You think you are prepared now? Spoiler Alert! You are not! The Ancient Gods is gonna kick your ass!
In order to get back into the shape I replayed the last level of Eternal. Good thing I did! Ancient Gods is exactly the endgame.
You start with all of the weapons, all upgrades and powers. It does give you a little room to breathe but still goes batshit crazy before you know it.
Comparisons to Master Levels are pretty accurate. All places are much more crowded and utilized to extreme.
To help you out a bit, there are 3 new runes to aquire and they use the special slot. It’s basicaly a stronger blood punch, chance to get your life back and the shockwave for destroying enemy parts. However they’re not essential, and you can finish it without using any of them.
There are some changes made to the existing enemies. Minor demons will now die if you hit them or push them too much.
There are much more buff totems, and Specters now have invisible Wiplashes joined in the mix. Yes, you’ve seen it right.
The first new enemy is a turret. It’s a glowing eye that hides and pop out to shoot you. Nothing much appealing, but are surprisingly useful for improving your accuracy and pacing in the battle.
What is not useful are the giant tentacles… because… why not?
Blood Maykrs are as just as you can imagine. They function like Maykr Drones but have temporary shields and special attacks.
Bad news is, you can only damage them when they drop shields, but use the same sound as Marauders, so if you can’t see them it’s like a roulette.
The bosses are two and they range from fun, tactical and challenging to evil and completely daunting (depending on the difficulty).
However, the real star of this expansion are the Spirits. They are the game changer. They can force even toughest badass to run like a bitch.
IF you thought totem buffs are too strong, you’ve got another thing coming. The spirits of a summoner possess the demon making it much more stronger, faster and unstoppable. They do not falter, have no weak spots and are completely immune to freeze and other effects. Then also, they deal double damage. The true boogieman.
When you do manage to kill it, the spirit fleds in search for another one to possess. That’s when you have to act quickly to catch him with a plasma rifle microwave beam, then, it’s busting time!
When you vaporize the sucker it is done. However, in most situations you’ll be doing it in the middle of the action, so it can be very tricky to pull it off and stay alive moments later.
All of the enemy tipes are much better utilized than in the base game. There is more pressure from both mancubi, there are more flying pests, there are always inconvenient arachnotrons and there is lots of extremely aggressive Knights and Barrons that’ll love crushing your face. Also a rain of Revenant rockers and winds of Wiplash slaps plus walls of Carcass shields in between all of that.
And minor demons are everywhere, from stray loners to complete packs. To everything feels as complete as it can get… And then more some.
This expansion is the complete demonstration of id’s confidence. It was a question how will it go, will they listen to complaints of casual players, but no. Everything that Eternal was this is twice more. The fights are epic and brutal. There are two marauders, there are hell knights and tyrants, there are 4 to 5 revenants at the same time and there is Doom Hunter thrown in the mix. Then you fight two Barons of Hell and one of them is buffed because, hell, why not?
Icing on the cake are two Arch-Viles for your sweet, haunting nightmares.
You may just rage quit and take a break, or you can pause and think about your strategy. The combat is much more refined. it’s very rewarding breaking through numerous shields, giants, monsters, rains of projectiles and minions surrounding them. There is much more obstacles at every step, and so beating each of them is very rewarding.
The same goes for platform parts of the level. They are evolved and expanded on. If you didn’t like them, well too bad. Eternal is consistent and it’s here to stay. You have new vents to turn on and off, you have magic carpets that explode, you have trees to punch and you have areas on time limit.
The devs made a clear statement with this one. If it’s too much for you, if you don’t like it – then just maybe this isn’t for you!
Is it like Plutonia Experiment? Nnnno. But it’s in the same spirit.
They also made changes to some of the sounds for the game that are also in the core game. It’s better for the most part.
The music is servicable. It’s not bad – it’s good. But not more than that. Andrew Hulshult is an excellent composer who worked on Dusk, Quake Champions, Brutal Doom and more quality games. Unfortunately I cannot shake the feeling that the iconic Mick Gordon soundtrack is pulling him down. It’s a replacement treatment that doesn’t allow him to do what he want’s to do. If you ask me, his Brutal Doom soundtrack was 10 times better.
The secrets in this one come with a twist. They are no longer toys, albums and… Now it’s everything. From codex entry, runes to ammo depot.
In the beginning; First image shown from the first level didn’t impress me at all. I was like; An ocean platform. How original. But the presentation and design won me over thanks to the last trailer. Now that I’ve seen it all, I must admit. I’m impressed.
There are only three levels, but they’re completely different from each other and the design is a masterpiece, especially the last two levels. Yes, the levels in the original game were amazing, but they managed to surpass even that. Every now and then I just stop and gaze at the landscape. It’s incredible.
First level is on the research platform in the middle of the ocean during the storm. The pictures don’t do it justice, you have to see it in motion. It has great pacing and was most enjoyable for the first impression. It was challenging for sure, but only then at the end, the game started with the real stuff.
Initially the least favorite level actually grew to be my favorite. Blood Swamps in the toxic realms of hell functions like a huge open haunting house. It’s full of traps, hazzards, and dangerous grounds to fight enemies in. It may give you nightmares but when you master it, it’s the perfect playground.
The Urdak looks better than ever, and it’s not a hyperbole. This time we get to see more of a nature aspect. There is an alien forest and it’s majestic. There are also some new Maykr structures and environments and it’s all amazing.
The graphics are improved but it’s well optimized and runs just as good as the original, which is great.
What is not so great? Very few things actually; The human faces seem weaker than before, but I honestly couldn’t care less.
There are no new weapons, not that we need them but the separate ammo pool for the Unmaykr for example would go a long way.
It would be good if we had more underwater interactivity, but no, you are not alowed to bite the shark back!
There is no hub this time, but that’s supported by story.
Speaking of story, it does seem weaker this time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good but it feels less serious and when the twists happen they feel somehow unearned.
Either way, it answers alot, especially if you read the codex, but then it also presents some new questions. It does the job and holds back just enough that you look forward to the next expansion.
The design and gameplay experience is so strong in this expansion that despite no new weapons and not much inovations it still manages to reach the final score range, because it’s just that good!
The game has its own set of rules and the design that goes with it, but in it – Eternal is the king.
The pacing is much better this time, and it’s so thight that the only time I stopped playing is when I died. Yes, it’s hardcore and it’s relentless, but it’s also extremely fun and challenging.
And to those two bloody maniacs who made it on Ultra Nightmare I have only one thing to say: The Part Two is coming.
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