Doom Single-Player: No Reloads, A Weapon Wheel, Impossible Difficulty Setting

Screen Rant

By John Casteele

Published May 1, 2016

New glimpses at Doom's single-player mode reveal more about how weapon selection works and how hard the game gets on its highest difficulty.

DOOM</a> reboot hits stores, and marketing for the game is in full force. In addition to videos and write-ups of the game, an <a href="https://screenrant.com/doom-multiplayer-beta-trailer/">open beta</a> of its multiplayer functions was available to fans earlier this month. Now, the focus of the game's marketing has shifted to its <a href="https://screenrant.com/doom-remake-campaign-trailer/">single-player campaign</a>. Several recent videos have highlighted some of the single-player features, including weapon usage, level design and special Easter eggs for long-time fans of the series. In an hour-long stream, creative director Marty Stratton and executive producer Hugo Martin took fans through never-before-seen portions of the single-player campaign and explained a number of details about how the game works in single player. Among the most notable features were a weapon wheel that allows players to swap on the fly between multiple guns (as opposed to the limited selection you can have at one time in multiplayer), and a lack of reloading so you won't have to stop shooting so long as you have ammo. There are also weapon mods that provide even more ways to customize your firepower in-game. The game also offers up gory finishing moves against monsters, letting players net extra health bonuses in addition to finishing off the hordes of Hell in the most violent way possible. <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Oc3mfUlRlzs" width="560">

Optional challenges are also in the game, giving players a chance to really test their skills by completing objectives like killing a certain number of monsters with a single power-up or using one exploding enemy to kill another one. If that's not enough of a challenge, then Id Software has also included an improvement to the ever-popular Nightmare difficulty option. Dubbed "Ultra-Nightmare," the new mode features permadeath so that if you die once you have to go back to the very beginning of the game. According to Stratton and Martin, no one at Id has managed to beat the game at this difficulty level yet.

Id also revealed that they've included Easter eggs in every level for long-time fans of the series. A lever hidden in each level opens up a panel somewhere on that level, revealing a room or level portion from the original DOOM that's been remastered for the current game. Not only that, but it also unlocks the full original level in the campaign menu so you can play through HD remakes of original game levels at your leisure.

To show off how crazy the game can get, Id also released gameplay footage from the final level of the game. While some fans were upset by the potential spoiler of seeing the last level, it's pretty telling that in the two-minute video the player barely makes it to the first door before being overwhelmed and killed. The official DOOM Facebook page reassured fans not to worry about this potential spoiler; describing it as "about 1/20th of the level," they claim that the video doesn't give anything away other than the fact that the final level is truly Hell.

Next: Doom's Multiplayer Modes Revealed in New Gameplay Video

DOOM is slated for release on May 13th, 2016 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.