Intro:
They call upon him to quell evil, to rid the earth of the demonic presences that invade it. The DOOM slayer, earth's guardian, and hells nightmare. Doom Eternal is a game that goes deeper into a battle of biblical proportions, spreading its roots in several topics. Three I will be discussing in this article. Firstly we have to look at the connection to theology in this game where DOOM points to several concepts of a battle between heaven versus hell. Then we have to take a look at the psychology of it all, is the DOOM slayer actually battling a horde of demons? Or is it all in his head? And lastly, the concept of the soul is being utilized as a story mechanic. The soul is the very thing that gives life to all, even the underbelly of hell itself.
There’s No Heaven, Just Two Hells:
DOOM eternal goes about the concept of religion in a fascinating way, while a lot of theologians might disagree, I feel that this game, while not religious shows themes of religion throughout the gameplay. The DOOM slayer, being the savior, Urdak being heaven, and the mars core/everywhere else being hell. DOOM is a game that throws you into the bowels of hell from the get-go. And it's that way with every game. There’s no warm-up period just a brief silence before the impending doom of one’s self. The doom slayer, per usual has to fight an army of chaos and torment to get to an ending resolution within the tumultuous circumstances laid before him. Very early in the game, we get to see a very broken and discombobulated Samuel Hayden, who becomes the narrator of sorts guiding us through Urdak and hell.
I wish Hayden’s character was more developed in this game, by far, is the most interesting character that I see. The way he helps the DOOM Slayer, but also seems to have this hidden agenda of sorts that makes me think he knows more than he’s letting on. Going through the game, I always thought of Hayden as the DOOM slayer's consciousness, always there but just out of reach at times, but I digress. Continuing on with the religious aspects of the game in Urdak you see a lot of Christ-like iconographies that really set the tone for how this area will be tackled, especially the boss fight with the Khan Maker. Wings, expelled, fighting with a powerful beam of heavenly light only to be defeated to show the true colors of the so-called saving grace. At the end of the boss battle, we see a demon, cast before our eyes, unmasked and fearful of their destiny.
Maybe, the Demons Don’t Exist: Did anyone ever think that the demons might all be an illusion of the DOOM slayer's mind? That he might be hallucinating it all? There is one part in particular that really stood out to me in this game. When the slayer that we play as was fighting a bunch of men, saying “demons, demons everywhere” when in fact it was just men he was fighting and not demons. This goes into the psychology portion of the article where maybe the DOOM slayer has the hallucinations of grandeur, maybe this fantastical world of demons, and the monsters are all in his mind. Think about it, this game has savior complex/knight syndrome where the nameless DOOM slayer feels it’s his job/calling to help those in need at the risk of himself. Even when he meets the betrayer, he is the one to plunge the knife into the icon of sin, being the one that ultimately has to save everyone. While this is just a theory, and I know this story is based around an already vibrant plot, I can't help but wonder, theorize, and contemplate other meanings of this game. That’s what art does right? It makes you subjectively think of other avenues the piece could have taken, or has embedded in it.
Even in Hell, the Soul Exists: the soul, the incorporeal part of the human that makes us, us. It’s the thing that animates our avatars and creates a personality. The soul is the very thing that gives life to creation, and an undying wit to those immortal monstrosities that the DOOM slayer confronts. The souls in this game are extracted from the bodies and converted into argent energy. The soulless husks of creatures are what the DOOM slayer fights in every game, and it’s what we see in the DOOM 2016 as the MAIN source of energy that runs earth, hell, urdak, basically the entire universe. It's fascinating because saying the soul is the gasoline of existence is saying that humans are what keeps the world going from energy to the production of goods, to the consumption of products, reproduction, etc.
Even in the underbelly of hell, you see disruptive chaos of the taken soul that stained the halls of hell. The game brings to the forefront more philosophy and psychology than I thought would be possible. It begs the question, does everything have a soul? Do the mindle4ss creatures we fight feel? Does the icon of sin (the betrayer's son) have a soul left after the sacrifice made? Does the seemingly peaceful Urdak have soulful creatures or are these beings in this game shells of things that only wish to consume?
His Fight is Eternal Final Thoughts: with everything I’ve discussed today, I truly enjoyed this game. Like I've mentioned I feel like Hayden didn’t get the time he deserved, his character needed to be explored more. The controls, the camera, the battles were all, in DOOM style difficult and so very rewarding. For any DOOM fan and non-DOOM fan, I would recommend the games highly since they delver in the collectibles, secrets, and fun in general. As a fan of the series since I was 13, I was so pleased with my experience, the game dove deep, was more intense than DOOM 2016, and had more substance as far as the story goes in my opinion, really bringing to life DOOM
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