The original Doom was already a brutal game back in 1993, but for one modder, apparently that wasn’t brutal enough. What if the original title had modern first-person-shooter tropes like damage to the heads-up-display, rag doll physics, or enemies exploding into loose-limbed, bits and pieces? What if you could kick Cyberdemons right in the chest?
Modder Sergeant_Mark_IV has been working on Brütal Doom since 2010, and the video below is a preview of the 2.0 update. Sergeant_Mark_IV explains that since Bethesda wasn’t showing off anything from the new Doom to the public (although QuakeCon attendees did get a preview), he’d try to sate our hunger for more Marine-on-demon action with a look at his work.
So what do you think? It is pretty metal, meeting its creator’s mission statement to crank the elements of the original up a couple of thousand notches. For one thing, it looks like it moves a lot faster than the original, with enemies crowding in and forcing the player to take cover. The weapon sounds are appropriately bombastic and the custom map – “Recurring Nightmare” – is appropriately claustrophobic and packed with enemies.
Visually, I have to say kudos on the small (and gross) detail of leaving enemy jaws as a separate piece that can explode off of their heads when they’ve been hit. Ditto, it’s interesting to see something we take for granted like blood splatter introduced to an older game like this (around the 12-minute mark, the whole thing just becomes a bloody, glorious mess).
If you want to play Brütal Doom 2.0, you may have to wait a bit – there’s no release date on the horizon, but its creator promises updates when they’re available.
