Doom: Eternal is pretty much exactly what the algorithm for generating a sequel to Doom 2016 would produce: same fundamental game structure, with more things built on top of it - more mechanics, more systems, more world(s), more story and lore.. more everything, for better or worse.

In the predecessor your basic mechanics were shooting to do damage, glory kills to restore health, and chainsaw kills for ammo. Eternal adds a flame belch for armor, and a frag & ice grenade for some crowd-control, with those and one pip of the chainsaw now on cool-downs (so technically you have unlimited resources, if enemies are around). Keep the double-jump from 2016, and add a double-dash, then add a high-damage blood-punch charged by glory-kills, as a nice removal tool

We're not done adding new things though. Give us some character upgrades in the form of Praetor suit tokens, while still keeping the Argent upgrades to health/armor/ammo, but add some more bonuses to that system as well. Keep all the weapons and their mods (with a few minor tweaks), but in addition to mission challenges for weapon upgrade points, give us some secret encounters that reward them as well. Add some hidden keys to hidden Slayer Gates that give a new super-weapon upon completing, and then add cheats, toys, music tracks, and lore pages all over every level because why not

As incentive to use all of these new systems, enemies have specific weaknesses to 1 or 2 weapon attacks. The difficulty felt cranked up slightly as well, with more demon types, and in greater numbers. Eternal really doesn't care about making you sweat though, giving extra lives to collect, and letting you use cheats without blocking progression. If you die enough in one spot, you can opt for a super-suit to get you through that bit - might've had to use this on the final boss…

There's lots more lore to read as well, with a few more characters floating about - the plot is still primarily a vehicle to get you level to level though (at least to me). What levels though! The world design is gorgeous. I know it's probably just flat images, but damn are they good images to stare at between bouts of carnage

Soundtrack is still ridiculously good, maybe even a touch better in some tracks. Overall Doom: Eternal is easily a great game; lots of fun had i while playing here, and lots of hours spent doing it. I can't help feeling a bit odd about it. It's simultaneously a natural expansion of the original, which feels kind of safe, and also quite experimental with all its new systems. In a good way though.. mostly

I read an article recently about the upcoming Doom: The Dark Ages, comparing it to Doom: Eternal - they said that where Eternal feels like piloting a fighter jet, Dark Ages should feel more like driving a tank. Following that analogy, as thrilling as high-speed flying may be, i'm not sure i'd make the best fighter pilot. I think i'm more of a tank guy, i've just decided… yes, let's go with that…

Oh god, i forgot to mention the Doom Fortress with its Sentinel Battery unlocks, and the Crucible sword weapon…