A video surfaced that shows off footage from a cancelled version of Doom 4, and from what I’ve seen I’m glad it didn’t make the cut.
Check out the footage and head past the break to find out why it’s probably a good thing this version was canned.
Why Doesn’t This Look Like Doom?
Your guess is as good as mine. The atmosphere lacks the iconic Doom style and we don’t see the same colorful enemies that we have from previous Doom games. Where are all the screaming Revenant? Luckily, the teaser they showed recently looks much better.
I’m not one to harp on innovative or fresh design, but the concepts we can see in the footage seem to mirror other franchises and not the Doom we’ve come to know and love.
Just look at the screenshot above. It looks as if it could have been lifted right out of the the next Gears of War, Battlefield or Call of Duty. I’m not saying that because the aforementioned games are bad, they have their audiences, I’m saying that because it’s definitely not what Doom is about.
What’s Going On Here?
Unless these are screenshots of Rage 2, another game that was cancelled, it’s a good thing this version won’t see the light of day. I’m happy the next Doom will actually go a different route at least from what we’ve seen in the teaser.
It’s difficult to tell what’s going on in these screenshots.
In Doom 3, a portal to hell is essentially opened and demons spill forth into our world. From the images above, it looks like Earth — or some other unnamed planet — is being attacked by aliens.
Why Did It Get Canceled?
Doom 4 went through a ton of production issues during its development process, including a full restart back in 2011.
Prior to the reboot, the company was developing a remarkably different game — which we can see above. The project was canned, because several Bethesda and id Software higher-ups believed it didn’t have the “soul” of the Doom franchise.
Back in 2013, id Software’s studio director Tim Willits said:
“It wasn’t one thing, it wasn’t like the art was bad, or the programming was bad. Every game has a soul. Every game has a spirit… and [Doom 4] did not have the spirit, it did not have the soul, it didn’t have a personality. It had a bit of schizophrenia, a little bit of an identity crisis. It didn’t have the passion and soul of what an id game is.”
At the time, many fans felt the cancellation would be the end of Doom 4, which was sure to enter developer hell and go the way of vaporware. Since Bethesda and id Software plan to unveil a new Doom title at E3 2015, that’s clearly not the case. Rejoice!
This isn’t about me cramming my opinion down your throats, believe me that’s not what I’m trying to do. Let’s start a discussion. I’d love to hear what you think of the cancelled footage and screenshots? Does this look like a Doom game you would want to play?
