Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods - Part Two impressions: Razing Hell

Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods – Part Two picks up directly where The Ancient Gods Part One ended. The Doom Slayer has revived the Dark Lord and will soon take part in what can only be considered the battle of the century. The only problem? You’ve got to go through hell to get there.

Much like The Ancient Gods – Part One, Part Two of the DLC includes a ton of new enemies, new traversal methods, and new levels to explore. The new content isn’t exceptionally long, but it is difficult, offering some of the most hardcore fights Eternal has ever thrown at you. If you’re planning on picking it up, I highly recommend coming prepared, because you’re about to raise a whole different kind of hell.

Hello darkness, my old friend

Much like Doom Eternal proper and the first DLC, the fast-paced and brutal action of the Doom series is on full display in The Ancient Gods – Part Two. This means tons of enemies to kill, plenty of combat encounters to work your way through, and gallons upon gallons of the blood of your enemies to wade through.

Getting to the Dark Lord and taking him down is no easy feat, but the Doom Slayer is no lightweight, either. Armed to the brim with all of the weapons that you’ve enjoyed throughout Eternal—as well as a new Sentinel Hammer—there are some exceptionally good fight sequences in The Ancient Gods – Part Two, all of which will challenge everything you know about the Doom formula to survive.

One of my biggest concerns with the first part of the DLC returns in Part Two, albeit in a bit more of an annoying fashion. Some combat encounters take place inside of such cramped areas—with literally no way to move beyond that area—and there are so many enemies thrown at you, that the fast-paced movement that makes it so enjoyable comes screeching to a halt. At one point I even found myself stuck to the ground, barely able to move as legions of Imps rushed at me.

Like Part One, there are also a ton of new enemies to take down in Part Two, including the Armored Baron—a variation of the Baron of Hell which is even more dangerous than the original counterpart thanks to a suit of armor that you need to destroy to damage it. There are also now Stone Imps, which require you to use the Auto Shotgun mod to more easily kill them. Other additions include a Screecher Zombie that buffs all nearby demons when it is killed, and a few others you can come across.

As a whole these enemies add a nice variation to the combat and, while they force you to make use of different items and tools, it does help keep the combat feeling refreshing as you dive deeper into the DLC.

The DLC also introduces a new way to traverse these levels Now players will have to use the Meathook Grapple to latch onto floating grapple points throughout the level. This all combines together with the game's double jump and dash mechanics to create some unique platforming sections. Excessive platforming sections are one of the things I disliked the most about Doom Eternal, but here the Meathook Grapple feels good, though a bit challenging to use as it requires you to move in the opposite direction you want to travel. That can be a bit confusing at first, but it quickly works itself out.

We must go deeper

One of my favorite things about The Ancient Gods has been id Software digging deeper into the lore and story that fuses all of the Doom universe together. We get even more of that in Part Two, especially during the ending sequences.

I won’t spoil too much here, obviously, because I think its something that Doom players will appreciate experiencing for themselves. I will say that it all feeds back into that god-like image that a lot of humanity has painted of the Doom Slayer, and it felt like it really tied up a lot of the mumbo jumbo that The Father and The Vergil have all been alluding to throughout Doom Eternal’s campaign.

Altogether, The Ancient Gods – Part Two feels like an actual ending, something that both Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal didn’t have. It feels like id Software has finally closed the book and finished up the story that it began when the demons were unleashed in 2016, and that is something I’m happy to see. It also leaves me a bit confused on where the franchise will go from here, and a little curious if we’ll see id Software focusing on non-Doom projects more in the future.

These impressions are based on a code provided by the publisher. Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods – Part Two is now available.

Josh Hawkins

Guides Editor

Joshua holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and has been exploring the world of video games for as long as he can remember. He enjoys everything from large-scale RPGs to small, bite-size indie gems and everything in between.