Since its successful reboot in 2016, the DOOM franchise has enjoyed a level of popularity and renown reminiscent of its '90s heyday. DOOM Eternal has been racking up high sales and accolades since its release in March of this year, with many critics praising Eternal's graphics, level design, combat, and campaign as being even better than its predecessor. As a result of the success of the past four years, it's easy to forget the franchise's long road back to prominence.
Part of that road was a planned fourth game, Doom 4, that was cancelled altogether. After the commercial and critical success of 2004's Doom 3, Doom 4 was officially announced in 2008 after its development was hinted at QuakeCon in 2007. Initially developed by id Software, the team behind Doom since its very inception, the fourth game's gestation was met with frequent delays and roadblocks. By the early 2010's it had stalled, leading to Bethesda's intervention in 2013 and the reorganizing of the game's concept to what would become the 2016 restart fans are familiar with.
As leaked footage and screenshots have made clear, Doom 4 would have looked distinctly different from prior and subsequent installments in the series. Rather than the fast-paced gunfire of a taciturn Doom Slayer, it planned on two-way dialogue between characters in a war drama story. Rather than the relentless decimation of demons, gameplay would have been more realistic, with cover mechanics and jumping over barriers similar to popular FPS game like Call of Duty. These blatant similarities to other popular shooter franchises led some fans to some of the development to refer to the game as Call of DOOM, according to PC Gamer.
Doom 4's Cancellation Ultimately For the Best
While development hell would stymy Doom 4 for good, such a fate luckily wouldn't befall the 2016 reboot's production. Yet the work that went into the former game wasn't completely scrapped. In fact, some elements from the cancelled game found their way in Doom, including a "sync melee" mechanic that evolved into DOOM's glory kills. Some weapons and locations were also reused. However, the "return to roots" approach proved a smash success with fans and critics alike, in a way the fourth game probably wouldn't have enjoyed. Check out the recently-unearthed Doom 4 development video below to see the similarities, via Crispies on YouTube:
Ultimately, Doom 4 not seeing the light of day may have been to the series' benefit in the long run. Had the finished game received a similar reputation of being a Call of Duty clone amongst players and critics, it may have been a setback for the DOOM IP's reputation. The 2016 and 2020 installments, meanwhile, stayed true to the original titles' roots and almost perfectly expanded them. Regardless of how it might have sold and been reviewed, though, Doom 4 nonetheless would have been a fascinating step in the evolution of the franchise, especially in its planned use of extensive cinematics.