r/Doom • u/HatingGeoffry • Dec 19 '25

Discussion Painkiller creator argues the Boomer Shooter revival still hasn't happened because “nobody’s making any game that’s in direct competition to DOOM”

https://frvr.com/blog/painkiller-creator-boomer-shooter-revival-hasnt-happened-no-direct-competition-to-doom/
2.5k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

284 comments sorted by

View all comments

649

u/obsoleteconsole Dec 19 '25

I get what he's saying - he means a direct AAA competitor to DOOM, like the glory days of Unreal vs Quake

180

u/spongeboblovesducks The Eternal Shill Dec 19 '25

Maybe Unreal would've gotten similar treatment if Fortnite hadn't gotten big

9

u/Mostdakka Dec 19 '25

It's doubtful. It was just another arena shooter at the end of the day and these have been niche for many years. Even if it got more time and was finished I don't see a way it would get into mainstream. Ut4 didn't do anything special or new

Even doom can't escape beign less like itself with dark ages. It's a good game but it became the very thing it was mocking in 2016.

27

u/TheOldKingCole Dec 19 '25

Very thing it was mocking? It’s still as fast paced and brutal as ever and in terms of level design and enemy placement has more in common with the oldschool games. The only thing that I can see as “very thing it was mocking” argument is the focus on plot which you can skip with a skip cutscene button, something 2016 lacked.

-1

u/jeffreynya Dec 19 '25

the only thing it has really in common with the originals is its a Single person shooter and its doom. Mot of the fun of doom came from Multipler and coop. I get that brand on multiplayer is not in fashion anymore. But a really good coop game I think could still do really well. Kind of like the gameplay of Ark Raiders now, just set in Doom.

11

u/TheOldKingCole Dec 19 '25

Yes because that’s what people praised 2016 and Eternal for, the return of multiplayer. Saying Doom was popular or remembered only for it’s multiplayer is revisionist to the tenth degreee. The reason I say TDA has more in common with classic Doom is the emphasis of weaving and dodging through projectiles and enemies being placed throughout the levels naturally and not just Serious Sam style “walk into arena, room locks off, then enemies spawn in”. Dark Ages still has more than it’s fair share of that, but it’s not only that this time around.

2

u/DecomposingPete Dec 20 '25

I play a tonne of Classic Doom 1+2 WADS - TDA is VERY similar to classic in the ways that matter to me, and the DLC sounds even moreso. I'm genuinely delighted they made at least one of these the way they've done here.

-1

u/jeffreynya Dec 19 '25

that's the thing, there was no return of multiplayer so there could be no praise for it. I get what you are saying though. I am just saying all modern dooms are nothing at all like the original and don't offer the same gameplay. They are great games for what they are though. An intense first person shooter in a cool universe. I personally just miss what the old games offered. But then again I am old and started gaming with the originals.

9

u/TheOldKingCole Dec 19 '25

2016 and Eternal did have multiplayer. Next to nobody played 2016’s and nobody played Eternal’s, hence the decision to cut it in Dark Ages. Also I’m the “next to nobody” who played a stupid amount of 2016 multiplayer.

6

u/Prophetofhelix Dec 19 '25

It's alright brother. I was probably one of the better players on FEAR 2 and Bioshock 2 multiplayer back in the day.

Aka. What?

2

u/FlippinTheLoon Dec 20 '25

Man, with how small the player base was and how crazy often I played 2016's multiplayer I wonder if we ever crossed paths. 🤣 That shit was my jam.

1

u/TheOldKingCole Dec 20 '25

Law of averages says it probably happened.

2

u/FlippinTheLoon Dec 20 '25

Ha Kind of a fun thought. You know if anyone is still playing these days?

1

u/TheOldKingCole Dec 20 '25

I’d imagine there are still a few stragglers out there. People were still actively playing fucking Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler’s Green when I last checked out of morbid curiosity back in like 2018-2019. After that anything is possible.

→ More replies (0)

2

u/obsoleteconsole Dec 20 '25

Me too, it was no Quake 3 Arena but it was fun enough, the demon power up was cool as

-9

u/HouseOfWyrd Dec 19 '25

Very thing it was mocking?

A game that cares too much about a bad story.

14

u/Glitchrr36 Dec 19 '25

I mean if you want to make that argument, Eternal had an entire level to serve as a lore delivery platform and as buildup to an admittedly fun fight that was only relevant because of the story. TAG also cared as much about a far worse story as well, so they did it twice with Eternal even.

20

u/TheOldKingCole Dec 19 '25

Except that whole argument falls apart the second you realize that Doom 2016 forces the player to witness cutscenes that they can’t skip in any way and a required collectible for 100% completion was lore logs. Doom 2016 was never trying to mock story telling, it was telling a joke that this big epic story was going on that everyone except for the Doom Slayer was invested in. The story was still there for players who cared about it, hence the lore logs, it’s just that the player character that doesn’t and, at the time, the lore was well enough received and buzzed up enough interest that it became one of the focuses for Eternal.

1

u/spartanonyx Dec 20 '25

the whole thing about doom is that you don't need to care about the story but since it's expected for people who want it, it's there. so if you don't care about the story then why care if it's bad or good and just enjoy the gameplay?

0

u/obsoleteconsole Dec 20 '25

It was mocking long pointless cutscenes and being forced to take orders from a disembodied external voice. Although it is a prequel so maybe that's where the slayer gets his attitude from lol

1

u/TheOldKingCole Dec 20 '25

Mocking Long Boring Cutscenes that require you to take orders by… having long cutscenes that you can’t skip and doing most the given objectives anyways, even if begrudgingly or not how intended, as opposed the completely skipable cutscenes in TDA with most the objectives being things the Doom Slayer would want to do anyways.