On March 2, videogame archivist The Gman’s Archive (opens in new tab) shared a video to Twitter that is purportedly from a 2012 construct of Doom 4, the long-in-development Doom follow-up that might ultimately turn into the universally-acclaimed 2016 reboot of the sequence. The video was sourced from the Artstation web page of Danny Keys, a video editor and media artist at id Software program, however the authentic Artstation put up has since been taken down (opens in new tab).
Whereas Doom 3 has its detractors, the slower-paced, extra horror-focused recreation has an attraction that I discover onerous to disclaim. Nonetheless, after its 2004 launch, id clearly struggled with what path to take the sequence in, as outlined in a Noclip documentary (opens in new tab) from 2016. The Noclip doc, in addition to scattered leaks (opens in new tab) and protection over time, all paint an image of a distinctly late ’00s, early ’10s type of cinematic shooter. I take a look at these lovingly-animated faces, brown and gray colours, city environments, a dude with a rucksack trundling alongside earlier than vaulting over a desk—I calls ’em like I sees ’em, and what I see is Name of Doom.
The contents of this new sizzle reel from Keys slot unusually completely into what we all know of the Doom 4 to Doom (2016) growth timeline. In one other Noclip video (opens in new tab) from simply final 12 months, you possibly can unmistakably make out the gleaming Terminator skeleton of Doom (2016) slowly rising from the yielding flesh of Doom 4 as time goes on, with Name of Doom’s muddy brownness and sluggish motion giving solution to the acquainted contours of the launched shooter.
The 2012 trailer is darker and fewer colourful than the ultimate recreation, with demons that extra resemble the physique horror beasts of Doom 3 than the goofy (if nonetheless considerably grotesque) demon guys of right this moment. The shotgun, rage fist, and chainsaw glory kill animations although—these are virtually equivalent to what got here in 2016, ditto for the shotgun and chainsaw fashions. Many of the trailer seems prefer it was set on Earth, although partway by means of it transitions to a sterile inside that’d be proper at house within the UAC Mars facility.
This new video is one other attention-grabbing take a look at one of many earlier console technology’s defining shooters earlier than it got here collectively—”Doom’s not performed but, put it again within the oven!” One factor I all the time discover humorous about Doom 4 is that it would not actually appear to draw the identical wistful craving as different minimize, canceled, or reworked video games.
I am for certain responsible of this impulse—I am going to by no means not pine after Troika’s potential Fallout 3/Fallout-inspired prototype (opens in new tab) from earlier than Bethesda purchased the license and the Black Isle successor studio went beneath. With Doom although, what we obtained was so good, and its preliminary path was so off-mark, we will simply be regular about leaked Doom 4 stuff—it has no energy over us (cue Doom 4 likers sending me strongly-worded emails.).