The Nightdive and Bethesda re-launch of Doom 1 + 2 brings rather a lot to the desk: Built-in mod sharing, a brand new soundtrack by shredmeister Andrew Hulshult and a tuned-up engine. However for many the juiciest cherry on high was new official growth Legacy of Rust, developed primarily by a workforce of veteran Doom modders now working for id Software program, Nightdive and MachineGames. Having performed by means of it over the weekend, I’m joyful to say that that is peak 2024 Doom, and certainly one of this 12 months’s greatest FPS campaigns up to now.
Cut up into two 8-level episodes (The Vulcan Abyss and Counterfeit Eden), Legacy of Rust has Doomguy despatched to scrub up an overrun UAC industrial facility constructed into hell itself. Whereas the story is as threadbare as you’d count on from traditional Doom, every degree does circulate cleanly into the following, giving it an awesome sense of coherent escalation and journey. The opening degree (Scar Gate) sends you thru a fleshy hell-portal to a blood-flooded transport facility the place you hop on a cargo practice main into the following map, a dam advanced on the foot of a lake of blood, juxtaposing coherent human structure towards the summary, gory weirdness of hell.
That distinction is a key theme of the entire growth, aided by a recent set of textures that match seamlessly in with the older Doom belongings. There’s little differentiation between unusual demon castles and high-tech bases. As an alternative, industrial pipework blends into enamel, flesh and blood then again once more. The place traditional Doom might really feel downright summary even in its metropolis or army environments, the maps right here really feel like they’re coherent locations. Or no less than had been, earlier than they obtained coated in ornate demon marble-work and fleshy growths.
Whereas John Romero’s latest Sigil episodes might need made some headlines, they didn’t resonate that a lot with me. They had been good ranges, however pointedly old fashioned. The work of an previous grasp, returning to his workshop as if nothing had modified up to now 30 years. Legacy of Rust is a neighborhood undertaking headed up by prolific modder and Nightdive staffer Xaser Acheron, who has been vastly energetic within the scene since 2003, and it exhibits.
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Whereas restricted by the previous Doom engine (no GZDoom wizardry right here), there’s loads of intelligent detailing performed utilizing semi-transparent textures to create the phantasm of curved surfaces or extra advanced geometry, and its environments are a minimize above traditional Doom by way of detailing and coherency. Xaser can be the composer of the growth’s wonderful, upbeat and heroic MIDI-synth soundtrack.
The brand new batch
The encounter design is kind of fashionable, incessantly teleporting in waves of enemies in enclosed arenas, forcing you to bounce to the mappers’ tune as an alternative of abusing choke-points. On Extremely-violence problem ammo might be tight, demanding you depend on enemy infighting to purchase you time and area. The six new enemies (unfold evenly throughout the assorted enemy courses) additionally assist sustain the stress. The Ghoul is a brand new gentle flying monster that appears like a much less fiery misplaced soul however behaves like a mini cacodemon, typically showing in swarms and zapping you from awkward angles. Shocktroopers are evil marines that transfer quick and fireplace extremely damaging plasma, however are fragile in flip.
The Vassago is a fiery winged bruiser that matches in between the Hell Knight and Baron Of Hell, and the ultimate stretch introduces Tyrants—lesser cyberdemons that also spam rockets, however take rather a lot much less beating to kill. They infight with common cyberdemons, making them doubtlessly helpful in a messy scrap. There’s additionally a variant Arachnotron with the Spider Mastermind’s heavy chaingun, which makes for a scary factor to come across in teams. Final however (sadly) least is the Banshee, a floating blob of pink ectoplasm that explodes while you get too near it. An fascinating idea, however under-utilized right here. In all probability the one a part of the package deal that didn’t impress me.
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I did like the 2 new weapons, though they don’t a lot even the enjoying subject as power previous Doomheads into new new techniques. Changing the plasma rifle is the flamethrower, which offers much less harm at shorter vary—however because of its flames burning over time, it may possibly stunlock enemies like nothing else. The BFG is changed by the (awesomely named) Calamity Blade, which shoots piercing waves of fiery power and might be charged to fireside wider spread-shots. Maybe weaker than the weapons they change, they nonetheless match properly into Doom’s rhythms, and the flamethrower’s lingering fireplace burning even the consumer offers it a very recent really feel.
As nice as Legacy of Rust is, it’s greater than only a pair of latest episodes. Included together with the brand new episode are useful resource information containing all the brand new belongings, monsters and weapons for modders to make use of in their very own creations. Between that and a brand new official map format (named ID24) that permits for somewhat further visible aptitude, this looks like the muse for a brand new decade of Doom. Legacy of Rust represents the brand new floor ground—the baseline to which fashionable Doom mods ought to aspire to.