Support NeoGAF

Neiteio · May 22, 2016

So you may have heard DOOM is one of the best shooters ever — and it’s true! But what’s a shooter without lots of baddies to shoot? This thread is about appreciating the cool creature designs that make up DOOM’s bestiary — many of which have been with us since the original. It feels good to see so many of them back in action!

Like the Mario series with its Goombas and Koopas, the DOOM series has plenty of iconic cannon fodder, and it’s neat to see how they’ve changed over the years. To refresh your memory, here’s what they looked like back in the day:

The Pain Elementals, Arachnotrons and Archvile are missing in action in the new DOOM, but the others all return (along with a new monster or two). I’ve taken shots of some of them in the model viewer, trying to showcase their different angles, textures, ect. For example, in one shot you can see the Cacodemon’s long, snake-like tongue!

Note that certain demons like the Lost Souls, Hell Razer and Specter don’t have entries in the model viewer (although they do have lore files). Also note I’m not posting pics of the Possessed, but feel free to discuss them, as well!

So, who’s your favorite monster? Which designs do you like the best? Which ones do you find the most fun to fight? Which ones changed for the better over the years — or for the worse? Discuss the demons!

IMP

HELL KNIGHT

REVENANT

MANCUBUS

SUMMONER

CACODEMON

BARON OF HELL

PINKY

CYBER MANCUBUS

CYBERDEMON

HELL GUARD

SPIDER MASTERMIND

Also, making a non-boss cameo appearance…

THE ICON OF SIN

CryptiK · May 22, 2016

Yep they are amazing. And when those first screenshots hit and the monsters were really dull in the colour department, they really ended up listening to the community.

TheDinoman · May 22, 2016

Why does the Hellknight look almost exactly as it does in Doom 3?

GinoFelino · May 22, 2016

Neiteio said:
So you may have heard DOOM is one of the best shooters ever and its true!

I've only heard that from you, but that's okay

Handsomejan · May 22, 2016

TheDinoman said:
Why does the Hellknight look almost exactly as it does in Doom 3?

because the characterdesign is quite nice

pixelpatch · May 22, 2016

I think DOOM has received a lot of criticism. It's a shame but I really think people were clinging onto the past and had the love for previous game.

Neiteio · May 22, 2016

GinoFelino said:
I've only heard that from you, but that's okay

Haven't been reading much GAF, eh? It's been well-received.

TheDinoman said:
Why does the Hellknight look almost exactly as it does in Doom 3?

It might've been to better differentiate the Hell Knight from the Baron of Hell. The black body and white skull also make the Hell Knight an easy read on the battlefield. I usually see their white skulls first when they come bounding up to me!

pixelpatch said:
I think DOOM has received a lot of criticism. It's a shame but I really think people were clinging onto the past and had the love for previous game.

Are you referring to DOOM 3, a.k.a. the odd one out? The new DOOM has a lot in common with the original games, including many of the designs.

mickcenary · May 22, 2016

Very awesome, but there's something extremely non-threatening about the overall demon aesthetic. The eyes, the proportions... It's like they're almost a little bit "chibi" in design.

Intentional, I'm sure, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. Baron of Hell legit looks adorable.

jambo · May 22, 2016

TheDinoman said:
Why does the Hellknight look almost exactly as it does in Doom 3?

In the original game it was just a palette swap of the Baron of Hell, so for Doom 3 they redesigned it and really nailed it. May as well just make an even more detailed version if you've already nailed it 12 years ago.

Plasma · May 22, 2016

I liked all the new redesigns in the new Doom except for the imp which just looks too skinny and not that imposing.

G-Fex · May 22, 2016

hahaha it's funny seeing all these doom threads now lol.

Nothing beats skeleton guys.

Neiteio · May 22, 2016

Plasma said:
I liked all the new redesigns in the new Doom except for the imp which just looks too skinny and not that imposing.

The imp is actually one of my favorites. I like the bright orange and purple color scheme, and the lanky limbs that accentuate its movement as it clambers up walls and leaps sideways slinging fireballs. I also like the fang-filled mouth, the ribs on its back, and the layers to its face.

mickcenary said:
Very awesome, but there's something extremely non-threatening about the overall demon aesthetic. The eyes, the proportions... It's like they're almost a little bit "chibi" in design.

Intentional, I'm sure, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. Baron of Hell legit looks adorable.

Ha, they are oddly adorable. They're so fun to fight that they become oddly endearing, despite the fact they're trying to kill me.

I never get the impression the game is trying to scare us, though. After all, the in-game lore makes it explicitly clear that the demons are afraid of you.

peanutbutterlatte · May 22, 2016

They're all brilliant, including the

Spider-Mastermind

, except for the Cyberdemon. Guy looks like a Darksiders monster.

Exhibit A, 1993 Cyberdemon

Look how fearsome, how intimidating. Terrifying, towering above you.

Exhibit B:

Hurr durr guys I can invade Mars lol. The thing has moose horns.

Why they didn't take their excellent Baron design and just stick cybernetics on it, I have no idea.

Neiteio · May 22, 2016

I like the new Cyberdemon (especially the way he fights — one of the best FPS boss battles since Metroid Prime), but I agree his older design was more intimidating.

One touch I like in the original are the cables connecting his upper and lower torsos. They still have coils in the new design, but they're running sideways and don't appear cybernetic like the original.

peanutbutterlatte · May 22, 2016

Neiteio said:
I like the new Cyberdemon (especially the way he fights one of the best FPS boss battles since Metroid Prime), but I agree his older design was more intimidating.

One touch I like in the original are the cables connecting his upper and lower torsos. They still have coils in the new design, but they're running sideways and don't necessarily appear cybernetic like the original.

The boss fight was excellent, and it's a shame he only made the one appearance, but whilst they nailed the feel of the Spider Mastermind, the Cyberdemon just isn't intimidating. Remember Tower of Babel on Doom 1? Hearing those gut-wrenching piston powered footsteps for the first time?

Like, what the hell is that?!

TheDinoman · May 22, 2016

On the subject of Doom 3 and the Cyberdemon I always really liked its design there.

biteren · May 22, 2016

in 7th grade, access to Doom was difficult for me to obtain (because i diddnt know where to get it.) so i carried around printed out sprites of the weapons and monsters of Doom and looked at them at lunch or in the library

peanutbutterlatte · May 22, 2016

TheDinoman said:
On the subject of Doom 3 and the Cyberdemon I always really liked its design there.

Decent design much closer to the original. Shame the bastard couldn't be touched by conventional weaponry!

biteren · May 22, 2016

peanutbutterlatte said:
They're all brilliant, including the

Exhibit B:

Hurr durr guys I can invade Mars lol. The thing has moose horns.

Why they didn't take their excellent Baron design and just stick cybernetics on it, I have no idea.

to be honest, the cyberdemon design here i didnt like a whole lot, looks a bit out of place like somone at blizzard desinged it to be in Diablo

Brerlappin · May 22, 2016

Plasma said:
I liked all the new redesigns in the new Doom except for the imp which just looks too skinny and not that imposing.

Yeah, I kinda wish theyd done to the imp what they did to the Hell knight. Take the awesome Doom 3 model and build on it. The Spider eyes of the D3 imp was amazing.
But by and large the new monsters look great. The Cacodemon almost looks kinda cute with his little gimpy arms lol

Neiteio · May 22, 2016

The Summoner reminds me of the Angel of Death from Hellboy II, but with an insect motif — unsettling, but darkly beautiful:

Killer Queen · May 22, 2016

biteren said:
in 7th grade, access to Doom was difficult for me (because i diddnt know where to get it. so i carried around printed out sprites of the weapons and monsters of Doom and looked at them at lunch or in the library

That's the kinda thing I'd do in middle school. Though not specifically for doom.

UnluckyKate · May 22, 2016

Revenant are actually called Toot :

and Cacodemon are actually called Cocademo

54-46! · May 22, 2016

I think most of the demons look really great, just mean looking. Unfortunately the Possessed, Hell Razer and Guard are just kind of bland.

I also wish enemies would stand out a bit more from the environment, they are kind of hard to spot some times.

peanutbutterlatte · May 22, 2016

Yeah can't stand the Hell Razer. Looks plucked right out of Halo.

Warxard · May 22, 2016

Fighting Imps is just awesome.

biteren · May 22, 2016

Killer Queen said:
That's the kinda thing I'd do in middle school. Though not specifically for doom.

i was obsessed with Doom, even when it was sort of forgotten in the minds of the people i knew. not really owning the game just drove it further

Neiteio · May 22, 2016

Warxard said:
Fighting Imps is just awesome.

Yeah, Imps are probably my favorite low-level enemy in a FPS. They're just fun, from start to finish. And whoever animated them should receive a medal. I love the way they dive sideways to sling a fireball, or charge one up DBZ-style. Or how they cling to walls like Space Pirates in Metroid, or scramble up and over obstacles to run away from you when you have the Berserk power-up.

Come to think of it, the animations are top-notch across the board. The enemies have instantly recognizable silhouettes, and they all telegraph their moves well. Along with the visible nature of their projectiles, you're able to predict them and dodge them, which makes for some riveting battles.

pa22word · May 22, 2016

peanutbutterlatte said:
They're all brilliant, including the

Spider-Mastermind

, except for the Cyberdemon. Guy looks like a Darksiders monster.

Exhibit A, 1993 Cyberdemon

Look how fearsome, how intimidating. Terrifying, towering above you.

Exhibit B:

Hurr durr guys I can invade Mars lol. The thing has moose horns.

Why they didn't take their excellent Baron design and just stick cybernetics on it, I have no idea.

I agree, and think it's a strangely recurrent problem with the game's art design.

It feels like they had multiple designers working on the game, and some of them had a great deal of restraint while one or two of them just couldn't help themselves and just could not stop drawing. Cyberdemon is the worst of them. Just look at the horns. My god, those horns. Some art student somewhere could write a dissertation on those fucking horns.

Also @ OP: Summoner is the archvile. They changed the name and design--I'd assume for gameplay reasons to differentiate it from other enemies--but it's the same creature in both function and play.

Neiteio · May 22, 2016

pa22word said:
I agree, and think it's a strangely recurrent problem with the game's art design.

It feels like they had multiple designers working on the game, and some of them had a great deal of restraint while one or two of them just couldn't help themselves and just could not stop drawing. Cyberdemon is the worst of them. Just look at the horns. My god, those horns. Some art student somewhere could write a dissertation on those fucking horns.

What's wrong with the horns? They have a unique shape to them that sets them apart. I mean, yeah, they're asymmetrical, but then so is his entire concept and design. He was pieced together from shattered remains by human scientists, after all.

pa22word said:
Also @ OP: Summoner is the archvile. They changed the name and design--I'd assume for gameplay reasons to differentiate it from other enemies--but it's the same creature in both function and play.

Yeah, functionally the Summoner = Archville, but they're technically different creatures, as best as I can tell.

Neiteio · May 22, 2016

Also, wanted to share this somewhere more demonic imagery:

This game is metal as hell (pun intended)

pa22word · May 22, 2016

Neiteio said:
What's wrong with the horns? They have a unique shape to them that sets them apart. I mean, yeah, they're asymmetrical, but then so is his entire concept and design. He was pieced together from shattered remains by human scientists, after all.

Just like the other poster said, it reminds me so much of darksiders. Just overdesigned for the sake of it, out of nothing more than a lack of restraint. I mean seriously...fucking /moose horns/? Asymmetrical moose horns, at that...*gags*

Especially compared to the old design. At least his mob version has the classic clink sound when he moves. I thought that was an awesome touch in an otherwise mediocre game in terms of sound design.

Yeah, functionally the Summoner = Archville, but they're technically different creatures, as best as I can tell.

I don't mean to sound crass--really I don't, this is a genuine question--but have you played classic doom before? In the older Dooms, the archviles have the same teliporting movements, and the summoner has the same attack animation featured in that picture of the archvile in the OP.

mokeyjoe · May 22, 2016

Neiteio said:
What's wrong with the horns? They have a unique shape to them that sets them apart. I mean, yeah, they're asymmetrical, but then so is his entire concept and design. He was pieced together from shattered remains by human scientists, after all.

Yeah, functionally the Summoner = Archville, but they're technically different creatures, as best as I can tell.

Yeah, the fact that corpses don't stay around makes the Archvile obsolete. Clearly he's been replaced by the summoner. I'm hoping any DLC will reintroduce the Pain Elemental and Arachnotron.

Neiteio · May 22, 2016

pa22word said:
Just like the other poster said, it reminds me so much of darksiders. Just overdesigned for the sake of it, out of nothing more than a lack of restraint. I mean seriously...fucking /moose horns/? Asymmetrical moose horns, at that...*gags*

Especially compared to the old design. At least his mob version has the classic clink sound when he moves. I thought that was an awesome touch in an otherwise mediocre game in terms of sound design.

I think the moose horns are a nice touch since they seem to denote a higher rank.

pa22word said:
I don't mean to sound crass--really I don't, this is a genuine question--but have you played classic doom before? In the older Dooms, the archviles have the same teliporting movements, and the summoner has the same attack animation featured in that picture of the archvile in the OP.

Yes, I know they behave the same, that's why I said "functionally." But the fact of the matter is they have different names, while all of the other updated demons retain their original names. That's why I think Summoner is supposed to be a separate creature, even if his in-game functionality is more or less the same.

mokeyjoe said:
Yeah, the fact that corpses don't stay around makes the Archvile obsolete. Clearly he's been replaced by the summoner. I'm hoping any DLC will reintroduce the Pain Elemental and Arachnotron.

If they bring back the Pain Elemental, I want them to go all-out with the eyeball. Make it bulbous!

pa22word · May 22, 2016

mokeyjoe said:
Yeah, the fact that corpses don't stay around makes the Archvile obsolete. Clearly he's been replaced by the summoner. I'm hoping any Dec will reintroduce the Pain Elemental and Arachnotron.

Mini spidermastermind will show up either in the DLC or sequel. Obviously there's going to be fallout from the death of mama spider >

Personally, FUCK THE PAIN ELEMENTAL!!! >.> seriously that bastard caused me so much rage when I was young I hope to god that bastard is just gone forever. Speaking of which...

The chaingunner is also missing from Doom 4, and I think everyone can say "thank fucking christ" to that

Also OP, shotgun guy is *basically* back as well. They just gave him a goddamned shield, for reasons that have caused me and I assume many others much pain and suffering on Nightmare mode in D4 ;-;

KahooTs · May 22, 2016

Agree with those shouting down the cyber demon, it's the hunched back that kills it for me. It should stand tall and proud and strut towards you.

Neiteio · May 22, 2016

CryptiK said:
Yep they are amazing. And when those first screenshots hit and the monsters were really dull in the colour department, they really ended up listening to the community.

I'm so happy they went back to the original colors for the final release. I love Cacodemon's vibrant red look.

They even made some characters more colorful than the originals, like the imps.

Nights Owl · May 22, 2016

Seeing this thread just really makes me happy. I'm SO GLAD there's a new *good* DOOM.

And I'm glad a lot of people seem to be agreeing with me on the designs.

Imp and Cyberdemon are the worst IMO, everything else I think is pretty good from their DOOM/DOOM2 counterpart.

I really can't say how happy I am that DOOM is back and good again.

The ONE wish I had was that there'd be constant awesome music playing while you play levels, but that's the only disappointment I got. And the lack of music remixes/etc. Seriously, how can you not have Sign of Evil sound anything like Sign of Evil?!

NinjamicWZ · May 22, 2016

Spider Mastermind model is my jam.

I really hope the bosses are retooled a bit to be regular enemies in an expansion.

T.O.P · May 22, 2016

Summoner and Cacodemon are my favourite, it's incredible how good they look and move in general tho, love the enemy design

And the entrance of the Cyberdemon is fuckin perfect

Moongazer · May 22, 2016

TheDinoman said:
Why does the Hellknight look almost exactly as it does in Doom 3?

Because the Hell Knight design from Doom 3 was really good? I'm glad they choose to keep it the same appearance wise however they really improved them animation wise now. I love that they are much more aggressive and more of a melee focused enemy. It's how I would imagine that thing moving whereas the Doom 3 counterpart is sort of slow and just shoot fireballs at you from afar.

Hispanic! At the Disco · May 22, 2016

You should get a picture of the Elemental Wraiths from the last level!

Sure they're all dead, but they look cool!

Edit: doom 3 hell knight is best hell knight

BabyFaceKillah · May 22, 2016

Man fuck hell knights, pinkys, and 💩Demons (yes cacademons) in that rich get richer challenge...

I like the revenants and the spider mastermind

Everything else is all right

Edit: yeah cyber demon is terrible compared to the older one... Didn't they have s different design in the reveal?

NinjamicWZ · May 22, 2016

peanutbutterlatte said:
They're all brilliant, including the

Spider-Mastermind

, except for the Cyberdemon. Guy looks like a Darksiders monster.

Exhibit A, 1993 Cyberdemon

Look how fearsome, how intimidating. Terrifying, towering above you.

Exhibit B:

Hurr durr guys I can invade Mars lol. The thing has moose horns.

Why they didn't take their excellent Baron design and just stick cybernetics on it, I have no idea.

I agree also that Doom 3's cyberdemon is way more of a Tim Curry in Legend kinda beast, but I do like the design of the current cyberdemon and it's data log stuff. It makes for a bad ass beast and fits the game, just not necessarily a great cyberdemon.

metareferential · May 22, 2016

Cyberdemom design is shit,looks straight out of Pacific Rim (kaiju).

Awfully awful. Other monsters are fine.

peanutbutterlatte · May 22, 2016

Doom 3 Hell Knight was the only thing worth rescuing from that trash-heap of design.

Deleted member 102362 · May 22, 2016

They're gorgeous in a demonic, twisted way.

rashbeep · May 22, 2016

Cyberdemon looks like something out of Gears of War. I have no idea what they were thinking there. Especially when the other designs are more or less a callback to the original games. I was hoping for something more like this

lazygecko · May 22, 2016

Original hell knight was literally just a palette swapped baron. It's better to differentiate them.

Sub_Level · May 22, 2016

Yeah lets "appreciate" the Arch-ville.

Such a fun, well designed enemy :^)

Support NeoGAF

Lets appreciate the monsters of DOOM (warning  open spoilers, LOTS of pics!)

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Junior Member

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Banned

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Member

Member

Deleted member 102362

Unconfirmed Member

Banned

Member

wants to fuck an Asian grill.

Similar threads

Lets appreciate the monsters of DOOM (warning open spoilers, LOTS of pics!)