The subsequent Doom sport shall be titled Doom: The Darkish Ages and revealed on the Xbox Video games Showcase in June, in response to a brand new report.
The report, which is from Insider Gaming and is unconfirmed, claims this new Doom sport has been in growth for 4 years, and shall be set in a “medieval-inspired doom world”.
Rumours of a follow-up to Doom Everlasting have been swirling for a while. Earlier this month, it emerged that Bethesda had trademarked the title of the traditional Doom cheat ‘IDKFA’, giving rise to hypothesis that this may be associated to a brand new entry within the collection. This adopted final 12 months’s leak of an inside Microsoft launch schedule, which included on the record a sport titled ‘Doom: Yr Zero’. This, Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson claims, was the placeholder title for the alleged new Doom sport.
Whereas the proof offered within the report is imprecise (Henderson says he “heard of early particulars” of this new Doom sport) the concept of a medieval-themed follow-up to Doom Everlasting has some credibility. Doom Everlasting’s Sport Director Hugo Martin has beforehand instructed that future Doom video games might go to a extra medieval setting. In a 2021 interview with Polygon, Martin acknowledged “Might we inform a narrative about when [the Doom Slayer] first got here to that place with the Sentinels, virtually like a extra medieval setting, a fantasy setting?”
In the identical interview, Martin additionally defined that the sport’s two expansions—The Historic Gods Elements 1 and a couple of, implied the potential future route of the collection. “I believe as you play the DLC, too, you will see plenty of hints of what we might do shifting ahead. Perhaps even sooner or later. Once more, our hero is considerably timeless—I imply, actually he is immortal, so we might inform every kind of tales.”
Definitely, Doom Everlasting and its expansions had their justifiable share of medieval gothic imagery, so a sport that expanded upon that model of setting would not be out of character. Furthermore, given the 4 12 months hole between Doom 2016 and Doom Everlasting, the timing for a brand new sport announcement from id Software program would make sense.
It is price noting, nonetheless, {that a} new Doom is not the one classically-minded FPS that id Software program might be engaged on. When MachineGames revealed Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle earlier this 12 months, the gameplay trailer included footage of a whiteboard with a Quake brand drawn on it, and what gave the impression to be a reference to Quake 6. Stories from the time linked this with a second MachineGames venture, however as each studios are below the Bethesda banner, it’s doable that it references a sport below id Software program’s route.
Alternatively, if id Software program is pursuing this medieval-themed Doom, the studio might be splitting the distinction between its two shooters, incorporating the concepts and aesthetics of Quake into the better-known and due to this fact extra bankable FPS license. Not that the Quake title does not carry any weight, Bethesda’s Quake 1 and Quake 2 remasters have been each very effectively obtained. However the free-to-play Quake Champions did not precisely explode in recognition, and placing Doom Everlasting-level assets into a brand new Quake sport may be seen as too massive a raffle in at the moment’s risk-averse trade.
Both approach, we can’t have lengthy to seek out out what, if something, id Software program has obtained cooking. Microsoft’s Xbox Video games Showcase airs on June 9, which is slightly below two weeks away.
