Doom needs to prove itself all over again, says Bethesda's Pete Hines

The biggest question hanging over Doom 4 is what it will actually be. Can id Software get away with another slow-paced horror shooter in the vein of Doom 3, or will they return to the simpler and more brutal template of Doom 1 and 2? Whatever the answer (and it'll most likely be neither of these), there's a fair bit of pressure on id Software to make good on their long-in-hibernation series. Just ask Bethesda marketing VP Pete Hines.

"The last couple of games were either 'ok' or 'not great'," Hines said of Wolfenstein. "It wasn't a franchise where people were desperate for the next one. Wolfenstein isn't Uncharted. We knew this would take some explaining. But developer Machine Games has now untarnished the IP.

"We view that similarly to Wolfenstein, because it's been so long since the last Doom game," Hines continued. "We are going in as if we need to prove ourselves all over again. We have no free passes. Nobody will assume this is going to be awesome.

"We are going to have to prove that this is something that's going to be fun and different that you need to pay attention to. That has to be our default position, we can't be: 'It's Doom, of course you're going to play it'. But that just makes us work harder."

Doom 4 will be properly unveiled at QuakeCon between July 17 and 20 , but you'll need to be in attendance if you actually want to see it. In the meantime, check out what we want from Doom 4 . We're not asking a lot.

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Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.