Modern Doom; 3 games, 3 different combat styles

the 3 modern doom games are Doom 2016, Doom Eternal, and Doom dark ages. in my humble opinion, i like the combat of dark ages the best. heres why:

in 2016, its very run and gun. you run around the arenas and shoot demons. im gonna be real, its slow and boring. i played 2016 once and i just cant replay it and trust me, ive tried many times. i find it way too mundane compared to eternal and dark ages. my first time through i was amazed by the combat but i think ive been spoiled by how fun the other two games are.

eternal on the other hand, the combat is all about movement. if youre standing still, youre playing the game wrong. the arenas are HUGE with lots of different levels you can jump and climb onto, which makes it much more engaging because you have to be on your toes at all time. i like it a lot, but also it was hard for me because it was a LOT of weapon switching and jumping and i personally do not play that way. also, the story is kinda confusing when you include the DLCs unless you dive super into the lore. i do love that you get to shoot yourself into mars.

oh my beautiful king dark ages. its by far the biggest switch in combat from the two other games, as you have a parry system. but the combat is really heavy into stand your ground and fight. GOD do i love that. ive always played more tanky characters where i take the brunt of the damage and just fight until i die if that makes sense.

when the gameplay first was shown and i saw that there was a parry system, i was really concerned because i am HORRIBLE at dodging and frankly dont believe in it. for example, when i played scarlet nexus (insane game genre switch) i had a buff that would always let me survive with 1 health left and i cannot tell you how much of that game i was on that 1 sliver of health. im also god awful at any souls like games because of the timing of dodges (and yet i love rhythm games?)

i was also concerned on how people would react. at launch, the marauder got a ton of hate because you could only hit him when his eyes flash green, and if you hit him at any other time you would be punished for it by having a ghost dog come and bite at you. that was received poorly by a lot of players, including me at first. 

but they really hit it on the head in dark ages. there is so much you can change within the settings to cater the combat to your style, with longer stun windows and game speed. i loveee it cause i always play on the easy difficulty whenever i pick up a game, even on when replaying it.

i was also honestly concerned about the glory kills being removed, as they were a staple in the two previous games, but it actually worked out very well. you still get small animations similar to glory kills, but it doesnt take away from the gameplay like i thought it would.

but the reason i love dark ages so much is because you are meant to stand your ground and kill. you are meant to go through waves of enemies with shield throwing and bashing. you are meant to counter enemies to get health, armor, and lot drops. i honestly like the flail more than the chainsaw, as its more dynamic. 

every game comes with its own combat style and they match the games so well. as a doom fanatic, i really like where they went with dark ages. the story is also SUPER good. it doesnt take away from the main part of the game, killing demons. its super story heavy and it gives us unseen worlds like the literal cuthulu dude. 

okie thank you for reading my rant i just really like doom as a franchise. also doom 3 sucks shit and i stand by that.