The Asymmetrical-ness of Dooms multiplayer, the good and bad.

Hello all.

Today's topic is Doom and what they did to make their multiplayer Asymmetrical.

We all know Doom as a game where kill aliens and wear a cool space suit, but the multiplayer never really had much to do with demons, or at least the player playing as a demon. (I never did play the original games online only Doom 2016)

Well thankfully this iteration of Doom lets us do just that, play as a DEMON.

This is really quite awesome.

There are 4 demons you can play as: Revenant, Baron of Hell, Mancubus, and, Prowler.

To become a Demon you must wait till your match spawns the Demon Rune, now it becomes a mad race to get there to become the demon. At the start of the match you decide which demon you want when you choose your loadout.

Once you become the demon you acquire the health and skills for that demon. You also get given a timer. This timer is your allotted time to be a demon, once it hits ZERO you lose the demon form and transform back to the soldier. If you are killed the Demon Rune is then dropped and is locked away for a time period leaving it only available for an enemy to pick it up, but if none do then its free for anyone. Once picked up after a demon has been killed the timer continues from where it was at.

This is how it works for all but one game mode. There is one mode called Soul Harvest where the Demon Rune is spawned on the first kill and the demon has no timer, If the demon is killed the Rune drops and is available for an enemy to pick up, again no timer though, this means there is a demon for the whole match after the first kill. This is my favourite game mode and I will explain further on.

I quickly want to explain what asymmetrical multiplayer is for those who don't know: Asymmetrical multiplayer is a type of game where the team numbers or team powers are uneven. One team may be stronger or different than the other team. Call of Duty is a symmetrical multiplayer game. There is a even number of team mates (idealy) with even opportunity for kills, rewards and gameplay. Evolve is an asymmetrical multiplayer because it is a 4 on 1 game. There are 4 players that must work together to take down one much bigger, stronger, powerful, character, that continues to grow. I hope this explains it because the whole Asymmetrical genre could get it's own article.

Okay, so Doom goes from symmetrical to Asymmetrical by spawning a demon rune and then goes back to being symmetrical on the end of the demons time.

I feel Doom really can define it self with the demon rune. The introduction of the asymmetrical section is really quite nice and unique-ish but isn't executed correctly.

The Demons Health:

For one the Demon does not last nearly long enough, especially when there are only 2 or 3 on a normal match. The balancing is close but a bit off. I feel all the demons are fairly quick to kill off or at least quick enough that players don't mind rushing the demon knowing that their life will not be in vain. Now each demon is very different with some having way more health than others and play differently but the problem is they don't make the impact they need too.

The demons health does play a big role in how the player's look at the demon. When the demon is quick or easy to kill, players flock to fight it knowing it will fall very quickly. Now if the feel is that fighting it is bad, they are rushing into to die making no effect, then player's will try to avoid the demon to try to stay alive. Which takes the fun away from paying the demon but with the maps being so small and people running around everywhere you will get a lot of action. especially in game modes that are not TDM or TDMesqu. There needs to be a balance that the players will still fight the demon but the demon needs to be able to put up a fight and make it a good back and forth match.

Demon Timer:

The demon only last one minute to one and a half minutes if the rune is dropped. At this rate players don't get the fear that is needed because you think: "Oh hey someone is a demon either I'll be able to avoid him for a short period of time and be fine or I should kill him ASAP and get the rune drop hmmm." This is sad because it is fun to run in and take on a demon surrounded by other players defending it. But at one minute your telling the player that it's okay to give the enemy some kills because the time period of this is very small and there are super weapons that spawn just for the destruction of the demon.

With such a small timer count down the demon is not in your match all that long and takes the anxiety away from facing the demon to whether or not you will be able to be the demon. If the timer is longer more players will feel need to fight the demon because if it is left unattended in the match it can cause a lot of damage to your team. If the timer is longer then the players will feel a need to go after the demon and take it down so the damage done to the team is at a minimal over time, especially in certain game modes where a demon being around for a long time can change the tides very quickly.

Demon Rune Pick up Mechanic:

The other thing I feel was a bad design decision is to continue the timer on pick up after a kill. With the total time being one minute it really doesn't feel worth while to pick up the Rune for maybe twenty seconds of play as the demon with a chance of not seeing an enemy. If they are to keep the timer at one minute they should have the timer reset. So now it's not just a game of survival or waiting but now of a fight for power and dominance. You want the player to feel they have to take on the demon and kill it so their team can have a powerhouse for a little while instead of running knowing that the demon will disappear in a minute and the danger is gone. Also this will make the person playing as the demon think twice about rushing a room knowing that his time may be cut short just to give the enemy an advantage. It will make the demon play more cautious on how they act and what they do when their health gets low.

With the continues timer type mechanic there isn't much fear of the player getting the rune because when they pick it up they may have 5-20 seconds with the demon and accomplish nothing, so it makes it more viable to rush and play stupidly with a lower time. Also if the timer restarts the demon will make a much bigger impact on the match and the feel of the game. Strategy would change completely and super weapons would be used completely different. Also any player with a super weapon would now become a higher target because they have a tool that can change the tides of the match. (This paragraph kind of explains why I like the soul harvest game mode best.)

I feel like the right balance of the timer mechanic and health would drastically change the face of Dooms multiplayer and give it more of it's own identity. I haven't talked about the demons them self but their impact, the demons their self are also not very balanced. The mancubus is too slow and gets shredded from a far with some weapons, thus it needs a higher movement or/and health. The prowler gets killed WAY to quickly and needs more health other wise the prowlers tactics and gameplay are fine. The Revenant is fine but could use more health. The Baron of Hell is the fan favourite because it is the most balanced, I feel it needs better movement and jumps because enemies that have a vertical position on you can kill you far to quickly.

I have seen many reviews and people say that the demon was a hassle and was unneeded, Also I have seen people and reviewers say the multiplayer lacked identity. I feel with a change to the timer, rune mechanics, and demons health it would change how the play and feel of the multiplayer would be further cementing its own identity. It also doesn't have to be the same across the board, It could be different for each game mode makeing them feel all the more different. Maybe even have game modes with out demon runes. Also they could tap the asymmetry like Evolve and add in a game mode reminiscent of how Evolve works with a 4 v 1 or 5 v 1 style match.

Thank you for reading and see you all soon on the next article!

:D

#Balancing #Doom #Design #Mulitplayer