![]() Fed using power-ups or glory-killed enemies, the Sentinel Hammer has the power to clear rooms of less powerful enemies to prevent you from getting swarmed, as well as give massive bonuses to the armour, ammo and health you can juice out of bad guys. This acts more like an additional tool than another weapon, in a similar manner to the chainsaw and the flame belch. Part Two fares a little better, as it adds a new weapon to the Slayer’s arsenal – the Sentinel Hammer. While the gameplay remains fast and furious and fun, repetition sets in early even with the increased challenge, leading to a disappointing extension of Eternal‘s campaign that only just manages to sustain your interest. Ghostbusting feels better – new enemies called Spirits will sometimes possess standard foes, buffing them and requiring you to first beat them, then exorcise the spirit with the Plasma Rifle’s microwave beam, much like a proton accelerator from a certain other franchise. Add in new enemies that require pinpoint accuracy, including Blood Makyrs who must be headshot while charging special attacks, and new turrets with floating eyeballs, and there’s an overwhelming amount thrown at you pretty constantly – so much so that you might have to drop the difficulty down a level before you attempt it again (there’s no shame in that). The challenge level of The Ancient Gods has been dialled way up, especially in the first part, with many gruelling encounters throwing multiple high-class enemies at you simultaneously, like the Doom Hunter and Marauder. Even better, it all runs at the same buttery smooth 60fps that Doom Eternal did as well on Xbox One X/Series X. There are some pretty cool new visuals to take in, from a giant crystalline spear piercing a planet, to a dead half-submerged carcass of a demon, to an epic finale that takes quite a few cues from Avengers Endgame. The two parts of The Ancient Gods span six new levels, which re-visit Earth, Urdak, Argent D’Nur and Hell, although aside from an interesting bog in Part 1, all the best stuff is reserved for the second half. It feels like the real ending to Doom Eternal, which makes it kind of disappointing it was locked behind a paywall as DLC. It also provides what appears to be a fairly final close to the story arc which has run from the 2016 Doom reboot until now, leaving the future wide open full of possibilities. There is quite a significant expansion of the Doom Eternal lore here, including some confirmations on aspects hinted at in the main campaign, as well as some pretty cool evolutions of the story that flesh out the world even more, and an antagonist whose nature honestly makes more sense than it maybe should. However, as his quest to defeat the demon forces is never over, he turns his attention to the deities of the Doom universe, with specifically the Dark Lord of Hell in his sights, on a mission to force him to manifest physically so he can be killed permanently, along with every demon outside of Hell. ![]() The Ancient Gods picks up immediately after the Doom Slayer (Doomguy to his friends) has defeated the Icon of Sin from the end of Doom Eternal, more or less ending the invasion of Earth from Hell. Together, they form a more definitive ending for Doom Eternal, one that could be argued could have been included from the outset. ![]() ![]() Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods DLC has been released in two parts – Part 1 came out in October last year, while Part 2 has only just arrived. Last year’s Doom Eternal was one of the best games of the year, an absolutely excellent update to one of gaming’s most enduring franchises, that helped further establish a unique modern niche where the series can sit among the crowded FPS genre. ![]()
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