If you’re wondering is Doom Eternal good, you’ve probably seen the trailers. Hell on Earth. A giant green cyborg ripping a demon's head off with his bare hands. It looks cool, right? But here is the thing: this game is nothing like the 2016 reboot. Not really. While the previous game felt like a power fantasy where you could just hold down the trigger and vibe, Eternal is basically a high-speed game of combat chess. It is aggressive. It is loud. It is frequently exhausting.
Honestly, it's one of the most polarizing "masterpieces" ever made. Some people find the constant resource management tedious, while others think it's the pinnacle of first-person shooters.
The Combat Loop: Why People Love (and Hate) It
The core question of whether is Doom Eternal good usually comes down to how you feel about "The Fun Zone." That’s what id Software calls the gameplay loop. In most shooters, you find a gun you like and you use it until the ammo runs out. You can't do that here. You will run out of bullets in thirty seconds.
To survive, you have to use your tools like a surgeon. Need ammo? You have to chainsaw a fodder zombie. Need health? You have to perform a Glory Kill (a melee finisher). Need armor? You have to set them on fire with your shoulder-mounted Flame Belch. It’s a constant cycle of Kill, Loot, Repeat.
It’s fast. Like, really fast. If you stop moving for two seconds, a Mancubus will turn you into a puddle. This creates a flow state that is genuinely unmatched in the genre, but it also means you can’t really "relax" while playing. You’re always thinking three steps ahead. You're calculating cool-downs. You're switching weapons every four seconds because certain enemies—like the Cacodemon—have very specific weaknesses you have to exploit.
Is Doom Eternal Good for Casual Players?
Probably not at first. If you're looking for a "brain-off" experience after a long day of work, this might actually make you more stressed. The game demands your full attention.
Hugo Martin, the game director, often compares the game to a "black belt" exam. It wants to teach you how to play "the right way." Some players find this restrictive. They want to use the Super Shotgun for the whole game, but the game punishes you for that by starving you of shells.
However, there is a massive sense of accomplishment when it finally clicks. When you’re dashing through the air, hooking onto a Pain Elemental with your Meat Hook, blasting it, and then landing perfectly to flame-grill a group of Imps, you feel like a god. It’s a rhythmic intensity that makes other shooters feel slow and clunky by comparison.
The Platforming Controversy
We have to talk about the jumping. Doom Eternal has a lot of platforming. Like, a lot. You’ll spend a significant chunk of time swinging on monkey bars, double-jumping over lava, and dashing between floating platforms.
A lot of old-school fans hated this. They felt it broke the immersion and turned a gritty horror-action game into a first-person Mario clone. Personally? I think it works because it teaches you how to use the environment during combat. The arenas are vertical. If you can’t navigate the platforms, you’re going to get cornered and murdered by a Baron of Hell. But yeah, if you hate platforming in FPS games, you’re going to roll your eyes at some of these sections.
Visuals and Performance: A Technical Marvel
One area where there is zero debate is the optimization. id Software’s id Tech 7 engine is witchcraft. Even on mid-range hardware from a few years ago, this game runs like butter.
👉 See also: Mario Kart: Why We Are Still Obsessed With a Game From 1992
- Frame Rates: It’s common to see 144 FPS or higher on modest rigs.
- Art Direction: The environments are massive. You go from the gothic cathedrals of Sentinel Prime to the industrial gore-nests of Earth.
- Destruction: The "Destructible Demons" system is disgusting in the best way. You can literally see chunks of flesh and bone fly off enemies as you shoot them. It’s not just visual; it shows you how much health they have left.
The music, composed by Mick Gordon (though there was some legendary drama regarding the soundtrack's mixing later on), is heavy metal perfection. It reacts to your gameplay. When you start doing well, the drums kick in harder. It’s basically a shot of adrenaline straight into your ears.
The Lore Is... A Lot
The 2016 game had a very "who cares" attitude toward the story. The Slayer would literally smash monitors while people tried to give him exposition. Is Doom Eternal good at telling a story? Well, it tries way harder. Maybe too hard.
There is a ton of lore about the Sentinels, the Maykrs, and the origins of the Slayer. You’ll be reading a lot of codex entries if you want to understand why you're on a space station or who the Khan Maykr is. For some, it adds a cool "epic fantasy" layer to the sci-fi horror. For others, it’s a bunch of unnecessary jargon that gets in the way of shooting things. You can skip most of it, but the game definitely takes itself more seriously this time around.
The Learning Curve and Difficulty
Don't be afraid to play on "Hurt Me Plenty" or even "I'm Too Young to Die." There is no shame in it. Doom Eternal is significantly harder than its predecessor.
The introduction of the Marauder—a specific enemy type that requires precise timing to hit—became a huge point of contention in the gaming community. He forces you to stop and play his game. He’s a skill check. If you haven't mastered the mechanics by the time you meet him, he will end your run. This kind of "aggressive game design" is exactly why people ask is Doom Eternal good; it’s a game that refuses to let you be lazy.
What Most People Get Wrong
People often say the game is "too complicated" because of all the buttons. You have grenades, ice bombs, flame belch, chainsaw, dash, and weapon mods. It's a lot to map to a controller.
But the "secret" isn't memorizing the buttons; it's understanding the resource economy. Once you realize that every enemy is just a walking crate of supplies, the complexity fades away. You stop seeing a scary demon and start seeing "a pile of shotgun shells that hasn't been opened yet."
Actionable Insights for New Players
If you decide to dive into the chaos, keep these points in mind to avoid burning out in the first three hours:
💡 You might also like: Killer Klowns From Outer Space Game Release Date: What You Need to Know in 2026
- Remap Your Inputs: If you’re on a controller, move the "Jump" and "Dash" buttons to the bumpers (L1/R1 or LB/RB). You need to be able to aim while jumping, and you can't do that if your thumb is busy pressing "X" or "A."
- Prioritize the Chainsaw: Don't wait until you're at zero ammo to use it. If you see a lone zombie and you have one fuel charge, take him out. Keeping your reserves high is better than panic-searching for a kill while a Tyrant is chasing you.
- Focus on the Weakpoints: Use the Precision Bolt (Sniper mod) or Sticky Bombs to blow the turrets off Arachnotrons immediately. It turns a deadly threat into a minor annoyance.
- Upgrade Health and Armor First: Use your Sentinel Crystals to boost your survivability before worrying about ammo capacity. You can always find more ammo, but you can't find more "not being dead."
- Keep Moving: Literally never stop. If you stand still to aim, you are dead. Practice "circle strafing"—moving in a wide circle around the arena while keeping your crosshairs on the targets in the middle.
Ultimately, is Doom Eternal good depends on whether you want a game that challenges your reflexes and your brain simultaneously. It isn't a mindless shooter; it's a high-speed puzzle game played at 120 miles per hour. If that sounds like your kind of chaos, it’s arguably the best shooter of the last decade. If you just want to relax and shoot some aliens, you might find yourself frustrated by its strict rules.