Anyone who played any Doom title will remember how gratifying its concept on killing demons. The series are definitely known for being action-oriented, and the concept of having a survival mode is absolutely the dream idea for this type of game. For so long, the series seemed to never want to have an official survival mode for whatever reason.
Now, it is true that Doom Eternal would eventually added an official horde gametype in one of its post launch patches. However, the game didn’t initially have any plans on releasing a survival mode. Horde mode was made to replace Invasion mode which was supposedly a mode that id Software had interest in releasing later for Doom Eternal’s lifespan.
However, it has taken id Software a decent amount of time for them to finally put an official horde mode. Fans can finally experience what it’s like to play Doom against an onslaught of monsters from one wave to the next. It’s certainly nice to finally play an official survival mode in a Doom title, but there is still a question lingering in the air. Will id Software continue bringing the horde mode experience to the new Doom? Personally, I believe it is a mandatory thing to do and let me explain why.
There’s no doubt that Doom has always been looked as a solo experience driven first. There’s a reason why the main campaigns for both Doom 2016 and Eternal are only playable as a single player experience. It’s fairly obvious that the modern day id Software understood how the classic games’ campaign appealed heavily to single player audiences. Keep in mind, both of these games do have some sort of multiplayer functionality behind them, but when you are playing the role as the Doom Slayer, its only room for one player.
Horde Mode Should Be More Cooperative Focused
This leads me to the next point I want to make. The next Doom should make its horde mode more cooperative focused unlike Doom Eternal’s. The campaign should be content for those that want to enjoy Doom while playing alone. It also means the player can easily immerse themselves as the Doom Slayer too. But with horde mode, it should definitely be the ultimate cooperative experience for those that are hungry for that type of Doom experience.
Games like Left 4 Dead or Killing Floor are popular because of that whole idea of having massive amount of monsters to kill with other players is fun. Now, I’m not trying to say that the next Doom should just completely take notes from that game. Personally, I think it wouldn’t fit well because Doom is certainly faster paced and the mechanics are much differently designed. Also, players have no idea how the next Doom will play like. Is it going to be similar to 2016, Eternal, or maybe it might be mechanically different than those two games? We will be able to tell when id Software finally releases a gameplay video.
If you remembered, Doom 2016 did have cooperative support in SnapMap.
Back in the days when it was possible to find cooperative SnapMap lobbies for Doom 2016, and there were some maps that were fun to play. Some of these levels weren’t made by professional game designers. They were just a bunch of players trying to make levels for Doom fans to have fun. The ones that really shined were the survival or raid styled maps. It was definitely different because you had a teammate or two by your side, but generally these maps were heavily action-oriented which made it felt like a great alternative to the main campaign.
I don’t understand why id Software shouldn’t take the approach of trying to create a more social based mode for Doom fans to play. There was praise for Doom 3’s cooperative back on the original Xbox port. Some of the Doom 2016 SnapMap content can also offer a decent amount of enjoyment too. I’ve seen some of the potential fun that can be made with Doom when you have multiple players by your side. And it’ll be great to see id Software take advantage of those experiences and even enhance them with the time and resources they have available. I cannot imagine of how different and possibly better horde mode would be for the next Doom because time might’ve been a big enemy on id Software’s side while making horde mode for Doom Eternal.
The Doom Eternal Horde Experience
Now, it’s time for me to breakdown on the strengths and weaknesses of Doom Eternal’s horde mode. It’s certainly a fairly competent mode for it being designed as a post launch gametype. You can tell id Software wanted horde mode to be a satisfying mode for all types of players. Whether you’re the player that just wants to kill demons and have a blast with the game’s combat loop or you’re the competitive player that wants to farm for the highest score on the leaderboards. Id Software wanted to nail down those things to please certain folks with the many different types of design choices they had with horde mode.
There’s a reason why the first stage of horde mode is almost like a bunch of encounters that feel like a warm up. However, when getting to the later stages, the difficulty massively gets harder when you reached to The Holt which the combat encounters feel very similar to the Master levels. Id Software was certainly aware of how varied the players are in Doom Eternal, and it was certainly the right move to create this sort of difficulty curve.
The gameplay loop of horde mode is basically you survive waves of encounters from various areas of the campaign, and then the game will throw you in a Blitz Round where these rounds are more designed for farming score. Eventually, the horde mode experience will be done once you reached to The Holt and finish its last combat encounter.
The randomized weapon selection was a controversial choice because for players who like to grind on the leaderboard will definitely be affected by this decision. However, it does add replay value to the mode and it surely makes your next playthrough potentially different than your last one.
Horde Feels Like Campaign, But More Action-Oriented
The mode was definitely fine enough. It was also a mode that came with the game as an update, so it is free. For the price of it, it was certainly fun and good for what it is. But it simply doesn’t “feel” like a mode that is an alternative to the campaign. It still feels familiar to the campaign because of the reused arenas, but it is also because its objectives are very similar to the campaign.
You just kill monsters and advance to the next arena. The density of the enemies are also comparable to the main campaign and the later portion can be comparable to the Master levels. It was also a missed opportunity for it to have a social experience which is something they wanted to do with Invasion.
Dead Simple would be an excellent map for a survival experience.
But at the end of the day, time can change everything. I’m sure the horde mode for Doom Eternal probably wasn’t developed with as much time compared to the campaign. So it’s obvious that it might not feel as fleshed out as it should. We have absolutely no idea when the next Doom will be announced or how finished the game is.
But hopefully, horde mode will be something that id Software will continue to bring back for their upcoming Doom title. If it does happen, I’m hoping it will actually be playable on launch rather than a mode where players will have to wait months after its release. That is something I’ve been wanting to see happening since Doom 2016 was announced and revealed. Maybe, that day will finally happen.
