You've gone through hell, now meet the demons. Bethesda and id Software have furnished us with a nice selection of concept art and 3D renders of the distinctly freakish fiends waiting to tear you into little bouncing gibs once you load up Doom.
The demons all have a distinct look - even moreso than the original Doom, which could be a little hard to read with all the pixelation - but are unified by a common theme: exaggerated proportions and realistic textures. In other words, they're grotesque as all get out.
Here's a selection of the monsters, along with some commentary by the Id artists to blame, er, responsible for their creation.
Cyberdemon by Hugo Martin
"The lore of the Cyberdemon drives the visual design of the character. The remains of this beast were found during an expedition through Hell. His lifeless body was brought back to our world and re-animated by the UAC using their technology. This model was created by Jason Martin based on a concept I did at the beginning of the project."
Mancubus by Hugo Martin
"This design was completed very early on in development. We wanted to push the comic book, heavy metal aesthetic as far as we could. He has exaggerated proportions with realistic details and textures which is a visual theme we tried to maintain throughout the project."
Prowler by Hugo Martin
"This design was originally concepted by Alex Palma. This rendering was my take on the design but many elements from Alex’s version remain intact."
Possessed Engineer by Hugo Martin
"Playful but deadly, that’s the theme used in a lot of the monsters in DOOM. This Welder shambles along, looking for a good place to ignite himself. The rendering is meant to communicate the personality as well as the design of the character."
Baron of Hell by Alex Palma
"The Baron of Hell was my first task on this project. My job with this was to make the Baron look intimidating and fierce. This is what the final concept ended up looking like, although the final design for the game did change the colour of the Baron for the better."
Cyber-Mancubus by Alex Palma
"Taking the calcified bone armor of a Hell Mancubus and replacing it with top-of-the-line UAC weapon technology, a big, heavy and tank-like beast was created making it the Cyber-Mancubus."
Revenant by Alex Palma
"A great thing for me in this project was helping design this demon. A lot of iterations came before this. Sticking to the original Revenant as a source of inspiration, while adding new and modern ideas, were the keys to recreate this demon. A running demon skeleton with a jet pack and mounted guns sounds very silly, but using our artistic experience we managed to render this demon out into something not just believable and scary, but iconic."
Lost Soul by Hugo Martin
"Heavy Metal album covers of the ‘80s were a big influence on the visual style of this game. The Lost Soul is a screaming skull with horns and flames coming out the back, a heavy metal inspired demon design if there ever was one."
Baron of Hell Render by Denzil O'Neill
"The Baron is another classic demon. One of the key aspects to hit with The Baron was maintaining a chiselled read to his form in order to visually reinforce his brute strength."
Cacodemon Render by Denzil O'Neill
"My first task on the project was the Cacodemon designed by Hugo Martin. The ‘Caco’ is a very iconic demon so it was important to retain the original appeal but also evoke a fierce modern look. Originally tentacles flowed from his back, but we opted for classic horns in order to create a more aggressive silhouette read."
Imp Render by Jason Martin
"Fast, nimble and a real menace. The challenge here was to make him stand out, yet also be very much part of a hive mentality. Many artists worked together to bring this iteration to life."
Pinky Render by Jason Martin
"Bringing the Pinky to life was a fun challenge. We went through many design iterations from Alex Palma and Hugo Martin. It was important to really dig deep on this iconic Doom demon and do the Pinky some modern justice."
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