Doom developers frequently go back to the seminal shooter from 1993 for inspiration, so much so that it even inspired the path id Software took with Doom: The Dark Ages.
"It's like a classic piece of art," game director Hugo Martin says in the latest issue of Edge Magazine. "It's like a painter going to a museum and studying the Norman Rockwell painting he's already studied 50 times. Every time you look at it, you learn something new."
This time the Doom maestros noticed something quite unseeming in the old halls of hells: the speed, or lack thereof, of enemy projectiles. OG Doom's difficulty doesn't necessarily come from reacting to bullets with lightning speed twitch reflexes - it comes from skillfuly strafing, swerving and zig-zagging around incoming fire. "The projectiles start to collect in the world, and they create this maze that the player has to weave through," Martin says.
The core of Doom: The Dark Ages was then built around that maze-like feel. Rather than Doom Eternal's scarily speedy bullets, shiny red orbs more so float past Doom Guy, and when you're surrounded by foes on all sides, you'll need to step very carefully in order to not bump into one.
"In Eternal, there's a lot of activity along the [vertical] Y-axis," Martin explains, "but [here] it felt better to focus the threats and the targets along the horizon line," in another callback to the classic that started it all. "It's a movement shooter still, but the movement is more about what’s happening along the X-axis."
As if hell and demons weren't enough, Doom: The Dark Ages went medieval so id Software "could get more dark and sinister with the tool kit"
