4 Cool Games We’re Vibing With

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: YMMV)
Current goal: Finish the story

I like trash. Am I saying the new Doom game is trash? No. It’s fun! But I don’t think anyone’s fooling themselves into thinking it’s fine art, is what I’m getting at. And no, you won’t get three weeks of me talking about how much I love this game like you did for Clair Obscur—which I still haven’t finished because I am glued to several grinding zones I’ve mapped out in the world where I’ll just spend five or six hours a night leveling up and drilling the combat. It’s so good that I—see? I almost wrote another damn entry for that RPG again!

But no, this weekend I’m gonna log some hours with the new Doom (and maybe with Clair Obscur in between somewhere). Normally, I might’ve just not cared about a new Doom. 2016’s reboot was entertaining, but I bounced off of Eternal in its opening moments and never looked back. In recent years, I’ve also been properly introduced to ‘90s-era Doom, and I really fell in love with those games and various wads. So when I’m seeking Doom vibes, I tend to prefer perusing the older entries or toy with neat player-made creations.

So why am I playing the new Doom game? For the story, mostly! Though it’s less that the story has gripped me and more that I have a kind of morbid curiosity about what kind of story a narrative- and cutscene-heavy Doom could even be telling. Just like that one time I got curious about how a story that spans seven loosely adapted video-game films could work and thus watched every Milla Jovovich Resident Evil movie (wasn’t worth it, but there was some unexpectedly neat cinematography from time to time!). Maybe you have similar proclivities. If so, why not check out what the heck kind of story is in this narrative-focused prequel to the current Doom series?

Five hours into the game, however, I really couldn’t tell you what’s going on. The story seems to be more interested in just showing things happening when what’s needed is a bit of explanation for where the hell we even are. Or maybe it’s just that the dialogue is so nebulous and uninteresting that it’s easy to check out. The good news, though, is that the core loop, which is a bit long as it includes shooting, blocking, shield charging, shield throwing, and ammo-based melee strikes on top of the glory kill stuff that 2016’s Doom introduced, is fun if not a little easy on Ultra Violence difficulty.

I do still want this story to surprise me with at least one compelling scene, some clever line of dialogue, perhaps a bit of humor or some neat worldbuilding, so hopefully I come across that this weekend. Or not. Game’s fun either way! — Claire Jackson

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