heavy,
so you can't delete super heavy so quite
so quickly,
Which we've play tested a bunch and
there wasn't one player uh who felt like
that that wasn't warranted.
is better for it. I was watching I was
actually watching one of Mayo's streams
and he was playing awesome. He was
having a really good time, but like uh
it was such a funny stream. Um and then
he uh but then, you know, like once he
got really tested, you could tell that
he would just gravitate to the mace,
which is what we want.
things. He And that's just one example.
I mean, internally, we've just got hours
of footage of people, you know, really
min-maxing Heaven Splitter and the mace
upgrades, and it just makes for a meta
that isn't really It's a It's a It's a
hole in the fun zone. Right. There was a
crack in the fun zone. We had to shore
it up. Uh we got really good feedback.
People are enjoying it. So, even when
you get the shield back, you know, uh
those that kind of meta has been
rebalanced. So, it still works. Uh we
have a player who really loves Heaven
Splitter and mace. So, it's not to make
it uh you know, it's still viable.
That's important. But, it just isn't
like brain dead, you know.
you know, when we say the max min is
like something like the dread mace is so
strong,
it's one of those things just like the
super shotgun in 2016. When you just get
used to that distance and stuff, you're
like, "I'm not even going to think. I'm
just going to go to what I know works to
the next enemy to the next enemy." And
then all of a sudden, you're like,
"Shit, I'm kind of relying on the mace.
And now I'm not, you know, I'm not doing
like cuz when we added the, you know,
even inputs where you could switch melee
later on with the base game, it feels
amazing to do it. But, you know, we
noticed that a lot of people just
wouldn't do it as much because you just
kind of rely on the strength of the
dread mace. So,
armor just feels awesome.
talked about that already. And that's
that's my go-to. It feels really good.
heavies, what I really love is it makes
the gauntlet viable again cuz the
gauntlets to me are the most fun melee
tool.
and fourth hit of the gauntlets, you
know, is is super strong. So, um
there. And then knowing like the combo's
going to, you know, end and and
definitely throw whatever's in front of
you out.
get more extensive lore for the cosmic
realm, void realm. The current codexes
are pretty vague and don't really
explain much outside of impossible
geometry. Same with the old one being an
ancient deity, but nothing more is said.
Yeah, there's some there's some more in
there. I think that you'll learn a
little bit about his connection uh the
ancient one to to their world and and
not too much though. Actually, I I will
admit that I don't know that it goes too
deep.
mysterious, but I don't disagree. Like
even hearing you say that we probably
could have went more into that stuff.
It's it's good feedback.
lore in general as far as the codex was
definitely not skimped on at all in the
DLC. Like it's significant.
The amount of work that went into make
sure that we're not retconning anything.
Dude, yeah, and
a huge amount of work went into the lore
again. So,
a ton of work went into the combat
stuff. Uh the combat stuff has just been
we put so many coats of wax on it, you
know, just to try to make sure that it
feels really good. And and by the way,
like on that, you know, balance is a big
part of it. So, for those of you that
that unlock all the content, complete
the experience, beat the Uber boss, beat
the master arenas,
uh and you want more, just wait because
there's a massive dump that happens
afterwards in the repertorium where you
just going to get a ton of insane
encounters unlocked that you guys could
just go to town on. So,
Um
Let me see what else. Will we have
another Doom game which sets between
Doom 2016 and Eternal? There's a little
mystery to how Slayer got his I don't
think so. I don't think that time period
is something that we would explore. But
that has been an ongoing question. I I
don't disagree with you.
Why not just remove the shield entirely?
Looks like the spear can do everything
the shield can plus more. So, why would
we still use the shield? You don't have
to. I mean, I think Alex Pavel 12, it's
just player preference. That player
preference and player choice is an
absolute
uh
design pillar of Doom the Dark Ages.
There is a fun zone. There There There
is certainly optimal ways to play, not
just one, and player choice is a big
part of that. So, if for those that just
want to use the shield, they they loved
it so much, great, use the shield.
We really worked hard to make sure those
two things are balanced. And as Josh
said, I don't do this too much, but for
the real action action game aficionados
out there, the the real crack is in
quick switching between the spear and
the shield. Like that. So, we kept it
because that's where that min-max DPS
insanity exists is is when you could
basically [snorts] parry a green
projectile, you know, with with the
shield, get the daggers, then then, you
know, throw it and stun-lock an enemy
with the shield, then switch to the
spear and do all of this in midair, and
then just come down with a slam or or or
a or a stab or a spear throw. You could
do psycho things with these tools.
Um and that's why we kept it, you know.
That's where the really the
what what
I know a lot of streamers call it weapon
tech. You know, we we introduced weapon
tech and we introduced movement tech
into the Dark Ages combat loop, and it
feels awesome.
in Eternal where it was more
prescriptive with, you know, counters
specific to different weapons. Like we
had talked about this We were talking
about this the other day.
Dark Ages was designed in such a way
where like, whether it's the shield
runes, which like they aren't just
upgrading and becoming better and better
shield runes. They're all situational.
They're all play style. And kind of like
an RPG, like
it was specifically made so, let's say
accelerator is your favorite weapon,
like you could literally main it the
entire game. You know what I mean?
Change around with maybe like which one
you're using as far as the the mods for
it, but in general, it's like it really
is like the slay your way, like build
your combat style, change it up if it
feels like whether it's the level or a
boss fight or something, but like it it
isn't like as prescriptive in the way
that it's supposed to be like player
expression, skill expression.
used the saw cleaver the whole game. I
never switched away from the saw
cleaver.
completely on that.
like, I don't want anything else. This
thing [laughter] rocks.
I loved that about that game. I loved
that I could just stick with this and
continue to upgrade it. So, you could
beat the whole game with the
accelerator, you know, and and that's
that's by design. So, uh yeah, player
choice is is a is a is a really big part
of the whole experience.
Um the shield is awesome, but not
What did he say? The shield is awesome.
Uh Saleem Saleem says the shield is
awesome, but nothing wrong having an
alternative. It had a lot of skill
ceiling and have a place that was
absolutely
a blast quits? We can't talk about that.
I
That That's always been a weird piece of
fiction.
where it's like it's one thing, you
know, I have to ask you. So, you were
talking about the lore you guys were
writing, the late nights, trying not to
retcon anything, making sure it's
biblically accurate from '93 Doom to
now.
Do you start to feel a little bit like
George R. R. Martin where he needed like
that couple in like wherever the hell
they were to be like, here's your
characters and here's what they've done.
It's like, they Christ, cuz I have no
idea.
Let me Let me read the history of the
Sentinels again.
to do it. You're like, I did it, so now
you
accurate. There's something that happens
in the story and I really really really
wanted to make sure that it's not a
retcon and it's not. I could I could
defend that just like I could defend the
the the planet of Hebeth. I could defend
this. It It's I've always thought of it
this way. It It's not like, oh, this
would be cool. Like it It's It's always
been in my mind to be a part of of the
arc of the story. And uh yes, so I think
uh keeping track of that stuff has been
tricky, but you know, to- totally worth
it. Um
I I Sneaky Jay Cool says, "Is there
anything you guys can say about
Repetitorium 3.0?" You You just did the
patch notes. What do you think we can
say?
press stuff already that we passed
around during the announce. We can say
that
there's a lot there. It's not just the
the chain spear as something that
becomes available after you finish all
of the end game content. Um it's not
just the enemies. There's some more
content there, but
I don't want to say too much because I
really
for the aficionados like Sneaky Jay Cool
and and uh especially the folks that
spent not just so much time playing
other people's encounters, but making
their own and kind of jamming together.
think, for you guys because one in
particular when I saw it, I was like,
"You son of a *****."
that happens
as soon as you buy the DLC. So, there
Well, not even I think when the DLC
releases, everybody gets an update,
right?
stuff.
of life update that really does some
great things for the Repetitorium. We
We've given you the option to toggle on
and off the wave timer. So, some of you
wanted it so they just spawn back in
right away like it originally was, so
you can do that, or you can leave it the
way it is.
There is uh preset slots now, so when
you guys make your encounters, you can
save them. I think you get a ton of
slots, so you don't have to remake the
encounter every time. Uh we've shortened
the codes to to to copy-paste and share
other people's encounters, so that's
that's much it's quality of life thing,
it's much easier. Uh I think we've
included like health pickups.
have berserk pickups. We have BFC
pickups. So, these are things. So, you
can make a more sophisticated encounter,
you know, with with some health items
that can spawn in, you know, with the
AI.
Uh there's more stuff. There's a ton.
And that'll all just unlock as as soon
as the DLC drops for everybody.
more, too, to that. But, those are some
of the highlights. And then, after you
beat the DLC, we really had to save it
because if we gave it away to you right
away or at a certain milestone
anybody, this was my choice. Is that um
I wanted the content to have meaning.
the fully upgraded spear and you could
just run to the repertorium and just
start using it, then I think the feeling
of of, you know, the the power fantasy
that's earned, that's always been our
philosophy, you know, that that just
gets kind of nerfed
get a ton of quality of life stuff as
soon as the DLC drops, everybody will.
But, you are definitely going to earn a
lot more content as you play through the
DLC, which feels really good.
That's it. It's not some kind of clever
like you know,
I don't know, live service-y thing. We
just wanted it to have meaning.
it doesn't have meaning.
talking about this the other day where
you're like, if we just gave you the
chain spear fully upgraded, we gave you
every demon from the DLC immediately
repertorium 3.0
somebody might just go into repertorium,
play a little bit of it like, I hate the
the chain spear.
Go back and fix it and make it again
because you missed every tutorial, you
missed every natural build-up and kind
of like evolution of the chess pieces
that you're faced to kind of
sure that it feels like it has value.
gauntlet at the end. Like I I I stress
enough how good
the the DLC is is amazing. The campaign
expansion is amazing, but
for the combat, once you've earned it at
the very end when we start pushing you
into master arenas, like
it's really where like you're going to
be I mean you're going to be ear to ear
the whole time smiling because there's
so many great moments.
AI is is incredible for enemies, but and
the chain spear just like the more you
start upgrading it and realizing like
the potential of all the things you can
do with it. But when it all comes
together at the end. And and the boss
fights, too. You talked a little bit
about them, but I honestly I actually
agree completely with
had like favorites over the years like
from different parts of the franchise,
but
boss fights in Dark Ages are the best
and I agree. I think they are. Not for
everybody. I realize boss fights can be
controversial, but like
uh got a lot of good praise and feedback
for the boss fights in Dark Ages and I
think these are better.
way where like
in Eternal, I think some of those things
like uh
even just like presentation-wise like
fighting the Khan Maykr, like seeing the
wings go out. Like there's some great
crazy ass moments.
um
the Creed fight, the first time I did it
I was like holy this really does
feel like a culmination of things like
Like I remember the first time in 2016
when you fight What the hell was the
name of them? The two
coolest way.
old like '93 and and and you know, Doom
2 it's like you're just fighting a
cyberdemon. He's just another big ass
sprite out there. Like maybe the arena's
cool that you're fighting in, but it
doesn't feel like you're really locked
in.
the cyberdemon that second phase where
it closes in, I was like, you son of a
Like we're cooking now. And I
honestly feel like that's only gotten
better and better and in Dark Ages,
especially in Revelations, it really
feels like it's kind of peak.
boss fight and all the imbalances that
came with it cuz we know a lot of you
guys get frustrated by him. He laid the
groundwork for what would come in Dark
Ages and now in the DLC. You know, like
you can't you know, not everything is
going to be a 10 out of a 10.
the issue with the Dark Lord was was
just the boss with that he his ability
to re-earn health was tuned too
aggressively. Like he's able to extend
the fight in a way that could become
more frustrating than fun.
rebalance that. But like
so many of the lessons learned with the
with Samur you know, Samur Maker, you
know, what's fun, what's you know,
just hard for the sake of hard.
You're never going to get it perfect
because like boss fights are are a test
and so not 10 out of 10 people aren't
going to all feel like it's perfect. But
like
boss fights have improved with every
game.
And hopefully you guys feel the same and
I think the DLC
yeah, that that trend continues for
sure.
And I I think it's smart too cuz like
I think a lot of the stuff as always
with both the combat loop and the
evolution is you have to take risks. And
bosses are one of those places where
like
it's risky as cuz we're stopping
the player in a golden path
again, Marauders were already made.
skill level of a Marauder? Well, it's
like part of that is you have to stretch
it out. You have to have versions of it
where and you know,
is it always perfect like ah he heals
too much or he heals too many times or
you know, all these things are all but
you know, like everything else it's like
I mean with our community
they get so goddamn good at these. I've
seen play-throughs that make him look
like he's the the easiest boss in the
world. You know what I mean?
So,
it's been it's been great. It's all a
learning experience And uh I think you
guys are really going to love
you know, what you what you see in the
DLC there. And honestly, I you got I'm
calling it. Guys, remember this. Uh
Ripped 'n' Tear Gaming, Sneaky Jay Cool,
Hato, uh Icon of Sin, Midnight, you
know, everybody who who's got a channel.
I believe that what we call the Uber
Boss, you'll know who it is when you see
it. I think that's the best boss we've
ever done. You feel free to say uh Mayo
Midnight can clip this and say this is
what he thinks, but he is wrong.
it and save it.
me up. After you beat it, let me know.
your words. I'll make a five-part
five-part video series about why you are
wrong today."
it's good.
Anyway, what else?
I saw uh I think it was Doomer 77.
Somebody was asking about the Doom 2
levels and the IDKFA shotgun. I think
let's save that because we talked
next week. Uh not from us, but from from
some friendly faces that is maybe going
to get into that. And I want to save
that kind of exclusively for them.
it and was like immediately like
the wheels of spinning and the the
conversations have been
going to come in. Everything got screwed
up with some version of when we added a
certain thing into Discord and now
everything's discombobulated and and I
feel like gameplay with no video just
with audio. I just I feel like this was
just hanging out cuz you know, we
we missed last one for for for tech
stuff uh different tech issue. With this
one, I feel like we got it just barely.
I love how it's like we're working so
hard to get revelations out. We we we
did a million streams up to them. We get
we get the announcement out. Can't turn
a camera on. Can't get here. We do it
tonight. Nightmare situation. Horrible
start, but we got here. We have one
camera. Hopefully you can hear us.
single camera.
says, "I hear reverb."
I'm sorry, DJ Skeleton.
no flesh, you're just bones, and so it's
just bouncing off walls and hitting your
skeleton. I don't know. I'll take full
responsibility. Also, slick chairs.
We're getting shout-outs on the chairs.
These are some good ass chairs.
These are great.
get all this really sick branded
content.
streams of all time, lol."
much, sir. See, it's it's it's
authentic.
They really got to see behind the full
curtain of
polished. You know, you you start to
You know, you start to suspect things.
rails, a little bit too authentic.
make [laughter] computers work.
problem today. I'll tell you that
right now. We fixed it. No, absolutely.
[laughter]
Um
me set up the stream.
crazy.
a vertical stream. We're just doing it
like live to like Instagram or
something. We're like, "Check us out.
Live now on Instagram."
live on Friendster."
anymore." We're like, "It let us start
the stream. I don't know. It's it's
rolling, so."
week's stream.
Britney Spears? We're like, we don't
know how to stop the song. I'm really
sorry. We actually can't.
So, we will be back next week. Um
I'll [snorts] be back in Maryland. Hugo
will be right here. And it'll it'll be
the the we can we can play the game and
you can see lower thirds and a bunch of
branded all around us and not the
scramble at the beginning, but anything
that you're thinking between now and
then as far as uh
that if
uh by the time you get to the end end
end of the DLC end game master arenas,
you've beat it all, slayer trials gold
on everyone, classic levels,
you've played through the my nightmare
levels, you've you've done all the
things. Um Uh and then
this is a good nugget, midnight. You
guys are all going to love this. This is
a good one. I can say this.
Um and then you watch the credits
and you hang out for the end cuz there's
a little surprise at the end of the
credits. And that's a big juicy nugget
that y'all are going to freak out about.
And once you get there,
and then uh you know, and and you and
you uh well, no, the I'm sorry, the
credits play
at the end of the base game.
surprise for you.
then that's when you play the end game.
uh and you just really like 100% the
experience and from a content
perspective.
Uh I think that you will feel that this
is the best Doom experience we've ever
made. That that's uh that's a bold
statement, but I but I think it is. I
think our Ancient Gods is the best, but
to a certain group of players,
terms of pacing, that's all. Like, it's
just got a pace to it that's super
awesome, but it it it can feel I mean,
it's fair to say like a little overly
dense.
because we were given the time and the
space to to make it, you know, a a much
meteor
experience this time, which it's fair to
say we're not going to name ours, but
it's definitely the double the size of
Ancient Gods 1,
um easily. Um
we just had more room to make a more
complete and satisfying experience. From
a combat perspective, from a progression
perspective, abilities, metas, skill
ceiling, skill expression, from a
narrative and lore perspective, level
design. We haven't even talked about
that, but that It is literally the best
level design we've ever That I can say
without question, you know? This is And
that's no disrespect. We have made sick
levels. So, let's just say it it it
takes its place among the best Doom
levels ever made. That's all I'll say
cuz I You can't say best. There's too
many. I mean, Arc Complex, you know,
Foundry,
you know, Super Gore Nest, uh Mars Core.
Like, these these are some really good
levels.
any, you know? This takes its place
right among those. So, big shout out to
the to the whole level and combat design
team and Brandon Souders and everybody
involved. And the art team, they don't
get enough love.
next week. I want to start giving
Andrew, Evan, you know, Billy,
respect that they deserve, you know? Cuz
cuz they're the engineers, man. This
stuff wouldn't be possible without them.
So, we'll get a good list going. We'll
we'll talk about that stuff. But, yeah,
overall, I think by the time you get to
the to the end of of this and you beat
the final master and you've completed
the experience and unlocked the And then
and then honestly and then played the
repertorium content.
ranks as one of the best Doom
experiences that team this team's ever
done. It really does feel
and this is not just marketing shtick,
that between, you know, the lore
elements from Doom 93, the way that
we're able to, you know, finally flesh
out some of the fiction from Doom 2016
with the wretch
you know, elements from the DLCs. This
really feels like not just a game for
Doom the Dark Ages fans. It feels like a
celebration of Doom. That's what it
feels like. Like it's If you're a fan of
Doom, this just kind of feels like
Yeah, just just like the culmination of
30-plus years of of Doom, you know,
turned into one giant ass, you know,
experience um with a satisfying
beginning, middle, and end, and it's
awesome. I think you guys are really
love it. So,
maybe maybe I've hyped it up too much.
You know what I'm saying? I'm saying
that.
I'm like
goodbye, cuz that's like you nailed it.
That's it.
Listen, opinions vary, but that's
that is the internal opinion, I will
say. I I think everybody who plays it,
they're like, "Yeah, no." You know,
there's no It's hard to say best, but
it's just like among the best
experiences we've ever made. Let's just
call it that, you know?
And look out for that scene at the end
of the
um
It's It's good.
you know how it is with always trying to
get content done, like
I just feel like I've never been in this
office before where everybody is so
universally stoked and proud of what
they done. Not that that isn't always
the base, it is, but I just feel like
there's like a lightness and an ease to
being like
it's not just down to the wire, we're
getting everything like Of course,
there's still things. There's always
other things to polish and bugs to fix
and stuff. But, the content and like the
meat of what's there, I feel like the
whole team is just so rallied behind
like this is it, which feels totally
incredible. You know what I mean?
haven't heard about one more bug saw one
more here and there.
which is considered definitely a part of
the content. You'll see when you unlock
it that like for the super black belts,
for the for the uh you know, the speed
runners, just just dive into that stuff.
Once you get to the end game, you'll see
like it it's completely nuts.
So, uh yeah, I do. I agree. I think
everybody just feels really proud, you
know. We put a lot of effort into it. We
were given the time to make something
awesome.
We think you guys you're going to dig
it. It's it's uh yeah, it's it's really
it's really really good. I'm just
reading you guys' responses. Yeah. I
think uh
read. Queen Anne's Revenge uh says it's
going to be Daisy Pike scene at the end
of the credits. Could you imagine if we
just up-res'd it? We just made it over
again? Oh, that'd be so evil. Kind of
want to do it now, but that [laughter]
would be awesome. Marty's like, "You're
not doing it." I'm like, "Son of a
*****."
was so many people on Twitter that I
could tell didn't know about the Daisy
on the spike head thing cuz they were
like, "Why would they do this? This is
so messed up." And I'm like, "Dude,
that's part of the fiction."
that's why I made I made like a Tik Tok
and Instagram video that's like the
history of how that happened
specifically to be like, "You guys,
we're not sickos. This is like
No head. There's a head. There's a
spike." Like It was this all part of,
you know.
Come on.
it up. And uh
you guys again.
And uh yeah, we'll be playing some more
uh some more next week in in lead up to
the to the DLC.
Yeah. All right. Well, we'll see you
guys next week. Have fun. We'll see you
in the videos. We'll see you in the
comments. We want to see your fan art.
We want to see your your your damn Every
single lore, you got to get it out now
because as soon as we launch this thing,
the lore is is set. It's accurate.
stream. I'll jump on. I just I just
listen. I can't I'm not going to give
anything away, but like yeah, I want to
I want to hear your guys' theories on
this stuff. This is it. We only got like
another week plus left, so
you can.
true until next week, so
right, we'll see you guys soon. See you
next week. Later.
