Doom Reboot Puts Action First, Story Second

Bethesda and id Software’s much-anticipated Doom reboot will emerge from the depths of Hell and onto PS4 at some point this year, and though both parties are still dancing around a firm release date, that hasn’t prevented id Software’s Executive Producer Martin Stratton from teasing new details pertaining to the shooter’s story.

Word comes by way of Game Informer, where Stratton touched base on the inclusion of non-linear exploration, the game’s emphasis on action over scripted set-pieces, and why the difficulty has been ramped up since the most recent gameplay videos. 

Per Game Informer:

If you come into DOOM to have amazing combat, then I really think people are going to enjoy themselves. We’ve spent so much time to try to get that right, to try to get the challenge of it right, the difficulty which has been ratcheted up since you’ve played. We’ve actually dialed up the difficulty and we’ve seen as people played it that they wanted this. It’s an action shooter, so your roller coaster ride in this game is about how challenging those fights are. It’s super fun when you’re diving into these arenas and that’s challenging, you may get your ass kicked but come later with a different strategy. That’s what DOOM is about. It’s not about canned set pieces, cinematic sequences…the roller coaster is about the action and the combat and it’s a blast. 

Later in the piece, Stratton allayed fears that Doom would double down on a narrative-focused campaign, revealing that while there will be a story on offer, it’s not the primary focus.

The marine doesn’t have a name. Story hasn’t been the focus of development, the combat has, but I would say we’ve injected quite a bit more, for people who want to find it and get a little more on how the DOOM marine is and where we hope he heads, it’s there for people to find. I like it, I think it’s cool stuff and I think it’s more so than we’ve had in other DOOM games and I’m excited to see people’s reaction to it.

Bethesda is yet to officially lock down a release date for Doom beyond the nebulous spring 2016 window. An Amazon France placeholder recently pegged the reboot for launch on June 30.

[Source: Game Informer (YouTube) via WCCFTech]

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