Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods – Part One DLC Review

When Doom released in 2016, it gave the first-person shooter genre a huge kick forward. Suddenly, the franchise was once again relevant and leading the modernization of shooters. Doom Eternal followed in March of this year and carried on that work effortlessly.

In fact, few have a bad word to say about the sequel. So it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that DLC for the game has been developed. The Ancient Gods – Part One proves just as great as the base game but doubles down on the challenging gameplay.

Story

The story in The Ancient Gods – Part One continues on directly from the main game. Although, playing the main campaign is not necessary as the DLC can be accessed separately. But, just like Doom Eternal, the expansion does not have a particularly gripping narrative. The Doom series has never really needed much of a plot to be successful. The franchise is all about the gameplay rather than the story, with the action driving the player forward. That’s definitely still the case in The Ancient Gods – Part One.

Probably the best bits of the DLC’s story comes when it embraces the silliness of the world. For example, there’s a great moment where the player can fight a shark. While it doesn’t exactly make perfect sense, the bizarre event does get your attention. The DLC also features more moments with the Doom Slayer meeting ordinary humans, something that always leads to a laugh. These characters are all completely terrified of the protagonist and it makes for some interesting scenes.

For most people, the story will be little more than a way to transition to the next location. Almost every cutscene lasts less than a minute and it’s really not necessary to follow what is going on. Those who do get invested in the story will be somewhat disappointed. That’s because the DLC ends on a huge cliffhanger, giving no real sense of conclusion to what has come before.