DOOM’s first expansion – Unto the Evil – has finally launched digitally.
It’s an expensive add-on at £12 but Unto the Evil adds three new maps, one new gun, new playable demon, new piece of equipment, then loads of armour pieces, taunts and Hack Modules. If you get the Season Pass for £30 it will also add a further two expansions to the game.
The cool thing is that only one member of a multiplayer party has to own the DLC so everyone else can play it as well using PartyPlay.
Maps in the DLC are definitely better designed than the ones in the base package. More care and consideration has gone into them and they are all enjoyable to be part of, even though one or two look and feel very familiar to maps already seen in the game.
The servers do seem populated enough on PS4, though wait times have proven to be a bit frustrating at times. Still, it’s interesting seeing narrative devices used to drive multiplayer experiences. You can tell something happened at each location and it adds to the mystery and aura of the environment.
The three maps – Cataclysm, Offering and Ritual – all look very different. Cataclysm is set on an Orbital UAC station with a warp portal at the centre. Offering takes players to hell in the form of a massive temple and Ritual is a close-quarters corridor affair set on the polar ice-caps of Mars.
Weapon wise, new to DOOM is the Kinecti Mine which latches to walls and blows up on impact. You can be destroyed by shooting it, but players can be crafty and stick it to ceilings, floors, and walls making it harder to see.
Also new is the UAC EMG Pistol which has a nice zoom feature and is punchy, though not really powerful. There’s no rapid fire, each shot requires you to press the fire button individually. It does have a stronger second shot, but it certainly doesn’t compare to other weapons already in your arsenal. It’s a nice sidearm if your main weapon runs out of ammo and you need to take someone out at range in a clutch, but they really need to be low down in health first for it to be effective. Don’t try running around the map using this weapon as a first point of call.
As for the demon, Unto the Evil introduces us to the Harvester which is probably the best addition to the game so far. You become a floating demon that absorbs life force with AOE lightning attacks. Harverster rips through enemies like a hot knife through butter and is seemingly overpowered compared to the rest as it can also take a licking while racking up kill streaks. The Harvester also has a short range detonate attack which kills any enemies immediately.
Other than that, new Hack Modules include Treasure which actually adds to your armor whenever ammo has been picked up. There’s a Robotic Armor sets with a purple and blue aesthetic. A Golf Swing taunt has been added to the content, and you can even grab a few new achievements.
The downside? None of the new content can currently be used in Snapmap.
The content released on August 5th and is well worth a look if you’re a fan of DOOM multiplayer.