My dear readers, it’s been a long week. And whenever that happens, nothing helps to relieve stress better than taking out all my frustrations on the spawns of hell. We have to wait until May (if the release date holds) to dig into DOOM: The Dark Ages, but there is always the 2016 remake of the original DOOM to play. When that title originally released, it earned rave reviews, including here on GiN. At the time, I was still a student and slammed with too much homework that prevented me from really enjoying it fully. But now that I have a little more free time, I can give this hellishly good shooter another shot.

I decided to restart DOOM 2016 over from the beginning for this new playthrough in order to prepare for DOOM: The Dark Ages, and I was happy that I was once again blown away by its graphics. The demons are well designed, and the sound engineering provides creepy noises that still manage to ratchet up my paranoia. The heavy metal soundtrack really helps counter those feelings a little bit, as it makes the game feel less horror focused. Something about DOOM’s whole squealing guitars, pounding drums, and drooling monsters really sets a pulse pounding environment.

It was DOOM that actually made me realize how much I missed having these freewheeling, nonserious shooters to play. And I don’t mean less serious shooters like with Deadpool or Lollipop Chainsaw, but rather the inverse of the gritty Call of Duty types of titles. Constantly having to hide behind cover and cautiously inch forward during firefights in those serious shooters can get to be a bit much. DOOM replaced that with high intensity and vertically charged mobile battles. I enjoy the faster paced skirmishes that are more reminiscent of the classic shooters.

Every game I have played since DOOM has made me feel like each of their protagonists are trying to move a refrigerator across the map. I’m still not used to how fast the DOOM guy sprints across the burning hellscape. I keep wasting ammo because I blow past my enemies while firing and have to try to fix my situation on the fly. DOOM also boasts an incredible array of weapons such as the gauss cannon and the classic BFG 9000. Personally, I love the catharsis of DOOM’s super shotgun combined with the chainsaw.

The DOOM revival in 2016 was a surprise lightning-in-a-bottle situation that took the world by storm. While I still have to work my way up to the DOOM reboot sequel DOOM: Eternal, a few people who I’ve spoken with said that it wasn’t quite the same. I want to be clear that I am not trying to be a negative columnist this time. I really hope that DOOM: The Dark Ages can recapture that same lightning as DOOM 2016 did. I don’t want the DOOM franchise to be another one where there’s a slow decrease in quality over time.

Hopefully, I will be able to play DOOM: The Dark Ages on my PlayStation 5 when it releases. I’m planning on upgrading my sound system to really amp up the horror and soundtrack.

If I get the time, I may also try to replay DOOM 3, which I really enjoyed when I was younger. And even if DOOM: The Dark Ages falls flat (I don’t think it will), then at least it will never be as bad as the 2005 DOOM movie.

We only have a couple months to wait until the forces of hell are once again unleashed, and I for one am looking forward to having a great time running and gunning in the amazing DOOM series once more.