New Doom video shows off insanely violent "glory kills"

YouTube YouTube
Watch On

It turns out that there is more to "Glory kills" than just killing gloriously. As Bethesda explains in the latest Doom video, they're over-the-top melee attacks that enable players to get up close and personal with enemies without slowing the game's frantic pace. They are, of course, gloriously gory—but also extremely fast, and designed specifically so that they won't break the rhythm of the game's "push forward".

Glory kills remind me a bit of the melee kills in Serious Sam 3: BFE, but they're much more sophisticated than just "static finishers." There's a large number of them of them in the game and they change depending upon your position in relation to your victim, and they won't interrupt the speed of the slaughter. You can step back and bear witness to your handiwork if you like, but things happen quickly enough that it's just as easy, and probably more tempting, to move on to the next guy and do it again.

"We have strict time limits on how long [glory kills] can last," Chief Technology Officer Robert Duffy says in the video, which was apparently recorded at E3 but just posted at Bethesda.net today. "They’re hundreds of milliseconds, just because you want to keep the player moving."

Now, me, I'm a practical man. Punching things is something I do when I'm all out of bullets. As long as I have a loaded gun, or even better an assortment of guns, I think I'll stick to shooting stuff, thanks. You?

Doom is slated to come out in the spring of 2016.

TOPICS
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

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.

Latest in FPS
Team Fortress Spy being shocked
An FPS studio pulled its game from Steam after it got caught linking to malware disguised as a demo, but the dev insists it was actually the victim of a labyrinthine conspiracy
Neighbors Suburban Warfare screenshot a child aims a slingshot at a man from across a cul-de-sac.
A beta of backyard FPS Neighbors: Suburban Warfare is out now, and the balance discussion is hysterical: nerf trash can lids and children
Fragpunk
Somebody finally figured out casual Counter-Strike
Image for
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’s getting a new roguelite wave defense mode that sounds a whole lot like a souped-up take on Killing Floor
Destiny 2: Season of Plunder promo image.
'We made one big mistake': Destiny 2 developer reveals how a small team dedicated to player retention led to a 20 hour server outage and character rollback
Bears in Space
I downloaded this bear-obsessed comedy FPS to kill time before Doom: The Dark Ages and discovered the most underrated shooter on Steam
Latest in News
Shadow of Mordor's beloved nemesis system exists because the publisher threw a tantrum about second-hand sales
Silent Hill f transmission trailer screenshots
Silent Hill f is not messing around – now it's been banned in Australia
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 22: A view of Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California, United States on August 22, 2024.
'Google must divest the Chrome browser:' DOJ renews call for Google to sell Chrome, and Android could be next
Victory screen of Big Rigs showing infamous "You're Winner" message under a three-handle gold trophy
One of the worst games ever made is coming to Steam, but we won't know how cruel this joke is until we see the price tag
Sci-fi character from Dune
Dune: Awakening promises us a breath of fresh air, skipping early access for a full launch with no monthly subscription in May
Baldur's Gate 3 Karlach concept art
'The dream of the tech industry is to sell off your company at an overinflated price and retire,' says actor behind Baldur's Gate 3's Karlach, 'And I feel that's being done with game studios right now'