DOOM Eternal: Horde Mode Is The Perfect Reason To Come Back To The Game

DOOM Eternal has been supported by developer id Software through a variety of post-launch updates, and its version 6.66, which included the long-awaited Horde Mode as free DLC, gives players a perfect new way to return to the game after some time away. Combining elements from DOOM Eternal’s base story missions and both of its DLC campaigns, the Horde Mode also acts as a preview of some of the new demons and weapons from that content for anyone that hasn’t picked up them up already.

After the success of DOOM’s 2016 reincarnation, DOOM Eternal has ratcheted up both the speed and intensity of its gameplay in addition to support for its single-player and multiplayer components. With substantive, story-heavy map packs in DOOM Eternal’s two-parter DLC The Ancient Gods, new weapons, demons, and gameplay mechanics were introduced, providing unprecedented support for the game even above and beyond the free updates that came to DOOM’s 2016 iteration.

id Software has doubled-down on its support of DOOM Eternal, both because it’s proven quite popular as far as the studio’s recent offerings, and because id seems poised to continue looking at its classic IPs like DOOM and Quake in the immediate future. For those who have spent time away from the game, DOOM Eternal’s Horde Mode signals the perfect time to come back and explore its new content, both in the Horde Mode’s leaderboards and the game’s revamped multiplayer Battlemode 2.0.

DOOM Eternal’s Free Updates Make It The Best Time To Play The Game

The campaign maps are full of collectibles, secrets, upgrades, and optional challenges, and the game regularly offers free battlepass-style experiences to unlock cosmetic rewards, but DOOM Eternal’s Horde Mode offers something different. Eschewing the collectibles and upgrades of the main campaign by giving players a fully-powered Doom Slayer, it also asks them to start with only a single shotgun, progressively adding more firepower through each round, adding complexity (and a bit of randomness) in the available weaponry and waves of demons as it moves through its 3-mission, 6-map mini-campaign. With the added benefit of DLC demons and the new Sentinel Hammer, it’s the perfect distillation of the base campaign and the DLC additions, all topped with “seasons” that evolve slightly and get their own unique leaderboards.

For those who haven’t kept up with the game’s updates over the last year, or who haven’t yet experienced the furious energy of DOOM Eternal’s The Ancient Gods DLC, there is no better time to dive back into the game. A wealth of free content has been added in the form of the Horde Mode and numerous superpowered Master Level versions of maps from the base game and the DLC, the latest of which even feature their own separate reward tiers, Ultra-Nightmare challenges, and a new Classic mode that requires finding weapons individually. Lapsed Slayers are left with more than enough DOOM Eternal to keep them occupied for quite some time, even if they don’t choose to buy the DLC.

About The Author

Michael Riser
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Michael J. Riser is an author, freelance writer, and a gaming features editor at Screen Rant. His work has appeared in such varied publications as Goomba Stomp, IGN Pakistan, UNC Charlotte’s Sanskrit, and print anthologies from Despumation, Solarcide, and Pantheon Magazine. He has formerly been the managing editor of Alloutgames.com and the indie games editor at Goomba Stomp. An Asian Studies and Religious Studies graduate of CSU Chico, he has lived in Japan, hunting through the narrow aisles of game stores from Osaka to Tokyo, and has lived in the cloisters of a Buddhist monastery in Ningbo, China. He now lives in California with his wife, a rescue dog, and a mischievous Hallowe’en cat.

You can find him occasionally ranting at Bookruptcy.com, and can email him directly at michael.r(at)screenrant(dot)com.

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