Reviewing Monsters: Doom [2016]

DOOM!

So recently, I just decided to play Doom. Specifically, the 2016 'soft-reboot', or 'Doom 4' as some people call it. The original first-person shooter video game on computers, 2016 saw a very highly-praised reboot of the Doom franchise, starring Doomguy the Doom Slayer as he wakes up in a sci-fi facility in Mars overrun with demons after morally-sketchy scientists (some of whom are cultists) open a portal to hell!

The game is great. Loud rock music, fun environments, a simple enough story to digest but a neat chunk of lore if you want to go snooping around for datapads and codex entries, and it just feels great. It's over-the-top gory without being too disgusting about it. Pretty fun experience. And above all, you shoot demons!

I wanted to do a quick little review after so many heavier-duty monster reviews, and a lot of these will boil down to me describing it and going 'neat', but I feel that's appropriate for Doom. Short, sweet, to the point, guns, demons, rock music! 

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Possessed

The very first enemies you meet are the 'Possessed', who used to be human. The 'Lazarus Wave' event that caused all of the havoc in the UAC facility on Mars warped a huge chunk of the staff into what are essentially zombies after they die. The 'Lazarus Wave' is like a typical sci-fi explosion of the game's 'Argent Energy', which is the plot device energy that humanity built the facility to drain energy from Hell. 

Anyway, zombies! The base Possessed has tattered scientist clothing, which is fine and dandy, but there's an additional bit of creepiness as the center of their head has just been warped into a swirling empty socket. This adds a nice layer of grisliness to what would otherwise be 'just' a zombie. Each enemy has an entry that describes what the UAC researched about these beings. The Possessed are noted to behave, again, similarly to zombies. Limited to instinctive behaviour, territorial against the living, and when isolated they remain dormant for a while. However, to separate the Possessed from a typical zombie, when there are enough Possessed around, they will drag human corpses into a central location and perform a crude, silent ritual to create 'Gore Nests', which we find all throughout game as little masses of flesh, teeth and cysts that allow stronger demons to come through from Hell. We don't actually see the Possessed doing this in-game, but it does explain why there are so many demons in the Mars facilities despite there only being one or two big portals. 

The Possessed Engineer is a variation that act as that was unfortunate enough to be close enough to welding equipment and chemical tanks when the Lazarus Wave happened. Specifically, in this case, the typical super-fragile shooter video game red barrel. The wave fuses metal to skin, creating a Possessed with an explosive tank embedded in their skin. Or rather, their flesh -- that tank looks halfway inserted into the poor Engineer's torso.

Possessed Soldiers

The two Possessed above don't do much but just flail around, functionally acting more as hazards and a way for you to replenish your ammunition more than anything. However, the soldiers in the facility -- and of course there are a lot of soldiers -- are a bit more dangerous. They appear to have had their right arms fused with their shotguns, although the Lazarus Wave has also stripped a chunk of their clothing off. 

Apparently, training in combat allows the zombification (possessification?) to allow them to retain tactical cognizance, and these Possessed Soldiers know enough to run around, aim and shoot their guns, and pursue the Slayer throughout a map. The demonic wave is magical (or super advanced science, depending on the writer) and they know how to trigger this response on a case-by-case basis. 

Some of these soldiers have energy shields, too, which are quite annoying and require usage of a specific weapon, the Plasma Rifle's Stun Bomb upgrade, to get them to drop their shield. I don't have a whole ton to say about these soldiers, they sure are neat zombies and fit the aesthetic of a space station mutated by a horrifying demonic wave!

Unwilling 

With the very cool name of the 'Unwilling', they are functionally 'reskins' of the Possessed enemy... but have a much more monstrous body. It's not just regular skeleton or sinew anymore, not the way that they are laid out in a proper human body! The head is still eyeless and the shape of the skull is mutated to look a bit more monstrous, and the general design looks like a skinny anatomical muscular model covered with bony armour. 

Unwilling are encountered only in the Hell levels, and are noted to be fully-transformed Possessed that have been transported to Hell for slave labour and cannon fodder. Pretty cool mutated zombie design!

Imp

And here we have the first 'proper' demon, the Imp. Imps, despite their name, are the height of a regular human, a fact that Doom's flavour text actually does lampshade. Imps are fragile, fast, and shoot fireballs at you. Imps jump around like frantic frogs, leaping from wall to wall and ceiling to ceiling -- something that you, as the player, are likely to do if you want to survive this game. They are just simple screeching berserkers with no special abilities beyond that, but are a nice introductory species to the concept of 'hell demons'. 

They look humanoid enough, but their ruddy-orange skin and purple-tinged sinewy musculature; as well as their ghoulish stance, make them look different enough even before you get to their heads, which is a pretty near snarling demon-face. A pretty neat 'fodder' demon. 

Hell Razer

The Hell Razer is another one of the demons with the 'skeletal armour' aesthetic, but it has a head that I find really cool, with the bony growths completely obscuring all features except for the mouth. Its right hand has mutated into a giant organic cannon, which in-game functions like a sniper rifle. Or, as the codex calls it, 'unrefined hell energy'. That arm-cannon is composed of cartilage and osseous tissue, specifically modified to process and launch hell energies. 

The Codex entry for the Hell Razer is especially interesting in describing the Razer's "embryogenesis". The Razer is, in fact, a parasite! They will seek out a suitable host to 'cremate from within', which... I'm sorry, cremation normally involves burning a bod to ashes... but who am I to question hell demon biology? The host then mutates the host's body into what it is, ossified weapon and everything.

The general behaviour and animations of the Hell Razer is based on the Soldier enemy above, but with a 'sniper' weapon instead of a 'shotgun' weapon, so it's a nice, not-too-lazy way to bring in new lore as they modify the design into a fully-transformed humanoid. 

Hell Knight

Yeah, this thing. I like this giant brute. He's a tall guy standing probably a couple of heads taller than the Doom Slayer, but that's also with reverse-jointed legs. With exaggerated musculature like a powerful quarterback, the Hell Knight also has a head without eyes,  instead having a smooth, skull-dome as the top part of his head with a surprisingly very humanoid-looking mouth below. A pretty cool 'brute' design... and this thing is fast as hell, relentlessly pursuing you across the map and being quite tanky especially before you get the later-game weapons. 

Hell Knights can also create shockwaves whenever they jump and land, or when they catch up with you, stunning you and bashing you with their fists. It's a fun enemy that's both durable and fast. This is one of my favourite demons in the game, actually!

Lost Soul 

A bit of a rare enemy is the Lost Soul, who take the form of screaming, pointy-chinned and goat-horned floating skulls. A very demonic-looking skull, compared to the others that try to mimic the proportions of a human skull. Lost Souls wander Hell, just floating around as they 'search for a host to inhabit'. The implication is that these Lost Souls are the ones that 'possess' the bodies and turn them into the Possessed? Apparently, such a thing is actually the gimmick for these enemies in the older Doom games, but not for this one. 

Lost Souls are noted to be the lowest ranked demons, even more wretched than the imps, and even other demons don't like them. In this game, the Lost Souls are really just little more than traps, floating or spawning in some rooms, before glowing red and screaming towards you and exploding, unless you can shoot them down first. 

Cacodemon

Doom's poster child and mascot is the Cacodemon, a floating ball that is just an eye, a fanged mouth and two tiny hands. You might think this is a Beholder reference, and while thematically it kind of is, the actual plagiarism actually comes from a different D&D monster, the 'Astral Dreadnought' from the cover of Manual of the Planes, which was traced to create the original sprite of the Cacodemon. 

I can't blame them, the Astral Dreadnought is a badass design! Since then, the Cacodemon's vibe has mutated a fair bit, going more 'Beholder-esque'. It has two almost vestigial arms that surely can't be too useful, and the general body layout does make its best to make it less of just a ball of flesh but like a really squished-up organism. Whose body also just happens to be bisected by a massive, multi-jawed maw. The massive teeth in the jaw really is nasty, but I had a 'oh, that' neat' reaction to the secondary pair of jaws on the edges of the mouth. Surely those teeth aren't practical? The Cacodemon completes its look with a bright, green, pupil-less eyeball. That does make it a lot creepier and a lot less friendly-looking. 

The codex notes that Cacodemons are monstrous psionic demons that just want to feed, and hunt down living beings relentlessly to chomp on them. It also spews a 'psychoactive narcotic bile', which inhibits the perception of the target. In-game, it's a glob that damages you and blurs your vision for a bit... but in this game, a few seconds of being compromised is quite dangerous. 

Summoner

The Summoner is a slender demon with long arms and legs, and some body parts that make it look like the 'tail' of a floating cloak. They also have a cool head that is shaped somewhat like a hammer. The general vibe reminds me of some of the Phyrexians from Magic the Gathering, only grislier and with more muscles as the main texture instead of glossy metal. Pretty neat design, and one that's nicely different from the other 'flayed man' demons we've seen while still remaining in the same aesthetic. 

Summoners, as their name implies, summons additional reinforcements in the form of weaker demons. That's not why they are annoying; a couple of extra Imps and Soldiers isn't going to be particularly threatening. What's annoying is their ability to flash-step and zip around the battlefield, unleashing blasts of 'Argent Waves' towards you while you're going around trying to aim your weapons at this thing. 

While not really seen in-game, the Summoners are also able to use this Argent energy wave to transform humans into Possessed. Apparently, the UAC has captured and dissected some of these Summoners and found out that they are actually evolved versions of the Imp. The Summoner is essentially 2016's take on a classic enemy called the Arch-Vile, but the end result of a floating, lithe demon mage ended up being so different that they classified it as a different entity altogether. 

Revenant

Turning into a bit of a meme and a mascot after Doom 2016 is the Revenant. The Revenant is a simple design that fits into the 'demons and guns' aesthetic of Doom. The Revenant is a emaciated, skeletal zombie strapped into a giant chunky jetpack with two rocket launchers pointing up from the soldiers. A bit goofy, but they moulded the demon face quite well. 

The UAC, surprise surprise, is actually performing unethical experiments on humans! This involves grafting the cannons and jetpacks, as well as a neural biochip, into the "volunteers", before repeatedly exposing them to Lazarus Waves over and over again to transform them to Revenants. This transformation turns them into skeletal zombies... and increased durability and size. Right, the Revenants are quite tall, standing 3-4 meters tall in-game. The transformation and growth only really affects skeletal growth, meaning that many of the flesh is ripped off and discarded and explains the Revenant's very skeletal transformation. 

"Despite this bizarre biological structure, the Revenant appears to bear no ill effects.", says the Codex, but they're also, like, properly mindless zombies now. Mindless zombies shooting missiles and doot-doot-ing all over the battlefield. 

Mancubus / Cyber-Mancubus

MANCUBUS!!!! The Mancubus is a big, heavy-duty demon. Looking like a big 'Ogre',  the Mancubus a big belly, two legs that look elephantine, a head with a singular eye and a monstrous mandibles... and two giant cannons for arms. Yep! The demons also use technology. The codex notes that the Mancubus are encased in armour when they reach maturity, but their grotesque frame outgrows their armour to expose their face and stomach. That armour does look like it's 'fantasy' armour, seemingly made of chitinous material or something. That stomach is quite nasty, too, looking like it has split open and been sewed back together. That stomach is their weak spot, although if you kill a Mancubus that way its insides will erupt out and might harm you. 

In addition to being tanky as all hell, the Mancubus also has a 'poison' belch. Mancubi gorge on any food they can find, including rotten flesh, and this causes their innards and their bile to be highly flammable. This rotten, decomposing flesh is what powers their quasi-organic cannons, which is described as a biomechanical flamethrower created by a noxious effluvium. It's still a cannon! I really like the Mancubus design, although I felt like they could've done more to make it clear that it's biomechanical...

Oh, despite looking like a lumbering, slow behemoth, the Mancubus can move throughout the battlefield remarkably easily, using massive leaps to catch up to you as they aim their cannons down and use them as propeller rockets. That's cool. 

Particularly because the upgraded version, the Cyber-Mancubus exists. And it has had its chitin armour replaced with high-tech armour and weaponry, including a tactical visor that covers the Mancubus's eye. Again, I wished the regular Mancubus was more obviously more organic so the differences between the two can be a bit more dramatic. 

Cyber-Mancubi are created by the UAC during their demon experimentations. To quote probably the most hilarious monster codex entry in the game: "They are held under the strictest UAC security protocols, so there is no chance of an escape [citation needed]."

Pinky / Spectre

Originally, this creature is called 'Demon' in the old Doom games, but the fandom called it 'Pinky' due to its pink hue. In Doom 2016, the developers caught up with this joke and end up canonizing the name, noting that this creature is 'unnamed by the denizens of hell', so the UAC has designated them 'Pinkies' due to their unusual skin colouration. And it's not very evident in most of the models that show it from the front, but in-between the thick, blood-red armour segments, the Pinky's skin is pink. Including its very vulnerable rear end. 

The Pinky is essentially a very compact dinosaur with a giant screaming demon head plastered in front, and a whole ton of forwards-facing armour. Pinkies charge brutally towards any prey they detect, acting as living battering ram. Once they charge, they can't stop, and the intended way to deal with them is to dodge, and then unload rounds into their exposed tails. Doom 2016 isn't the most strict with specific tactics for specific enemies, not like its successors Eternal and Dark Ages, but the Pinky is one that you need this tactic to survive.

A stronger and rarer variant is the Spectre, which is another UAC experiment. In trying to modify the Pinky, during the vivisection experiments they ended up transplanting the optic nerve of a Cacodemon into a Pinky. This, of course, in typical sci-fi fashion, ended up creating a super Pinky that has the ability to become invisible. The UAC troops thought that the Pinky has escaped confinement, opened the gate, and caused the Spectre to rampage, escape,  and eventually make it back into Hell and somehow managed to reproduce enough that there is a self-sustaining population in Hell. Apparently demons also breed in this world!

Baron of Hell

Our final non-boss enemy is the mini-boss known as the Baron of Hell, who are giant muscular men with a demon-bull head and bull legs. They're basically carnivorous Minotaurs with the face of an angry demon. The Baron of Hell is noted to actually be the 'highest ranked among the order of the Hell Knights', implying that it is a superior version of the Hell Knight.

Like the Hell Knight, the Barons are just really, really tough. Despite their size, they are fast, relentless, and take a lot more punishment than their knightly cousins to bring down. More importantly, they can also shoot fireballs, giving it a ranged attack even if you are particularly good at dodging. It's a cool, impressive enemy, and it is... well, it is basically a big demon. Ain't nothing wrong with that. 

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Bosses:

Cyberdemon

The Cyberdemon's buildup is really cool. The level where you face him, you walk around a part of the UAC base and start to pick up tablets describing a strange, powerful 'Baalgar demon' whose corpse was recovered by the UAC. And then while you're doing it, you see from frosted windows explosions and a massive figure moving around. And then you find a giant, empty stasis pod... and eventually, at the end of the level, of course, this Cyberdemon attacks. 

Pretty cool design, even if it is simple. Towering almost twice the height of the Doom Slayer,  the Cyberdemon has a really cool head with curved horns and a mouth with additional mandibles. Also a huge fan of the chunky, elephant-like legs, and the bladed gauntlet on its right arm. As its name implies, however, the Cyberdemon has been cybernetically modified, with a giant sci-fi cannon in place of its left arm and a bunch of mechanisms on the right side of its chest. The way that the natural armour is arranged also gives the Cyberdemon the rough vibe of a space marine style armour as well, which is neat.

The Cyberdemon was resurrected by the UAC when they found out pieces of the Baalgar demon, whose flesh gets reanimated when grafted with Argent-powered machinery. Turns out that the Cyberdemon ended up playing possum until such that it was complete enough, at which point it activated its own neural pathways and gained control over its own faculties. The Cyberdemon ended up being so uncontrollable that it forced the UAC to keep it in suspended animation until the events of the game, where it broke free. It has the ability to jumpstart its life force from the Argent Accumulator implanted on its chest, which is something it does in its boss fight where the Cyberdemon is fought in two phases. Once in the UAC compound on Mars, and a second time when its corpse gets transported to Hell with the Doom Slayer and it chooses this moment to jumpstart its heart. Pretty cool boss fight, and probably my favourite. 

Hell Guard

The Hell Guard is an interesting, creature. Design-wise it's all right, a strangely-proportioned, heavily armoured humanoid figure with an oversized torso, no head and shoulderplates. Hell Guards are 'biomechs' that attack with forcefields and you fight three of them in a boss fight, each Hell Guard being armed with a different weapon. The first one has a mace and staff, and has a forcefield that really prolonged the battle and made it a bit hard to make it vulnerable. The second and third ones wield a single weapon each, but no forcefield and are much easier to take down, if hectic. 

However, when you kill the Hell Guards, the Doom Slayer rips apart their chest to pull out these strange, lamprey/leech-like Parasites that are the true Hell Guards. Pretty nasty but slightly unexpected. I love the design of this thing, with multiple glowing green eyeballs, a four-part petal beak, and the fact that they are going around controlling giant Bionicle suits of armour is just so interesting. We don't really learn more about it other than the Parasite itself being so infused with hell energy to power the bone-and-keratin suit, but I am always up for a nice parasite monster!

Spider Mastermind

The main villain of the game is Dr. Olivia Pierce, a cyborg member of the UAC who was approached by a greater demon who whispered temptations into her. Olivia set up a demon-worshipping cult, sequestered part of the Mars base, and began creating the experiments and did a lot of sacrifices and eventually unleashed the Lazarus Wave that brought all the demons here. When she eventually got to hell, however, the powers-that-be discarded her, and merged her with 'the master', transforming her into the Spider Mastermind. Codex entries noted that this 'Aranea Imperatix' is the vague demonic hivemind that was behind the Cyberdemon reanimating. It's a neat little 'karmic transformation' for someone who caused so much pain and death with her machinations, to be discarded and turned into a seemingly mindless screaming monster just like what she did to her minions. 

Design-wise? The Spider Mastermind falls solely in the 'sci-fi' side of the 'sci-fi demon' themes, being a giant robotic four-legged crab suit holding a giant brain with a malformed skull on it. A cannon sits under the chin. The Mastermind itself is a pretty cool design, and I really like it, although I wasn't sure that it was a more appropriate 'final boss' for the demon-shooting game instead of the Cyberdemon. I do suppose that it is an iconic old Doom boss, and it is a pretty cool design all around!