One thing you should know about the old Doom games is the devoted and passionate fanbase. There have been many and countless of user generated levels that were provided by the community after the release of the original Doom and Doom II. These levels make the classic Doom titles still appealing to play in this current year. You can simply never run out of your desirable of killing demons. On top of that, with better technology, fans are allowed to make maps that are even more technically impressive than what the actual developers back in the early nineties.
Legacy of Rust is a product of that concept. The maps were made by passionate fans who loved the core design of the classic Doom titles. The levels were made by developers of Nightdive, id Software, and MachineGames. Legacy of Rust also does more than just providing new levels for classic Doom enthusiasts. The mapset is also using unreleased and unused content that were made by the original id Software.
Players will bump into new enemies and textures due to this design choice that Legacy of Rust has taken. Both Doom and Doom II are very old games and it was updated to have another expansion this year. Is it worth it come back to early nineties and kill demons again in this latest expansion? The answer is yes because Legacy of Rust is definitely a celebration of why classic Doom is still awesome to play nowadays.
You have to buy Doom + Doom II to play Legacy of Rust on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. The game costs USD 9.99.
Story – An Alien Vendetta
Legacy of Rust takes place the events after Doom II. The Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) is attempting to invade Hell. They’re doing it to gather some of its unnatural resources. Obviously, the demons aren’t going to allow that, and they’re fighting back!
That is basically the story of Legacy of Rust. Just like the old Doom titles, it doesn’t seem to focus too strongly on the story aspect. However, it does set up a good excuse of why you need to rip and tear these demons apart.
Gameplay – Hell Revealed!
The gameplay should be very familiar to those who have played the original Doom and Doom II. You play a lone space marine and you’re out there trying to kill demons while going through these various levels. They generally require the player to explore for keys, and figure out its puzzles to reach the exit. You are expected to kill many types of demons from hitscan to projectile variants.
The old Doom games have always been movement oriented shooters, so be ready to strafe a lot! Despite the age of the old Doom games, it still feels great getting into combat encounters. Mowing down hordes of Imps or tackling a Hell Knight with a Super Shotgun is always satisfying. Players who start the Legacy of Rust will be introduced to exclusive content that isn’t available to the other add-ons of the Doom + Doom II port.
The “New” Content
Some of the new enemies include the Ghoul and Banshee. The Ghoul was based on an old model for the Lost Soul enemy. It acts basically like a Lost Soul, but it has a range attack. The Banshee was based on a texture for the original Doom. In Legacy of Rust, it is an enemy that is designed to cause an explosion to the player when they touch the player. Of course, there are new weapons and they replaced the Plasma Gun and BFG-9000 when playing this expansion. The Incinerator and Calamity Blade both use the Fuel ammo type.
Getting ready to fry that Mancubus.
The Incinerator acts similarly to the Plasma Gun, but it is deadlier against close range. The Calamity Blade is a weapon that is designed to destroy masses of enemies within your screen. You can also charge its attack to increase the damage radius. Despite the new weapons feeling similar to the old ones, they were still satisfying to use. I never felt like I missed the Plasma Gun or BFG-9000 during my time with Legacy of Rust.
Level Design – Satisfying and Detailed
All of the new content definitely makes this expansion a little more interesting compared to the previous expansions. It sort of makes Legacy of Rust feel like you’re playing a lite classic Doom mod. The level design was mostly good. A lot of these maps were fun to play, and the detail was also stunning too.
The level designers definitely wanted to remind players that they were playing modern day classic Doom levels, and not a bunch of levels that were made in the early nineties. Players will go through a wide range of themes within the maps. You can expect tech base, hell, nukage, fortress, and more as you play through the two episodes.
Unexpected Frustrations
Each episode has eight levels, and they mostly took a while to finish especially if you enjoy secret hunting like I do. It should be noted that the secrets are valuable in helping you survive some of the hard fights! Some maps seemed too frustrating at times due to the gimmicks they portrayed.
A great view of my least favorite map in the first episode.
One of them was a secret level in the second episode where the gameplay is more like playing a platformer. There was also a lot of hiding and seeking too. It was by far the worst official level I’ve played from classic Doom. I have no idea how a map like that was allowed to be shipped.
Despite the frustration at times, most of the levels did give me a good time. My favorite level was titled “Falsehood”. It was the level I had a blast figuring out its secrets and enjoying its theme. The map simply had a great balance of fun encounters and puzzle solving.
Graphics & Audio – Top Notch Like Always
Graphically, there is nothing different from playing Legacy of Rust to other content of the original Doom and Doom II. They are games from the early nineties, and they still look like that. However, the graphics are still pleasant to look at especially it does provide players that retro feel. Playing the Doom + Doom II port will definitely make the game look significantly sharper due to the higher resolution and anti aliasing. You will bump into new looking textures as you play through the game. They certainly “felt right” for the most part.
The soundtrack of the old Doom games has always been iconic in many ways. Some love the catchy and upbeat tracks. Some prefer the more horror and unsettling ones. Legacy of Rust mostly expands on the upbeat side of Doom. Most of the songs are mostly there to get players energized while playing the maps.
On top of that, the songs are simply memorable. Most of them are very catchy and will have you humming randomly as you figure out how to beat the levels. My personal favorites were “The Shores of Heaven” and “Callous Regard.” Both of these songs were euphoric to listen on their respective levels. It made getting lost in those levels worth the time.
When it comes to the sound effects of the game itself, it is mostly the same as the old Doom games. There were new sound effects added to the new content, and they felt appropriate. The Banshee can sound annoying at first, but I’ve definitely gotten used to it. In general, the game’s sound effects are simply fine and there’s nothing wrong about them.
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- Super Shotgun killed the Pinky…
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- Chaigun paradise.
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- A cute and useful secret.
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- A fun and beautiful arena.
This Doom: Legacy of Rust review was played on the Xbox Series X.
