A new batch of footage from the canceled version of the DOOM reboot has surfaced online, giving players another glimpse into a gritty and realistic sequel that never came to be. Internally developed after DOOM 3 over the course of several years starting in 2007, the first iteration of the game took a lot more inspiration from the games releasing at the time than the franchise it was a part of. Set on Earth to mirror the events of DOOM II, this DOOM featured a band of humans fighting against a more realistic demon in a city environment colored in distinctively Xbox 360 levels of brown.
The game, which fans have taken to calling "Call of Doom" due to its inspirations, was going to feature the same cinematic presentation as DOOM 3. Running on the same Id Tech 5 engine that powered Rage and The Evil Within, the game would have aimed for 30 FPS on consoles to achieve its story goals in the campaign, and it even would have featured a group of NPCs surrounding Doomguy as he tore through the city. All of this was a huge departure from what came before, which is why it's no surprise that the game was rebooted, eventually becoming 2016's shooter masterpiece.
In new footage from the game unearthed earlier this year by YouTuber Crispies, players can get another brief window into the game that never was. The opening of the video is particularly interesting, as it showcases a chainsaw animation that seems pretty close to what made it into 2016's DOOM. Settings later in the video also recall some of the city areas in DOOM Eternal, which also aimed to retell the Hell on Earth storyline that Doom II originated. While the prevailing theory was always that development was a full restart, perhaps some of the work that went into "Call of DOOM" did end up serving a second life in the new games.
The rest of the footage also gives hints at what could have been in the final game. The Nick Fury-esque man with an eyepatch that is briefly shown was likely one of Doomguy's NPC companions throughout the campaign. Meanwhile, the "demons" look closer than ever to infected and mutated humans, something that first started evolving in DOOM 3. There's certainly some creative merit to what is presented in the video, and it seems that everything of value found a new home in either Rage or the new version of DOOM.
From both this new footage and the other gameplay that has leaked over the years, it's clear that this vision for the game could have gone down in the same vein as games like Bomberman: Act Zero or Golden Axe: Beast Rider. The balance of power was off with John Carmack still in charge at the time of development, but the other half of the classic Doom team long gone from the studio. Together, Carmack and John Romero made a great team, but it took a new generation of talent to make 2016's DOOM the fresh but familiar take on the material that fans were looking for.
Source: Crispies/YouTube