DOOM II: Legacy of Rust Review

The most intriguing part of the new DOOM + DOOM II re-release was the release of a new expansion, “Legacy of Rust.” Made by a Nightdive Studios and incorporating level design from veteran WAD. makers, “Legacy of Rust” is a love letter to classic DOOM, one that blends the fundamental brilliance of the originals with polished new weapons and aesthetic elements that highlight the reality that these games are still evolving and growing even to these day. There’s still a lot of fun to be had in Classic DOOM and “Legacy of Rust” takes full advantage of that promise.

It’s called “DOOM: Legacy of Rust”, but it should be noted that this is a DOOM II expansion, which means it has the Super Shotgun and all those classic enemies, such as the Revenant (oof) and the Pain Elemental (double oof). It also has four new monsters- the Banshee, the Ghoul, the Tyrant and the Vassago. The Banshee is a loud red floating blob that performs a kamikaze explosive attack. The Ghoul (pictured below), is like a Lost Soul, but instead of charging you with melee, it fires a low damage (but annoying) yellow projectile at you. The Tyrant is basically a mini-Cyberdemon. In fact, you might recognize it if you played Doom Eternal. Then there’s the Vassago, which is unquestionably the toughest enemy they added. It’s like a Baron of Hell, but black with a white face and throws fire. Yes, fire- as in, it sits there and causes damage even if it misses you and you happen to run through it. These guys are tough and in some levels, they’re everywhere.

The expansion also adds two new guns, which replace the Plasma Rifle and BFG. There new weapons are the Incinerator and the Calamity Blade. The Incinerator is a flame thrower- pretty straightforward, and the Calamity Blade fires a massive spread of fireballs that can torch waves of enemies. Both are great weapons and give you a leg up during many fights. The Incinerator is especially emphasized during many levels, which would be great if not for the splash damage. Neither weapons is “perfect"- the splash damage of the Incinerator makes using it a risky gamble in some environments and the Calamity Blade can’t travel above it’s firing point. But they’re both fun and dynamic weapons that fit perfectly in DOOM. The Incinerator is super powerful, arguably more so than the Plasma Gun it replaces and the Calamity Blade is probably on par with the BFG, it’s just a little more crowd control oriented due to it’s spread shot.

What is the plot here though? This is a canon expansion, which means logically, it should bridge the gap between DOOM II and DOOM 64. But does it? You’ll see…but the answer is yes.

“Legacy of Rust” is classic, tried and true DOOM narrative. The UAC finds an awesome new patch of hell that is seemingly abandoned and decide to build bases there. The original enscription for the land reads “Vassago’s Rest”, which implies something must be resting there. But the UAC decides to build a bunch of shit and rename it “New Eden".This of course, wakes up a bunch of demons, including new demon’s like the aforementioned Vassagos. In a matter of hours, the entire complex is overrun. So, they send you in, the Doom Marine and your mission is simple- liberate the base and kill all the demons. Yep. Nothing new here.

EPISODE I: THE VULCAN ABYSS

The first episode of “Legacy of Rust” is called “The Vulcan Abyss. It begins with you directly fighting your way through a tech base to a portal that takes you to the New Eden base. And it looks awesome. They made it where the portal is actually a portal and as soon as it turns on, Ghouls come flying out from the hellscape on the other side. It’s an awesome visual and much more polished and cinematic than most things in the older games. “No Rest For The Living’ was an excellent example of how you could modernize DOOM while still working within the same engine. This game takes it further. Obviously there’s new monsters, but there’s also brand new textures and more sprawling level design that resembles the modern games.

I think of all the classic DOOM expansions, this is the most cinematic by far. There’s an atmosphere and grimness here that feels denser and more harrowing than other entries. I believe there are a couple reasons for this. For one, this is a very hard and grinding expansion. The levels are long as hell, the monster counts are high and the encounters themselves are hard and oppressive. Then, from a lore perspective, this expansion takes place right before DOOM 64, which is the entry where the franchise went from tongue-in-cheek campy to the darker, more grimly bombastic tone the franchise has now. This expansion marks the transition to that and it does so very smoothly, with it’s more cynical and bitter storytelling and longer, more elaborate levels.

The vibes are immaculate but they’re also a little different from classic DOOM. It feels less “gamey” and more immersive, akin to the modern entries. Locations do resemble locations. Cities look like cities, sewers look like sewers and, somehow, a “sanguine waste” looks like a sanguine waste. The level designs themselves are more intricate and complex than your typical classic DOOM levels and the encounters are far more punishing. Just like with “No Rest For The Living”, this feels like the product of years if not decades of study.

“The Vulcan Abyss” as an episode has a great pace. It really feels like a journey. You enter the hellscape, fighting through increasingly bleak arenas. The first level “Scar Gate” sets the mood perfectly, but MAP 02: “Sanguine Wastes” really heats things up quickly, with slaughter map style arena battles that feel way over the top for a second level in an episode. It only gets crazier from there. MAP 03: “The Spirit Drains” isn’t quite as hectic, but it’s a long gritty journey through a sewer full of weird green ooze. It’s a maze-like, tight level that makes you engage a lot of enemies in space.

The next two levels are equally tough, but a little less distinct, as you venture deeper into Hell and demon infested facilities. Again, heinously violent, super long and beautifully designed. You do get the Incinerator and you’ll need it, because this is when the new monsters start showing up in mass. The new Vassago enemies are no joke, not remotely. Their fireballs remain on the ground leaving Area of Effect damage and you’ll fight them in tight spaces. Ghouls also become more prevalent and their range and numbers make them a consistent and formidable threat despite their low health.

MAP 06: The Coiled City is probably the hardest, most obnoxious canon map in classic DOOM. It’s actually abusive. Narrow ledges, very little ammo and a lot of monsters that you fight on narrow ledges. The level is big but the actual area is even bigger. And by that, I mean that there’s a metric fuck ton of lava. Basically, the areas you traverse comprise about a 45 minute level. But then the actual metric area of this location includes what is essentially a lake of lava. So you will be taking environmental damage here most likely. It’s almost guaranteed. The truth is, this level marks a big turning point where “Legacy of Rust” goes from fun to oppressive. I mean, I had fun, but it was like ‘This is a slog” type fun as opposed to “I’m a badass” type fun. This level is traumatic and it doesn’t get better from here on that front. It just gets tough. Really, really tough.

“The Vulcan Abyss” feels very large in scope. You’re traversing a lot of ground within the area, the levels themselves are large and the environments are pretty varied. It has the feeling of a descent. You’re journeying into this foreboding and extra evil part of Hell with cities you’ve never seen and locations that shouldn’t exist, all as you battle monsters that are new and terrifying even to you. It’s overwhelming, but makes the point it seeks to make: this is an absolutely battering journey, even by Hell standards and this task will not be easy. It almost seems to be a suicide mission.

The last level of this chapter, MAP 07: Forfeited Salvation highlights the uphill nature of this predicament from the very start. You spawn in immediately facing a cyberdemon who is just sitting around waiting to open fire. You run around the map, avoiding rockets and collecting keys in increasingly more dire and cruelly constructed rooms, your sense of unease growing. Finally, you tele-frag the cyberdemon and find the Exit switch. Only for it to be a trap. Vassago’s all on sides. “The oldest trick in the book and you fell for it” the closing crawl reads. The demons drag you away, further down into Vassago’s Rest.

I have my gripes with parts of this episode, but I can’t deny that the overall structure and pacing works really well. It gets continously more oppressive and ominous as you go and the mood is carefully set as you travel through slaughtered bases and hellish arenas. The demon presence is ridiculous and dense and it really gives the impression of an insurmountable task. It’s clear that this expansion isn’t meant to be purely run and gun fun, but is rather an experience that tests you in a variety of ways. You’re in deep and you’re only going down from here.

EPISODE II: COUNTERFEIT EDEN

“Counterfeit Eden” pushes the expansion into new territory. Well, it’s the same territory, but more intense. The levels are grittier, especially the last two, the environments are cooler, but often bloodier and the combat just gets more frantic. There’s less ammo, more enemies, trickier encounters and more overall desperation. Before, you felt like the aggressor but now you’re just trying to find your way out of a cooked situation. You’ve been captured, but somehow you’ve found yourself a pistol and a chance for freedom. So it begins..

MAP 01: "Second Coming” feels a lot like a scaled up version of the infamous E4:M1: Hell Beneath map. It’s low ammo, lots of tough enemies placed in tough positions and in general you will be slowly pushing forward as opposed to charging in. You need to be able to judge the situation and expect the unexpected, all with like 6 shotgun shells and a pistol. They give you a chance here, but not much of one and a lot of your progression is as inspired by praying there’s health or ammo in the next room as much as wanting to clear the enemies.

The next map, MAP 02: “Falsehood” is beautifully designed and has more classic sensibilities. You’re just exploring a smaller, less demon ridden facility. It’s fun and one of the design peaks in this expansions. The following map, MAP 03: “Dis Union”, on the other hand, is super cruel and doesn’t necessarily feel as grounded in immersion as other maps. It’s a well made map, but it’s less interesting than some of the other ones and some of the difficulty feels cheap.

The next two maps, MAP 04: “Echoes of Pain” and MAP 05: “The Rack” also feel less distinct and frankly a bit out of place. They’re tricky but not as immersive or atmospheric as something like “The Spirit Drains.” These feel a bit like normal DOOM II fare with some additionally mean encounters thrown in. There’s one or two sections of “The Rack” that I found absolutely brutal, but overall, these weren’t too bad and were pretty fun to play. They’re less innovative than some of the other levels found in this expansion, but they’re very strong maps.

The relative normalcy of these maps does allow you to appreciate the strong mapmaking fundamentals on display here. Complex routes, a good balance of open and closed area design and tactically placed demons make these a fun challenge. These don’t reinvent the wheel, but it shows they’ve more or less mastered it. These aren’t the highlights of this expansion but they demonstrate the strong floor of it’s consistency at every level.

“Counterfeit Eden” sort of benefits from this approach thematically as well. MAPS 02-05 blend together a little bit but they create this sense of an endless, oppressive, dangerous slog through Hell. I felt somewhat exhausted by these maps, which isn’t ideal because the next two are much more grueling, even though they are cooler.

MAP 06: “Soul Silo” is an absolute monster of a DOOM level. It’s gorgeous for one, with sleek new textures, very smart and atmopshheric design. Apparently, they build a nuclear missile silo in Hell and here it is. You’re running on these walkways surrounded by the bottomless pit and endless vertical walls of the facility, fighting shock troopers and other demons. Get to the middle and there’s this area full of platforms submerged in toxic waster. These platforms have actual hoardes of enemies and your strategy is to just back peddle with the Calamity Blade. And you do this probably 3-4 times. The sheer volume to space ratio is staggering, as often times, the hoarde is so thick there’s barely room to move and you just shoot and pray.

The look and feel of this level is brilliant. It’s really one of the peaks of this expansion. Just like “Scar Gate” and “The Spirit Drains”, this one feels cinematic and unique in a way that harkens to the modern entries in the franchise. It feels more epic and purposeful than some of the other moments in this expansion. The vibes are oppressive again, but by this time, you’re basically embracing the violence.

At this point in the story it’s clear what’s really happened and what you’ve been doing. There’s no way out, you have to go through. And to do that, you have to handle the situation. Yes, you guessed it. The plan is to nuke Hell. One thing about DOOM is that it doesn’t really have a stance on nuclear weapons, or at least it didn’t. No one ever mentioned nukes and none of the demons or aliens in the franchise use nukes either. But we know where this is going…because while there is no pro or anti nuke stance in the games up to this point, in the game that follows this one, DOOM 64, Hell is nuked.

The following level, MAP 06: “Brink” takes place at the actual nuke area. The sky is green for some reason. It doesn’t matter because it’s super cool. You go to this big arena and fight very difficult waves of demons. The map changes a few times and you fight even more demons, with the Calamity Blade as the primary defense. Interestingly, the final boss of this expansion is 8 Tyrants. Tyrants are an enemy from DOOM Eternal. They’re basically junior Cybderdemons. Powerful and tough, but not boss level tough. It’s also the first enemy to make the improbable jump from modern DOOM to classic DOOM.

This level really isn’t crazy difficult. Once you understand the structure of these encounters, which is “kill everything fast using big guns”, it’s pretty doable. But it’s thematically satisfying and you do things that genuinely feel badass and heroic, like killing a room of Archviles. It brings the gravitas and scale needed for a moment of this magnitude. Nuking Hell. That’s obviously a big deal. Once you hit the switch, you fire the nukes and boom, you’ve got it. You step back through the portal and watch as “two evils go boom"." Hell and this corporate scheme. Another iteration on the overall message of DOOM, which is that capitalism and greed can uncover and shape horrors of grand scale.

Wow. Once it’s over, you take a breath, or a few. This expansion is so long winded and brutal that you’ll feel like you really did just walk through Hell. This expansion is oppressive on a scale the other classic DOOM games never really touched. It’s not even fun at times, but I think in some ways that’s the point. The pendulum in DOOM has always between power fantasy and pain and this game brings the pain, with slivers of power fantasy in there. Typically the titles are balanced in this regard, but this one really leans into pain. There are some cool power fantasy moments throughout, often crafted through cinematic design or tough encounters, but more than anything, this expansion hurts. I thought it was quite fun in parts and was really well made, but I also did think it was a slog at times. But I also got this strange sense that they sort of wanted it to be a slog at times.

It’s still damn good fun when you know what you’re getting into. Going cover to cover through this expansion is a grind, but individually all these levels are pretty high quality. Some of them are really peak moments for the classic DOOM canon in my opinion. I mean, nuking Hell? That’s awesome. This expansion is one that I might be scared to revisit in the future, but I definitely respect everything it did. It has a lot going for it and actually feels like an official release. Though technically just an expansion, the aesthetics and new enemies and weapons make it seem like a different game at times. The heart and soul of classic DOOM is still there, but there’s some shiny new clothes that give it it’s own character and I hope that in the future we see more classic DOOM expansions just like this one.