Id Software’s Doom reboot has been in the wild for a little over a year now, and if you haven’t played it yet, you’re missing out. The game takes all the fun of annihilating demons and trims out the unnecessary world-building and story. Luckily, now is the perfect time to pick the shooter up, as Doom‘s latest “6.66” update makes all downloadable content completely free.
“We’ve retired the Doom season pass and are making all of the multiplayer DLC content available to all players,” said game director Marty Stratton in the announcement. “That’s three multiplayer DLC packs, which include nine of our best maps, three additional guns, three additional playable demons, new equipment, armor sets, and more.”
This is a pretty significant deal for Doom, as the season pass originally set players back $40. The game’s multiplayer component wasn’t particularly well received when it launched last year, but steps have been taken to improve the user experience. The latest update changes the multiplayer progression system, eliminating random unlocks in favor of level and challenge-based unlocks. All players will have their levels reset to 0, but this will not affect previously unlocked gear. If you wish to also reset your equipment, you can do that as well, however.
“Now, if there’s a specific helmet you want, you can work toward unlocking it by focusing your play-style on the related challenge,” Stratton said.
But wait — there’s more! If you haven’t tried Doom at all yet, you can do so for free on Xbox One and PC starting today, July 20, through the weekend, and on July 27 for PlayStation 4. The free trial will grant you access to the campaign’s first two levels as well as arcade mode, multiplayer, and the user-created SnapMap mode. If you want to purchase the full game, it will be available digitally for $15, and any progress you’ve made in both the campaign and multiplayer will be carried over to the full version.
Doom takes place in literal Hell, but the game was in “development hell” for many years before its eventual 2016 release. Beginning life as the horror-inspired Doom 4, the game was drastically changed before it became the action-oriented game we have today. You can learn more about the process in Noclip’s documentary Doom Resurrected.
