The Ancient Gods - Part Two

This DLC doesn't differ much from TAG 1 when it comes to how it plays. It's still more Doom Eternal, and this is great, because the gameplay loop of Doom will always be entertaining and gives you the best Adrenaline rush you can ask from a game, however, just like the first DLC, it takes several missteps when it comes to the new enemies added. The spirits in the first DLC were bad on their own, but the new enemies in this aren't any better.

Cursed prowlers are a new enemy added that, when it hits you, it removes your ability to dash or jump till it's killed. The catch ? When you're "cursed" you can't kill except with blood punch. This is for me a terrible decision. Hindering your ability to move in a game that's completely dependent on moving non stop is bad, but limiting your ability to remove such curse to one weapon that recharges by killing elements is terrible. It almost feels like once you got hit by it, if you don't have the punch recharged it's an instant game over. It becomes top priority to get rid of them ASAP once they hit the arena before you got hit or always have one blood punch available and not using it for the chance you got hit. Why can't I just, you know, kill it while cursed using my weapons ? Beats me.

The other enemies added all require certain weapon or a mod to get rid. While I'm not saying this is bad, I feel like there's way too many gimmicks for every new monster now and almost limiting you to kill them by certain weapon, unlike the enemies of the base game which lets you kill them with whatever combinations you want to. I feel this is a big misstep and restricts your freedom in choosing the way you want to kill the enemies.

The final boss was underwhelming. The gimmick needed to defeat him is a rip off from the Marauder and the fight is just nothing special and extends for way too long of you doing exactly the same thing over and over again. The ending of the story after it feels really rushed, as if they just wanted to wrap it up ASAP and didn't have time.

But regardless of these problems, the rest is just Doom Eternal, and this on its own is still great and worth your money. I feel like the difficulty is lower overall than the first DLC and feels like it's back to how it was in the main game. I finished the main game and this DLC on Ultra Violence (hard) without many problems, but TAG 1 I barely managed to finish it on Hurt Me Plenty (Normal). Whether you like this or not, is up to you.

Difficulty: Nightmare

I was disappointed with the Ancient Gods Part 1 at first. To me, it felt like how it was made to be difficult to be artificial by making enemies spongy. But when I attempted UN runs, I turned around and had a great time. The spirits make you use the microwave beam (which is severely underrated) and when beaming them, they pressure you with the demons around you so they make you shoot grenades for crowd control. From what I've heard id Software took the Plutonia route with the first DLC.

Ancient Gods Part 2, however, I fell in love with after my first playthrough. The new additions are incredible. They made really interesting changes to the meta. These Sonic the Hedgehog Imps are vulnerable to the Full Auto mod (another underappreciated mod). The screechers want you to make sure you're careful, but also a risk/reward factor for more health, or buffing the enemies. The Sentinel Hammer is a really cool weapon for regaining ammo and health/armor at the same time while stunning enemies. With this weapon, the Marauder is now made to be even more of a joke by shooting him, then using your hammer, and then going all out on him for him to die. No more SSG + Ballista + SSG. This is the way to kill him. Speaking of the Marauder, he's been streamlined more with a new sound effect when he summons his dog and blue dizzying stars when you shoot him when he's vulerable. Yellow stars if you use the hammer for even longer vulnerability. Armored Barons give you the decision if you want to take out his armor by just shooting it with the Plasma rifle or if you want to wait for the timing to shoot a part to destroy the armor completely. It's easily the better designed choice than the Blood Maykrs.

ALSO MEATHOOK PLATFORMIIIIING!! Hopefully players will get to be even more creative with platforming using the Meathook because to me, it adds another layer to the platforming and I feel like it is overhated.

This DLC is incredible. It really made my tied favorite game even more fun with changes the meta and players' habits rather than making enemies spongy. If this counted as a game. It would be my game of the year.