Summary
With the upcomingDOOM: The Dark Agesconfirmed to be a purely single-player experience, Creative Director Hugo Martin explains why the team behind the game believes it will be better off without the inclusion of a standalone multiplayer function. The news ofDOOM: The Dark Ages' lack of multiplayer features neither surprised nor disappointed theDOOMfanbase all that much, with the multiplayer modes in recent installments attracting very little attention over the years.
DOOM 2016represented the franchise’s glorious return to power almost a decade ago now, and although it redefined what a modern single-player FPS campaign could be, it also came packaged with a largely overlooked multiplayer mode. Despite the vast success of its campaign,DOOM 2016’s DLC focused exclusively on its multiplayer content, adding a plethora of new weapons, maps, and playable demons to the mode. The title’s multiplayer is centered around a variety of standard game modes such as team deathmatch and king of the hill, butDOOM 2016’s sequel,DOOM Eternal, tried something new.DOOMEternal’s Battlemodeinstead involves one player as the Slayer himself, with the opposing side playing as demons attempting to destroy him.
AlthoughDOOM: Eternal’s Battlemode is typically viewed as a fun and refreshing take on the multiplayer medium, like its predecessor, the mode never nearedthe popularity ofDOOM Eternal’s campaign. Hugo Martin, Creative Director of the modernDOOMgames and the upcoming installment,DOOM: The Dark Ages, discussed inan interview with GamesRadar+why the team decided not to include any kind of multiplayer component for the upcoming title. Martin explained that the decision to forego a multiplayer mode was made right from the start of the game’s development, stating that the team “made the decision early to just focus all of our energy on trying to make the best campaign we could.”
DOOM: The Dark Ages' Campaign Will Benefit At The Expense of Multiplayer
Martin went on to add that the team had many ideas they wanted to include inDOOM: Eternal,which never saw fruition, partly due to the game’s Battlemode inevitably consuming valuable development time and resources. He continued to provide an example of such scrapped content, stating that “with Eternal, we wanted to put mechs in the game.“Trailers forDOOM: The Dark Ageshave confirmed that the game will finally see the concept of playable mechs fully realized, giving players the chance to pilot the vehicles that could only be found as wrecks inDOOM Eternal.
Martin went on to explain how adding a multiplayer mode to Triple-A games is typically no cakewalk in the present day, stating that “you can’t just do a little multiplayer.” Multiplayer modes tend to thrive nowadays under the live-service model, a direction that, according to Martin, the team behindDOOM: The Dark Agesconsciously wished to avoid. This is likely good news for fans ofDOOM’s iconic, fast-paced single-player action, withDOOM:The Dark Agesshaping up to feature a huge and more narratively significant campaignthat promises to capitalize on everything that makesDOOMso great.
