After an incredible reveal trailer at E3, Doom Eternal finally got a proper gameplay showing at QuakeCon last weekend. It unveiled new levels, monsters, weapons, and other massive changes to the way the game plays — including the exciting announcement that players will be able to invade other people’s games, similar to the Dark Souls series. But it also may be taking players to a new place that is the polar opposite of the franchise’s main setting.
While the QuakeCon gameplay demo mostly focused on exciting battles on Earth and Phobos (a moon of Mars, and the setting for both the original game and Doom 3), id Software did also show snippets of another location that seemed distinctly unlike anywhere players had visited before in the Doom series, including Hell — and it may in fact have been the series’ version of “Heaven.”
In an interview with Eurogamer, Executive Producer Marty Stratton and Creative Director Hugo Martin on Doom Eternal were directly asked about what this new dimension is that players will visit, and whether it was another part of Hell. Martin’s reply was cryptic.
“What do you think it is?” he said. “We don’t want to say. You will learn what that place is when you play Doom Eternal, and the answer to that question is really compelling. I will say this: it’s not Hell. That blueish place is not Hell.”
He was then prodded by the interviewer if it was the opposite, meaning Heaven. Martin continued to be equally as evasive.
“You’ve just gotta play the game,” he stated. “We hope the question of ‘Where am I?’ and ‘What’s going on here?’ is what drives people to dig into the story.”
The city shown is referred to as “Sentinel Prime,” and despite the fantastical environment and gray color appears quite quiet, with waterfalls in the distance. Demons are actually imprisoned. A different piece of concept art features some sort of white room filled with gold symbols, and some sort of alien priest. Could this indeed be Doom‘s “opposite of Hell?” We’ll find out whenever Doom Eternal releases.
