Yesterday, Bethesda confirmed we’ll get our first look at Doom 4 during their E3 Press Conference next month. But it won’t be the same version of Doom 4 that id Software originally began development on in 2008.
A short video clip from that version made its way onto Doomworld yesterday and it’s startling to say the least. Instead of the “back-to-basics” version that Bethesda showed off at QuakeCon 2014, this version of Doom 4 would have taken a few cues from Call of Duty and infused its “military shooter” mileau into Doom’s “humans versus demons” DNA. In the 30-second video, we see a whole platoon of soldiers gear up to square off against the invading denizens of Hell. It doesn’t look much like the franchise we all know and love, but it actually fits with the modern retelling of Doom II: Hell on Earth that id was supposedly working on at the time. The idea was to create a remake/reboot that could be paired with Doom 3‘s modern resurrection of the original Doom storyline.
Kotaku has confirmed the clip’s authenticity, saying it came from a trailer that was being cut together by Blur Studio. While I’m a little disappointed we’ll never get to play this version of Doom 4 (it looks completely bonkers), the throwback version of the game that’s coming has me truly excited.
Perhaps it’s for the best, as id’s Tim Willits said “it did not have the soul [of Doom]” and “it didn’t have a personality” in 2013.
