With Doom Eternal coming out shortly, many fans may want a refresher of the storyline for the first Doom (2016), which was a soft reboot of the original Doom titles, which originally came out in the 1990s. Some people may be surprised to know that Doom (2016) actually does have a in-depth story, at least a lot more than merely comprising a soldier going to war against a bunch of evil demons from Hell.
Doom (2016) is a reboot of that original story that still stretches and connects to the game’s story today, but it’s a simple enough story to also forget prior to the launch of the game. However, a refresher of Doom as a stand-alone title here is plenty sufficient in order to connect it to the events of its upcoming sequel and gain a clear picture.
Doom takes place on Mars, where the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) facility is being attacked and invaded by evil demons from Hell, thanks to portals that were originally developed in order to provide infinite energy sources for humans by siphoning energy from Hell.
The mysterious Doom Slayer, who was transported to Mars by UAC during previous expeditions to Hell, wakes up from his sarcophagus within the facility. He soon discovers that Dr. Olivia Pierce developed a keen interest in Hell and using the facilities’ research into portals to open those that connect our world to Hell.
Even worse, she survives the invasion of demons in the facility. Thankfully, the Doom Slayer has some help from UAC Chairman Samuel Hayden, who has also survived and provides him assistance in navigating the facility. It does not take long before it is discovered that Pierce wishes to use UAC’s Argent Energy Tower to open up a permanent portal into Hell by ripping through the fabric of reality, somehow.
Meanwhile, Hayden wants to stop Pierce, but he also wants to safeguard UAC’s technological interests, instructing the Doom Slayer to shut down Argent Energy Tower through conventional methods. However, Doom Slayer has a more simple solution: destroy all the control panels and energy supplies that the Argent depends on in order to operate.
That still does not stop Pierce from utilizing a handheld Argent Accumulator tube which she uses to create a temporary portal to hell that transports the Doom Slayer there. After landing in a region of Hell known as the Kadingir Sanctum, the Doom Slayer embarks in war with Hell’s forces in order to try and return to Mars.
After following Hayden’s holograms from his first expedition into Hell, he eventually is able to utilize a portal back to Mars’ UAC Argent Facility which is destroyed by this time. The Doom Slayer finally meets Hayden, who attaches a tethering device to his suit that will allow him to transport back from Hell as needed in the future. But getting back to Hell in the first place is no simple task.
His next mission is to head to Dr. Pierce’s original office in the Lazarus Labs to find out what sort of devilish all-powerful secret project she was working on. After Doom Slayer learns of an artifact from Hell known as The Crucible, which Dr. Pierce is after, his next mission is to return to Hell in order to seek it out first.
To do so, the Doom Slayer needs another Argent Accumulator in order to get there, which he is able to obtain after defeating the Cyberdemon. To be clear, the Cyberdemon was Dr. Pierce’s ultimate creation of her Lazarus Project. It is essentially the conjoining of a Baalgar demon which they brought from hell, with an Argent Accumulator attached to it in order to give it ridiculously large defensive traits, as it can simply replenish its health by drawing power from Hell.
After transporting back to Hell using his newly acquired Argent Accumulator, the Doom Slayer reaches the Necropolis and retrieves the much sought after Crucible, then Hayden transports him back to Mars’ VEGA Central Processing. This area is essentially the core of the AI system for the entire facility. The Doom Slayer then uses the great powers of The Crucible to destroy the energy sources which the portals need to create links between Hell and Mars. But he does it in such a way that he can transport back to Hell one last time in the process. After all, Dr. Pierce, now in Hell, still needs to be stopped.
Doom 2016’s Ending
The Doom Slayer finds Olivia Pierce in the Argent D’Nur, the final of Doom’s levels, and possibly an advanced technological facility from a previous human civilization that was absorbed by Hell during previous wars. However, she realizes she was just a pawn as part of Hell’s grand scheme to invade the reality that human civilization lives in. Given that she is no longer of any use, following the destruction at the UAC facility and its portals, she is turned into a Spider Mastermind enemy after being hit by an Argent beam, and the Doom Slayer ultimately kills her.
After transporting back to Mars, Hayden turns on the Doom Slayer and takes the Crucible for himself. Hayden then transports the Doom Slayer to a secret location, while suggesting that he will continue research on the Crucible, as it will provide much needed energy to benefit human civilization. This is where the game ends, and where the sequel will likely project itself from.
While questions still linger, fans may find it refreshing to know that the Doom Slayer is the same protagonist players utilized in the old Doom games. To make matters more interesting and complicated, he is the son or grandson of Commander Keen, who is a descendant from William J. Blazkowiz, who was the World War II era protagonist from the Wolfenstein series.
For a game that presents itself as a fairly simplistic story of man versus evil demons, Doom has some interesting lore and history behind it, which should give hardcore fans something to read up more upon while waiting for Doom Eternal to release.
Doom (2016) is currently available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
