After a fairly lengthy hiatus following Doom 3's release in 2004, it's fair to say that the Doom franchise is back and gorier than ever. 2016's Doom was the perfect reboot for the franchise, taking the high-octane essence of the original series and bringing it to the modern day with all the shiny bells and whistles modern audiences have come to expect from a AAA FPS game. But the Doom reboot wasn't always this perfect blend of old and new, and a recently resurfaced concept trailer shows the game could have had a completely different tone and look.
Just a week ago, id Software video editor Danny Keys gave The Gman's Archive permission to post a never-before-seen concept trailer for an old build of Doom 4. It's common knowledge now that Doom 4 took on many different iterations over the years before eventually taking on the form of 2016's reboot, but this concept trailer shows a Doom fans have never seen before, taking the horror elements of Doom 3 and turning them up to 11. And while the current action-focused Doom series is phenomenal, a brief trip into horror could keep the formula fresh.
The Next Doom Should Follow in Doom 3's Horror-Focused Footsteps
The last two Doom games have been nothing short of spectacular. As mentioned up top, Doom 2016 managed to rejuvenate the franchise while keeping the chaotic feel of the original alive and well, and Doom Eternal continued the trend while also adding some new platforming mechanics and fleshing out the upgrade system a little more. As action games, nothing else really comes close to capturing that unique Doom feeling, and most fans would be happy to keep getting these for as long as they live.
But no franchise should just rest on its laurels. While Doom Eternal certainly added improved on its predecessor in some significant ways, one of its main criticisms was that it felt a little too much like its predecessor from a gameplay perspective. Innovation and variety are key to keeping a gaming franchise compelling, and it may be time for a little break in the action-focused Doom series. Instead, the next Doom should dive head-first into the horror genre.
The Doom franchise has always had horror elements at its core. Each game sees the player cleave through hordes of literal demons from actual Hell, and there's plenty of guts and gore along the way. But it's been a while since Doom has fully embraced its horror atmosphere and put away the overpowered weapons in favor of a more intense, helpless experience. Doom 3 is maybe the only entry in the franchise to really embrace the series' horror roots, using its innovative lighting systems in particular to raise the tension of a scene and make the whole experience feel more grounded and scary.
From the looks of the concept trailer, Doom 4 would have taken Doom 3's horror elements even further. The brief 30-second teaser shows a number of horrific creatures, most not really reminiscent of anything fans have seen from the franchise before or since. There's a woman splitting her body in half, some wet-looking corpses scuttling along ceilings, and a ton of flailing limbs. As many have pointed out, this trailer seems more like Dead Space than Doom. While this trailer is a little over-the-top, and a bit too much of a deviation from the series, it would be interesting to see the next Doom game embrace more horror elements.