Some of the most exciting activities in Doom Eternal are the Slayer Gates, which are optional challenges, that, for a player like me, were absolutely essential. Slayer Gates tested my ability to play, how quickly I could learn an arena, and how accurate I could shoot. While the first instance isn’t incredibly difficult, the final Slayer Gate presents a wildly difficult challenge.
Inside the rather small arena, the game throws the usual fodder of imps and gargoyles your way before adding some of the most difficult enemies in the game. As I was fighting my way through two Barons of Hell, four Hell Knights, and a Maykr Drone, I suddenly heard a dog barking. That’s when I realized they’d added a Marauder to the fight! Getting through this while only losing a single life to my own rocket launcher’s splash damage was easily in the top five most rewarding gaming victories I’ve ever had.
My reward for beating all six Slayer Gates was the Unmaykr, a wildly powerful weapon I was so excited to use. I knew it was going to be awesome the second it popped up in the same weapon slot as the BFG-9000, and I couldn’t have been more right! Not long after unlocking the gun, I passed the proverbial point of no return when the game pitted me against a Cyberdemon, or as they’re called in DOOM Eternal, a Tyrant.
So I pulled out the Unmakyr, fired 24 shots, and the fight was done. I had barely even registered what I was fighting before it was over! That’s the kind of reward that so many FPS games, and to a certain extent, games in general, are missing. Sure, experience points are great, but sometimes I just want to shoot things with a massive gun, something that both DOOM and DOOM Eternal deliver in spades.