At last, Doom will launch next spring on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One, culminating a development history stretching back as far as 2007, Bethesda announced tonight at its pre-E3 news conference.
Executive producer Marty Stratton showed a multiplayer overview bookended by two lengthy single-player demos. You can check out the multiplayer portion below and a trailer above.
The campaign demo began with the classic green helmet, and then moved right into shotgunning some Imps. The protagonist climbed up on top of a box and then jumped down for a few brutal melee executions, like ripping guts out and ripping limbs off. Health and armor packs spill out of enemies when you kill them, and when you're changing weapons in the weapon wheel, time slows to a crawl. Guns appeared to be modular, with the player character adding new elements like scopes.
Monsters seen in the footage besides Imps included a Mancubus, Revenants, a Baron of Hell and a Cyberdemon. Along with a Super Shotgun, there was a Plasma Rifle, Heavy Assault Rifle and, of course, the BFG.
Originally called Doom 4, the game's development has been long and troubled, even seeing id Software throw everything away and go back to the drawing board after being acquired by ZeniMax Media in June 2009. Reports spoke of a game trapped in the archetypal "development hell" as designers plotted out and threw away concepts and design changes.
The beta offer in Wolfenstein followed by a formal reveal last year at QuakeCon indicated the game was finally back on track.
