Recent reviews by Scorpius

Fun but flawed zombie survival game. There is nothing quite like it. The game has a lot to offer if you enjoy the gameplay loop they provide. If not, then you might be 8-10hrs in and think you've seen it all, which is also not completely false.

You're basically going through a gameplay loop of scavenging, building up your base, recruiting members and resource management. You can elect 4 different types of leaders and each one plays different and offers a different reward when you beat their campaign. You can then take that reward with you into your next game, along with up to 3 survivors to kickstart your next playthrough. The more you play the more efficient you'll get, basic stuff. Combine that with the legacy system, the ability to carry over survivors from previous playthroughs and 4 maps to play through and you have a lot of content to play through. The big caveat is that you must enjoy the gameplay loop, because that's all you'll be doing. Otherwise you might get bored after 1 playthrough. If you do enjoy it however, you have 4 slightly different campains to play through and multiple difficulty settings to explore. You also have acces to the DLC that offers an extra story campaign and a horde defense mode. So there is enough to play through, if you enjoy the gameplay.

It does however show that it's not a AAA game. The animations are a bit rough around the edges, the voice acting is not that good and you might run into the occasional bug. Nothing too gamebreaking, but it might be annoying. So far I only had 1 bug and it prevented me from talking to an NPC, I had to reload my save and it forced me to restart the entire mission. The story is also lacking, since the game focusses more on the sandbox style gameplay. The Heartland DLC that's included should fix this, but I haven't played it yet myself.

The game fills a unique niche for me. It's not too hardcore (allthough there is permadeath for your characters), but also not too casual. It's really fun to build your community in the apocalypse, scavenge and always have the threat of permadeath around the corner. It makes for some intense encounters. You also have a few cars on each map, but they need fuel and repairs when damaged.

I'd recommend the game if you're looking to scratch that post-apocalypse survival itch, despite it being yet another zombie game. There is a lot of potential replay value. If you can put up with the fact that it lacks polish in some areas and that you might run into a the occasional bug. If that doesn't sound too bad, then you could buy it at full price. The content is there if you enjoy the gameplay loop. If you're on the fence about those points, then it's great value in a sale.

If you're looking for a fun low-budget zombie survival game with a unique twist on the genre, then this might be your game.

Let me start by saying that this game is faster and harder than DOOM 2016 and as a fan of 2016 I had to really adjust to this game. DOOM Eternal is both more of DOOM 2016 and an entirely new game. It retains a lot of the mechanics and gameplay of the previous game, but it also changes it up a lot. This means that players of the previous title need to adjust, or they won't like this game. Newcomers probably won't have this issue. Nevertheless as a fan of DOOM 2016, I consider DOOM Eternal to be good. For me it was worth it at full price

The good:
- fast and brutal gameplay
- equally brutal soundtrack
- runs just as smooth as DOOM 2016
- pacing
- dashes to dodge attacks
- destructible demons

The bad:
- weak melee damage
- low ammo count can be an issue on the first level for some
- environmental hazards
- enemy placement in tight areas

This time around though there is an emphasis on a certain gameplay loop that stirred some controversy after launch and caused a split in the player base. Weapons have a lot less ammo and more guns share the same ammo pool now too. This means that you run out of ammo a lot faster and it's very noticeable. To counter this you now have to actively make use of your chainsaw to regain spent ammo. The game infinetely spawns smaller demons in every arena fight that should be used for chainsaw kills and the first bar (you have 3 total) of your chainsaw charges always recharges over time. This way you can always get some ammo back. Also part of that loop is the all new flame belch. It's a new equipment item that sets enemies on fire, which makes them drop armor. You also have 2 grenades now that you can switch between. The new grenade being an ice bomb that freezes enemies for a time. Damaged frozen enemies drop health and the grenade can also be used for crowd control. Combine this with the glory kills to regain health and there is an entirely new gameplay loop to master.

This is exactly what players are arguing over. Most of the players that like this game less compared to 2016 cite this gameplay loop as the cause. They don't like being out of ammo all the time. However, if you use all of your weapons and incorporate the chainsaw, then you'll never truly be out of ammo. You'll just see 'low ammo' pop up a lot on your screen. I definitely had to adjust to it and if I had to choose then I'd prefer the gameplay loop of DOOM 2016, but that doesn't mean that I think that DOOM Eternal is bad.

There are a lot of things that DOOM Eternal does better in my opinion. One of the things being the dashes. Something I always missed in DOOM 2016 was a way to quickly dodge an incoming attack and the dash mechanic gives you just that. They also added visible damage to demons. So if you hit one with your shotgun for example you'll see their flesh and bones getting damaged and exposed. This adds an extra layer of impact to your guns and brutality to the game. It's not only visual however. Parts of the demon that are damaged take less damage than undamaged parts. They also added weakspots to the game, which means that you can disable the weapons of some demons, or destroy its armor. To top it off you also have a supercharged melee attack now, the bloodpunch. It charges when you do glory kills and when used it can insta-gibb a lot of demons. Pair it with a certain rune and you can heall off of it too. This all adds some strategy to the game. They still have the same eye for pacing too. Intense arena fights are broken up with some relaxing moments of platforming and collectible hunting. The fact that you're not constantly doing the same thing made it so that I could enjoy the game for longer stretches of time, just like DOOM 2016.

It's not all good though. You can't kill enemies with regular melee, instead it just breaks their momentum for a moment. Even smaller demons can't be insta glory killed. You now have to dash into them twice to set up a glory kill, or use the aforementioned bloodpunch.

The low ammo count can also be an issue on the first level since you start with one gun and very limited ammo. As you gain more weapons and more ammo, this becomes manageable though.

One thing I really disliked were the environmental hazards. Not only is the game faster and are the demons deadlier, you now also have environmental hazards to worry about. When I'm fighting demons at fullspeed I don't want to worry about some cheap cannon in the wall that can blast me with a fireball or sludge that greatly impairs movement speed.

Another stupid thing were the enemy placements at some points. From time to time you'll have to fight demons in enclosed areas and the game decides it's a good idea to throw heavy demons like hell knights, pinkies, revenants, etc. at you in those situations. This just feels like artificial difficulty. Please save the larger and harder demons for the areas where I can actually move around them.

All in all, it's an adrenaline fuelled powerhouse of an FPS with a soundtrack that matches the brutality of the game perfectly.

Awesome mix of tower defense, third person action and not to forget; orc mass murdering! And it's even more fun in coop! A lot of value for a reasonable price.