Doom Eternal’s Battlemode will offer a tense game of cacodemon-and-mouse*.
Doom, the 2016 reboot that revitalized the long-running shooter series, was beloved for its single-player campaign. Its multiplayer? Not so much.
The folks at id Software are apparently doing their best to make the 2019 sequel a more well-rounded package. Earlier today, Bethesda Softworks dropped an in-depth look at Battlemode, one of the shooter’s new multiplayer modes.
Battlemode is a 2v1 mode that casts two players as demons teaming up against the Doom Slayer. The mode will include six maps and five playable demons, three of which — Revenant, Pain Elemental and Mancubus — were revealed in the video. The demons are designed to be weaker than the Slayer, naturally, so they’ll need to team up and summon additional demons to stand a chance.
Every demon is special
Each demon has unique abilities. The Mancubus is equipped with a pair of flamethrowers and smoke bombs to help the slow-moving brute escape. The Revenant has a jetpack, a dash and plenty o’ rockets. And the Pain Elemental can fly and fire down on the Slayer, and hide behind a rechargeable soul shield.
All demons can drop hazards and summon AI demons to help in the fight against Doom Guy. The Slayer, meanwhile, has a full arsenal of modded up weapons and equipment, and will need to glory kill and chainsaw demons to gain health and ammo. Demons, however, can block supplies for a limited time.
Demons have the boon of being able to see the Slayer’s outline, even through walls. In order to hide, the Doom Slayer needs to break line-of-sight. Two portals, on opposite ends of each arena, allow the Slayer to warp around the playspace, helpful for flanking.
Each arena has jump pads and grapple points so that the player can traverse the entirety of the map without touching the ground.
Once a demon dies, the Doom Slayer has 20 seconds to kill the other demon and win the round. If the Slayer fails, the demon returns to the fight with halved health. The demons win if they can take the Slayer down. Progression persists between matches and demon players may be rewarded with the ability to summon the hulking Baron of Hell. Slayers, meanwhile, can eventually nab the BFG.
Bethesda is promising additional playable demons and maps for free, post-launch.
*The cacodemon is not actually in this mode, it’s just a silly pun.
