What lurks in the depths of the newest Doom? Game Director Martin Statton confirms more challenges, exploration and story in a recent interview.
The fourth installment from Doom, the celebrated FPS from iD Software, will come with more challenges, a deeper narrative scheme and great doses of non-linear exploration. This has been confirmed by the game director Martin Statton, who has recently answered some of the questions from the community.
“Exploration is really fun”
Were you the kind of fella that enjoyed getting trapped inside the maze, turning corners like a madman? Well, you have one more reason to embrace the newest Doom. Although the focus of the game remains the fighting and slaying of demonic hordes, this installment will recover the level design standards of previous titles. This does not mean that the maps will feel repetitive but rather familiar, as well as fresher. The studio behind Doom wants to give old players the feeling of traversing a world that is known to them while stimulating the interest of those who have just joined.
Statton emphasized the fact that exploration in Doom will be non-linear. He also reassured players: there won’t be any crazy plans to get you lost. You will always find your way to reach the next combat.
A marine without a name
When asked about the protagonist, Statton confirmed that he does not have a name. However, the team is bringing inside the universe some background elements to all those gamers who would enjoy the perks of a more elaborated story. He reminded everyone that the core experience of Doom is not that one of story-telling though. But we can certainly expect an extra injection of narrative.
“I am excited to see people’s reactions to it,” he added.
New challenges and incentives
During the interview there was time to talk about in-game challenges as well. Apparently the team has boosted the difficulty a little bit after some further testing. Higher difficulties will definitely be a part of Doom’s replay value along with the possibility of encountering battles in different circumstances and with different guns. We can expect no alternative endings, badass bosses and a sort of a combat score in the single-player mode that will have an impact in weaponry modifications.
The SnapMap mode, an intuitive level editor for fans, will allow players to build and share their own maps and game logic. But this will not be the only way of expanding the content. Is iD Software already thinking in releasing future DLC for Doom? That is still undisclosed but it’s clearly a possibility. “We want to continue with this game well beyond a release. We want to give players tons of value,” confirmed Statton.
Doom is currently under development and aiming for a beta release. Official launch will happen in Spring this year for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
You can watch the full interview here (via Game Informer).
