Doom Eternal will be getting its first big update soon, and when it arrives it’ll be adding some interesting new wrinkles to the game. Perhaps the most important of these is so-called ’empowered’ demons that will travel to other players’ campaigns.
An id Software blog post explains the system, and it’s pretty straightforward. If a demon kills you while you’re playing the Doom Eternal campaign, that demon will get buffed up and sent to another player’s campaign. If that player manages to kill it, they’ll be rewarded with bonus health and ammo, plus a big shot of bonus experience points to pour into Doom Eternal’s seasonal battle pass.
Obviously, this means you could stumble across an empowered demon from another player’s campaign at just about any turn, which leads to some questions: will the empowered demons be replacing standard enemies in the campaign, or do they show up in unexpected places? Will that upset the flow of a level, or are there certain empowered demons that show up in certain places, if applicable?
The idea that a level could be ‘invaded’ by a demon from another player’s game is an interesting one, particularly if you come across it in a place you’ve learned is ‘safe’ – or at least, as safe as anywhere in Doom ever is, at least.
As director Hugo Martin and executive producer Marty Stratton explain in the above video, Doom Eternal’s multiplayer Battlemode is getting some love too. Update 1 will mostly be focused on quality of life improvements and enhancements, although adding anticheat features through Denuvo may irritate some players. However, id is adding Echelon Leveling for players who have maxed out their Battlemode level, and the studio has made some enhancements to the multiplayer tutorial.
Further on down the road, expect to see new playable demons and new maps for Battlemode, which Stratton and Martin say they plan on supporting for the long term.
There’s no date set yet for Doom Eternal Update 1 – Bethesda says it’s “almost here.” The game is also slated to get two new story campaign DLCs before the end of the year.