Doom Eternal

In the sequel Doom Eternal, id Software raised the pace and complexity of the combat system to the point where the game became an almost dance-like, micromanaged adrenaline experience. The Doom Slayer now fights a demon invasion striking Earth itself, while the game expands the Slayer's mythology from a silent symbol of fury into a character with his own elaborate history.

The key change is the forced weapon-switching based on enemy type and a deliberate scarcity of resources - the chainsaw refills ammo, the flame belch strips armor from demons, and Glory Kills restore health, forcing the player to constantly cycle between offensive tools instead of relying on a single favorite weapon. Every tougher enemy also has a weak point best exploited with a specific tool, turning the fight for survival into a clever puzzle-like decision about the order in which to eliminate opponents in each arena. The more vertical, platforming-oriented level design, with double jumps, air dashes, and a grappling hook chain, adds almost platformer-like elements to movement, which some series veterans saw as a departure from the first reboot's purely grounded action.

Visually, the game abandoned the grey Mars in favor of more colorful hellish cathedrals, ice fortresses, and ruined earthly cities, giving it a more comic-book-like, vibrant tone. Mick Gordon's soundtrack again heightens the intensity, though his subsequent public dispute with id Software over the final mix caused controversy. The Ancient Gods expansions extended the Slayer's story with a more cosmic mythology reaching back to the very origin of the hellish forces. Despite a noticeably steeper difficulty curve, critics praised the game as one of the best-crafted action shooters of the generation, and under id Software's guidance the Doom series firmly established itself as the technical and design benchmark for the entire fast-paced first-person shooter genre.