When I've been presented with DLC for action/arcade/adventure games in the past, I've often faced a concern of whether or not the DLC itself is a "New Game +" or an actual expansion to the game. Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods Part 1 (TAG1) walks a very fine line between crafting a new narrative versus providing players with more to do beyond KILL ALL THE DEMONS!!1 There will be moments where you find yourself in brand new environments and in an entirely different story, but there will also be moments where you'll think you're playing a "New Game +" kind of scenario, where you're immersed in end-game encounters comprised of waves of demons that you would also find at the end of Doom Eternal. The difficulty feels harder, to boot. You should expect TAG1 to take you around 6 hours or so (more if you like to be a completionist and find all of the secrets). You will enjoy this if you played Doom Eternal, but you'll be left with a cliffhanger at the end that prepares you for what's to come.
Doomguy, if you thought that your job as the Slayer of all demons was done after completing the campaign of Doom Eternal, you would be mistaken. The world needs you once again to save us from Hell! Now that Doom Eternal is out on the Switch, owners of the game should be pleased to know that its first expansion, The Ancient Gods Part I (TAG1), is available as well. If you’ve beaten Doom Eternal and have a hankering to continue slaying demons, this review is for you.
TAG1 takes place immediately after the completion of the campaign in Doom Eternal. All suit upgrades and weapon mods seem to already be unlocked from the start, so you do not need to worry about feeling as though you missed unlocking something in the main campaign. However, the game assumes that you have a baseline understanding of the tactics that you learned while playing the base game, as you will be thrown into multiple gauntlets full to the brim of demons. On the first level, there are several encounters where you can easily expect to see at least two of every single Super Heavy Demon (Archviles, Doomhunters, Marauders, oh my!), sometimes at the same time. Trying to take on these minibosses without understanding how to kill them, even on the easiest difficulty, will punish players. I highly recommend you finish Doom Eternal before you even consider trying TAG1 (and this applies to those who have already beaten Doom Eternal’s campaign a while ago, too!).
The general formula of the Doom Eternal experience can be seen as this: enter an arena, pump all your ammo into waves of enemies (using your chainsaw, if necessary), solve a small puzzle, and then engage in platforming to get to a new area (where you might or might not be presented with a cutscene). TAG1 is no different, but ramped up to 11. The arenas you fight in feel much larger than in the campaign, but they lack the ramping difficulty of demon onslaughts. You will be fighting minibosses on the first encounter, so keep that in mind. As someone who had just completed the main campaign, enduring these demon encounters felt like I was repeating content I had already completed, since there were very few changes/additions to the waves of demons that kept spawning over and over again. Halfway through the first level I wondered if this DLC was created with the goal of overwhelming veterans and new players alike by bombarding them with demons, their parents, and extended families.
This is not to say that there are no new enemies whatsoever. There are but they are few and far between to the extent of having about one to two new additions per level spanning the three levels of TAG1. One of the new “ambient” demons is a Turret, which looks like a purple Eye of Sauron. Turrets require two shots with the Heavy Cannon but “hide” after taking damage the first time and/or if you’re aiming at them for too long. In other words, you can expect to see six new enemies, but only two of them offer a new mechanic to consider while you slay away. It would have been nice for TAG1 to include some more enemies (or even more new mechanics), as opposed to some reskinned enemies that require the same tactics from Doom Eternal.
Slaying these additional demons and the larger waves of enemies is still fun. The new arenas have much more breathing room (for the most part) and floor hazards than the base campaign. You have more opportunities to run away from your enemies to assess ammo and decide on which weapons to use next. Playing on the easiest difficulty (I’m Too Young to Die) feels like you are playing on the campaign’s normal (Hurt Me Plenty) difficulty, which tests your patience, gunplay, and tactics. Since progress doesn’t carry over from the campaign, you start with 0 extra lives, so losing all of your HP during an encounter means that you restart it. There are a few extra lives scattered throughout the levels, but you will most likely miss them on your first playthrough. The few and far between new enemies change up the pace a bit, but you shouldn’t expect an entirely new gameplay experience in TAG1.
TAG1 ramps up the difficulty of the platforming gameplay, too. In the later levels of the Doom Eternal campaign, there were several platforming sections that required a keen eye, a short amount of time, and tight movement. You can expect the platforming in TAG1 to be similar to the endgame platforming, as one of the first platforming sections requires you to jump over a long distance, pick up a dash refill, and then shoot a target while in midair. This kind of complex platforming added a welcome layer of difficulty that was rarely present in the base game. Even then, crossing a giant space while riding a shipping container and jumping between moving platforms feels like you’re accomplishing more difficult feats. After completing these platforming sections, I was relieved to have survived thus far.
TAG1 does not introduce any new weapons, nor does it allow you to use your Crucible. Instead, TAG1 includes an additional Support Rune slot that can be unlocked by completing Slayer Gates requiring you to find them in the game. There are three Support Runes in total, so you should expect to do some searching to find the Slayer Keys and slaying additional demons in Slayer Gates. In my playthrough, I noticed that it was entirely possible for a player to miss out on these new runes, as there was no indication prior to starting TAG1 that these runes were locked behind a mode from the campaign that was entirely optional, more difficult, and off the beaten path. Yet, these new Support Runes breathe life into your playstyle and offer you an extra chance to keep yourself alive. It would have been nice for a heads up or some encouragement to seek out the Slayer Gates to complete them, as I learned after I completed the Slayer Gate encounter that I had unlocked the Support Runes.
TAG1’s levels offer a refreshing departure from the environments present in Doom Eternal’s base campaign. No longer are you slaying demons in a fiery Earth that is being consumed by demons or medieval castles brimming with ghastly knights and steampunk technology. Instead, TAG1 explores three alternative biomes, such as an aquatic military base and a swamp. At first glance, these new environments broaden the scope of Doom’s universe. Unlike the campaign’s gigantic levels, these new environments are fairly linear and offer less opportunities for Doomguy to explore. For instance, the underwater portions of the aquatic military base contain sharks (which, to my knowledge, are the first animals in the environments of Doom Eternal). Since you’re underwater, you are unable to defend yourself from the sharks other than… swimming away from them. Exploring these new environments is cool at first, but I wish that there was more to explore seeing as we’re in such unfamiliar and novel environments.
In the base game, you were encouraged to go off the beaten path to find collectibles, upgrades, and cheat codes. TAG1 offers very few collectibles other than the glowing red lore excerpts that are found in the base campaign. As a result of this, the levels can feel smaller than expected even though the arenas are huge. The lack of secrets and interactive elements is unfortunate, as it shrinks the gameplay experience and whittles it down to surviving endless demons rather than surviving endless demons and exploring interesting areas. Because of this, I did not feel compelled to fast travel at the end of the levels when I was allowed to. I am concerned about this expansion’s replayability, especially since the base game has Master Levels that encourage veterans and Doom fanatics to invest more time in replaying the game at higher levels of difficulty. Hopefully the next expansion offers better replayability.
TAG1 introduces a LOT of new lore beyond “go slay demons.” There are new cutscenes, characters, and backstory to consider. More than once will you be questioning Doomguy’s relationships with VEGA and Samuel as you learn more about their origins. The amount of “invisible lore content” mirrors that of Doom Eternal: you’re given a taste of the story when shown a cutscene but you have the option of diving deeper into the history of the areas you are entering on your own in the menus. This model of world building concerns me just a bit, however. For a person who is new to the game and dares starting TAG1 before even playing Doom Eternal, that person will be utterly confused. Yet, seeing as there is such a massive focus on demon slaying, being forced to read through content and learn backstories may frustrate some players.
Unlike the base campaign, TAG1 lacks a “home base” where Doomguy can visit and explore in between missions. Part of the Doom Eternal experience was breathing in between missions, listening to the ARC Recordings, exploring the Fortress of Doom, and seeing your collectibles. TAG1 lacks that space, which is unfortunate. Although TAG1 does include an intermission level (the ARC carrier) between the first and second mission, it simply acts as a transition away from a cutscene and means of the Doomguy choosing to enter the teleporter when he desires.
Like our experience playing Doom Eternal, TAG1’s graphics are acceptable on the Nintendo Switch. The cutscenes are still decent, but pale in comparison to TAG1 on other platforms. When I looked up a video on how to find an extra life in one of the levels on YouTube (since I am a completionist at heart), I was stunned to see how beautiful the game looked in 1080p. In the Switch version, the characters and worlds look moderately fleshed out, the framerate is still 30fps, yet TAG1 seems to raise the bar in terms of enemy density. I was quite surprised to see so many enemies in the TAG1 levels while still maintaining a stable framerate. I can go on, but you’re most likely not considering TAG1 for its graphics; you’re considering TAG1 for its value in providing you with another experience at playing Doom Eternal.
While we did review Doom Eternal for the Switch earlier this year, I think it’s important to mention a slight followup for those who haven’t played it yet. As I had never played Doom Eternal prior to this review, I completed the campaign before attempting to play TAG1. The campaign was really fun, and I agree with our review of the base game, barring one critical exception: The number of bugs that exist in the Switch version (and I would imagine in the other versions, too) is quite concerning. I encountered a significant number of bugs that included, but not limited to, falling into a “death pit” and becoming stuck there (rather than instantly dying; requiring a reload of the encounter), clearing an enemy encounter in the Super Death Pit and becoming stuck because the next area did not open up (requiring a restart of the entire mission, because reloading the encounter did not resolve the issue), weapon mods failing to switch (until I completed the mission), and becoming stuck in walls. Note: These bugs did not factor into the TAG1 review, but still important to know before you play.
When I’ve been presented with DLC for action/arcade/adventure games in the past, I’ve often faced a concern of whether or not the DLC itself is a “New Game+” or an actual expansion to the game. Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods Part 1 walks a very fine line between crafting a new narrative versus providing players with more to do beyond KILL ALL THE DEMONS!!! There will be moments where you find yourself in brand new environments and in an entirely different story, but there will also be moments where you’ll think you’re playing a “New Game+” kind of scenario, where you’re immersed in end-game encounters comprised of waves of demons that you would also find at the end of Doom Eternal. The difficulty feels harder, to boot. You should expect TAG1 to take you around 6 hours or so (more if you like to be a completionist and find all of the secrets). You will enjoy this if you played Doom Eternal, but you’ll be left with a cliffhanger at the end that prepares you for what’s to come.
