‘I think only the shotguns are the same,’ says Doom: The Dark Ages director, otherwise the guns are brand-new or significantly transformed
Speaking to Doom: The Dark Ages game director Hugo Martin and producer Marty Stratton for our Doom cover story in the upcoming issue 408 (396 in the US) of PC Gamer’s print magazine, the two had plenty to say about the FPS’ arsenal.
“I think only the shotguns are the same,” Martin said of the guns in The Dark Ages. “The plasma is so different, so the rest are brand new. That was by design, really making sure that we were giving you new tools to master.”
“You got to have your classics, it’s a Doom game,” Martin continued. “You got to have a plasma rifle. You got to have the shotguns. But then what else can we make? So we started every gun from scratch.” Here’s a breakdown of the guns we talked about or that I’ve otherwise clocked in The Dark Ages’ trailers:
- Shotgun: Strongly resembles the one in Eternal.
- Super Shotgun: Why mess with a classic? Though the “meat hook” grapple has been replaced with the Slayer’s new shield charge.
- The Skullcrusher: Like a chaingun, but way more close range. Crucially, looks dope as hell.
- The Railspike: Pins enemies to walls like the crossbow in Half-Life. Kinda has me giddy.
- Rocket Launcher: Looks a lot like the one in Doom Eternal, yet to be seen how it mixes things up.
- The Accelerator: “That’s the new Plasma,” said Martin. “It’s basically an SMG plasma rifle. So it’s short range, high rate of fire, and it’s very fun.”
There may be some more arsenal surprises as well, though Doom: The Dark Ages’ guns will also be supplemented by the new shield and three melee weapons, making for a different core gameplay from Doom 2016 or Eternal.
There are also the vehicles. We’ll get a flying dragon whose levels Martin compared to Halo, with the Slayer hopping off to do on-foot sections before getting back in the air. The Pacific Rim-looking Doomguy mech, “the Atlan,” will have levels that are just all-Atlan.
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I mostly wanted to bring up the vehicles because, in concept art for the mech’s chaingun, the mock view model shows a little man popping out of a hatch and waving at the camera like the Slayer’s got a crew in there. I need to be clear that, if this shows up in gameplay, The Dark Ages is game of the year. I don’t make the rules.
Back to the main arsenal, Martin pointed to Doom Eternal’s Heavy Cannon, a scoped battle rifle-type deal, as an example of something id wanted to leave behind when making The Dark Ages: “To put that back in players hands at the start of Dark Ages, I mean, it’s going to start feeling like a DLC, because they’ve already mastered that tool.”
“I think by giving players a whole new tool kit to discover, learn, and master, that’s going to ensure that we can have a real, balanced experience,” Martin said. “And we don’t have to immediately start jacking up the difficulty because we’re giving you a tool that you already mastered in the previous game.”
All I know is that I really want to get my hands on that Railspike gun and start pinning dudes to walls. We don’t have long to wait: Doom: The Dark Ages will release on March 15. You can read my full interview with Martin and Stratton in the upcoming issue 408/396 of PC Gamer’s print magazine.
