id Software studio director Marty Stratton has revealed why the most recent trailer for DOOM: The Dark Ages had so much emphasis on its story, considering the fact that the franchise has been traditionally known for its focus on gameplay. In an interview with EDGE (via GamesRadar), Stratton revealed that this was done because the stories in the newer DOOM games have been quite popular.
Stratton spoke about how, despite the minimal storytelling in DOOM 2016, with the protagonist even going out of their way to throw audiologs out of their way, players ultimately ended up enjoying digging intot he game’s lore.
“In so many interviews, we sit down with somebody and their first question is about the story,” said Stratton. “There’s YouTube channels dedicated to analyzing every little bit of iconography. We have data that shows that in DOOM Eternal an extremely large percentage of people who play through the game watch the cutscenes.”
“A DOOM game that doesn’t have a story is just an arcade game,” Stratton continued, explaining why the story in DOOM: The Dark Ages is such an integral part of the game. “Yes, there are people who like that experience, but, well, that’s what the ‘skip’ button is for.”
It is worth noting that DOOM Eternal placed a much larger emphasis on its story than its predecessor. Quite a bit of the background lore was expanded on not only through text-only lore entries and item descriptions, but also through cutscenes and conversations.
The latest trailer for DOOM: The Dark Ages was released back in January during Microsoft’s Xbox Developer_Direct. Along with giving us a better look at the game, the trailer had also revealed that the title would be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on May 15.
Since the trailer’s release, id Software has been revealing quite a few details about the upcoming shooter. Game director Hugo Martin, for instance, revealed that DOOM: The Dark Ages will have the largest spaces that the studio has ever made.
Despite the size of these levels, however, Martin also said that they were designed in a way that players won’t have to end up spending “two hours” on just exploring without action to break things up. The large levels will also give players plenty of variety as they take on demons.
“You might start in a dungeon-like space, then open up in the second half of the level into a more open-ended portion,” Martin said. “We’re trying to make sure the player feels there’s a good amount of variety.”
Martin had also revealed that the studio likes to revisit the original DOOM from 1993 to get more inspiration. He compares this to a painter visiting a museum to study a Norman Rockawell painting.
“It’s like a classic piece of art,” said Martin. “It’s like a painter going to a museum and studying the Norman Rockwell painting he’s already studied 50 times. Every time you look at it, you learn something new.”
For more details about DOOM: The Dark Ages, check out our interview with Martin and Stratton, where the duo revealed details about various aspects like custom difficulty options, the game’s medieval fantasy setting, and the lack of multiplayer.
In the meantime, also check out 15 new things we’ve learned about the upcoming game.
