The Nightdive and Bethesda re-launch of Doom 1 + 2 brings quite a bit to the desk: Built-in mod sharing, a brand new soundtrack by shredmeister Andrew Hulshult and a tuned-up engine. However for many the juiciest cherry on prime was new official enlargement Legacy of Rust, developed primarily by a crew of veteran Doom modders now working for id Software program, Nightdive and MachineGames. Having performed by way of it over the weekend, I’m comfortable to say that that is peak 2024 Doom, and one among this yr’s greatest FPS campaigns to this point.
Cut up into two 8-level episodes (The Vulcan Abyss and Counterfeit Eden), Legacy of Rust has Doomguy despatched to wash up an overrun UAC industrial facility constructed into hell itself. Whereas the story is as threadbare as you’d count on from traditional Doom, every stage does stream cleanly into the following, giving it a fantastic sense of coherent escalation and journey. The opening stage (Scar Gate) sends you thru a fleshy hell-portal to a blood-flooded transport facility the place you hop on a cargo practice main into the following map, a dam complicated on the foot of a lake of blood, juxtaposing coherent human structure towards the summary, gory weirdness of hell.
That distinction is a key theme of the entire enlargement, aided by a recent set of textures that match seamlessly in with the older Doom property. There’s little differentiation between unusual demon castles and high-tech bases. As a substitute, industrial pipework blends into enamel, flesh and blood then again once more. The place traditional Doom might really feel downright summary even in its metropolis or navy environments, the maps right here really feel like they’re coherent locations. Or at the least have been, earlier than they received coated in ornate demon marble-work and fleshy growths.
Whereas John Romero’s latest Sigil episodes might need made some headlines, they didn’t resonate that a lot with me. They have been good ranges, however pointedly old style. The work of an previous grasp, returning to his workshop as if nothing had modified up to now 30 years. Legacy of Rust is a group undertaking headed up by prolific modder and Nightdive staffer Xaser Acheron, who has been massively energetic within the scene since 2003, and it reveals.
Whereas restricted by the previous Doom engine (no GZDoom wizardry right here), there’s plenty of intelligent detailing finished utilizing semi-transparent textures to create the phantasm of curved surfaces or extra complicated geometry, and its environments are a lower above traditional Doom when it comes to detailing and coherency. Xaser can also be the composer of the enlargement’s glorious, upbeat and heroic MIDI-synth soundtrack.Â
The brand new batch
The encounter design is sort of trendy, regularly teleporting in waves of enemies in enclosed arenas, forcing you to bounce to the mappers’ tune as an alternative of abusing choke-points. On Extremely-violence issue ammo may be tight, demanding you depend on enemy infighting to purchase you time and house. The six new enemies (unfold evenly throughout the assorted enemy lessons) additionally assist sustain the strain. The Ghoul is a brand new gentle flying monster that appears like a much less fiery misplaced soul however behaves like a mini cacodemon, usually showing in swarms and zapping you from awkward angles. Shocktroopers are evil marines that transfer quick and hearth extremely damaging plasma, however are fragile in flip.Â
The Vassago is a fiery winged bruiser that matches in between the Hell Knight and Baron Of Hell, and the ultimate stretch introduces Tyrants—lesser cyberdemons that also spam rockets, however take quite a bit much less beating to kill. They infight with common cyberdemons, making them doubtlessly helpful in a messy scrap. There’s additionally a variant Arachnotron with the Spider Mastermind’s heavy chaingun, which makes for a scary factor to come across in teams. Final however (sadly) least is the Banshee, a floating blob of pink ectoplasm that explodes if you get too near it. An fascinating idea, however under-utilized right here. Most likely the one a part of the package deal that didn’t impress me.
I did like the 2 new weapons, though they don’t a lot even the taking part in area as pressure previous Doomheads into new new techniques. Changing the plasma rifle is the flamethrower, which offers much less harm at shorter vary—however resulting from its flames burning over time, it will possibly stunlock enemies like nothing else. The BFG is changed by the (awesomely named) Calamity Blade, which shoots piercing waves of fiery power and may be charged to fireside wider spread-shots. Maybe weaker than the weapons they change, they nonetheless match properly into Doom’s rhythms, and the flamethrower’s lingering hearth burning even the consumer provides it a very recent really feel.
As nice as Legacy of Rust is, it’s greater than only a pair of recent episodes. Included together with the brand new episode are useful resource information containing all the brand new property, monsters and weapons for modders to make use of in their very own creations. Between that and a brand new official map format (named ID24) that permits for a little bit further visible aptitude, this appears like the muse for a brand new decade of Doom. Legacy of Rust represents the brand new floor ground—the baseline to which trendy Doom mods ought to aspire to.