We’re still around four months away from the November 22 release of Doom Eternal, but that shouldn’t stop fans of the demon blasting franchise from being excited, especially about the news regarding Doom Eternal’s upcoming multiplayer mode called Battlemode. Battlemode was unveiled at the QuakeCon keynote over the weekend.
Battlemode makes one player the Slayer, who fights against two player-controlled demons. At launch, we should expect Doom Eternal to feature five playable demons to choose from for Battlemode: the Revenant, Pain Elemental, Mancubus, Archvile, and Marauder. These demons have their own unique weapons and skills to unleash carnage and mayhem on the lone slayer, ability to set hazardous traps such as poison clouds and fire traps, summon AI-controlled minions to attack the Slayer, and provide debuffs that disable some of the Slayer’s ability to gain resources from special kills. This may seem daunting for an already one-sided fight (2 demons vs 1 Slayer), but the Slayer is compensated by being provided multiple options for mobility around the map such as portals, jump pads, and monkey bars.
The way a round works is simple. For the demons to win, they must kill the Slayer. For the Slayer to win, he or she must kill both demons within a 20 second time frame. If the Slayer is successful, the round is won. If not, the dead demon respawns with half health and the round continues.
It’s always a balance nightmare when games try to implement lopsided PvP modes, especially for players that play solo as communication is key for these types of games. But when implemented correctly, they can be a surefire hit for both casuals and hardcore players alike. Case in point, Dead by Daylight. Although it is still plagued by shoddy matchmaking, its core gameplay mechanics provide a fair experience for both the killers and survivors.
As early as now, there are already guarantees of more playable demons and maps (in addition to the six maps available at launch) for free. Doom Eternal will release on November 22, 2019 for the Google Stadia, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
