The Ancient Gods - Part One

This DLC is basically more Doom Eternal, there's nothing much to say in this regard. If you like the fast paced action, the Adrenaline rush and the ammo/health micromanagement of Eternal, you're bound to like the majority of this DLC. It adds up new environment designs to the series as well so it still feels unique in its own way.

I didn't like the new enemies added in this expansion though. Honestly most of them go against the general direction of the game, which is non stop moving and shooting. The spirits suck, because standing in one place using the microwave and hoping you won't die till it's over is a terrible design. Blood Maykr having a shield all the time and you have to patiently wait till it drops it to headshot it is also a lame design, not particularly hard, but just lame when you're supposed to be continuously on your toes and moving not waiting for certain enemy till he drops his shield. The Marauder was honestly better, at least he usually appears on his own and not alongside other enemies, and he's easy to get stunned to death with practice, but this one Maykr was a bit lame in my opinion.

The last boss fight was terrible and has a ridiculous difficulty spike that's honestly more unfair than being fun. I finished the base game on Ultra Violence (which equals hard here) with no problem, but had to go with Hurt Me Plenty (Normal) in this DLC to not rage quit, and still the last phase of the final boss was ridiculously unfair.

But still, if you enjoyed the main game and you want more and new levels, this is worth the money.

I finally did it. After 516 hours, I beat DOOM Eternal's hardest DLC on Ultra-Nightmare. No superweapons. No deaths. All on the hardest difficulty. This is, by far, the hardest challenge I have ever had to overcome in any video game. I fucking love this game so much. Now that I am finished and my heart is racing, I really need to sleep right now.

I WAS DOING MY FIRST RUN ON ULTRA-NIGHTMARE TODAY AND I DIED AT THE LAST PHASE OF THE FINAL BOSS! THIS IS THE HARDEST SHIT EVER AND THAT WAS MY BEST RUN!

Mick Gordon may be gone, and I do miss him working on DOOM music. Andrew Hulshult and David Levy did great with the DLC soundtrack but not up to par. BUT, this track is up there with Mick Gordon's best. Wish that it wasn't only used for a short trial. 3:55 is just chef's kiss A+.

Difficulty: Nightmare

100% Completion

DLC Impressions: You know how there are people who hate the Marauders? Well I found one enemy that is worse: the Spirits. Unlike the Marauders, I hated these guys. They mostly possess heavies which make some enemies like the Barons and Tyrants really spongy. Even the Arachnotron has too much health. They can also make weakpoints invulnerable which goes against the idea of enemies like the Mancubi and Arachnotrons.

I think what the Spirit does best explains the DLC: padding. Like how it pads out enemies' health bars, the game feels padded out with really long arena battles. Placements felt like iD Software wanted to make the game harder, so they added more beefy enemies. I came across a TON of Cybermancubi. One arena had two Tyrants and one Doom Hunter at the same time. One of which is possessed by the Spirit. I remember when people complained about the length in some levels of the main campaign like Cultist Base or Taras Nabad, but The Ancient Gods has 3 levels and all of them are longer than any level in the main campaign. The fight against only two Marauders only happened once, which I was disappointed in.

But I will say, it's more Doom Eternal. Just less polished than the main campaign and not a 10/10. I'll replay it for the extra lives achievement, but afterwards, I'll play the main campaign for the 13th time.