Doom multiplayer modes revealed in new video

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Last week, we got a look at the nine multiplayer maps that will be included with Bethesda's upcoming FPS Doom. Now it's time to lay eyes on the game's half-dozen multiplayer modes: some new, and some you may have run into previously.

Team Deathmatch has been around for ages, and Clan Arena is basically the same thing but without pickups, respawns, or demon transformations: You fight until you die, and the last team standing wins. Another one you may have heard of, in one variant or another, is Domination, in which teams compete to claim and control up to three static locations on a map, earning points based on how long they're held. This twist in Doom is the Demon Rune, which will spawn randomly and be announced to all players. Demons are more powerful than soldiers (despite how poorly they seem to fare when actually confronted with one), and so teams will have to choose between defending their holdings and sending players to make a grab for the rune, to keep it out of enemy hands.

The Soul Harvest mode works much like Team Deathmatch, but points are earned by grabbing the Painkiller-esque souls of fallen enemies. Freeze Tag involves freezing enemies rather than killing them (and thawing out teammates, because the first team to be entirely frozen loses), and Warpath is like a King of the Hill mode, except that the hill is constantly moving around the map. Gameplay in all of these modes is further complicated by the Demon Rune, which will force players and teams to choose between risk and reward.

A Doom multiplayer closed beta is set to begin at 10 pm ET on March 31 and run until 11:59 pm ET on April 3, but it's restricted to those who preordered Wolfenstein: The New Order. Everyone else, barring an as-yet-unannounced public beta, will have to wait for the game to launch on May 13.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.