One of Doom 2's coolest mods reimagines Eternal as way more complex and empowering

Doom EXP's 2.5 update adds the Cryobow and introduces two new elemental attacks, which takes it from Doom Eternal demake to remake to—well, whatever you'd call a demake, remake, and spiritual sequel rolled in one. Let's make up a word for that sometime.

Doom EXP began as an experience-giving mod, a simple layer to give existing Doom 2 mods their own sense of progression, but when Eternal was announced, the mod transformed into an odd projection of the then unreleased Doom game.

Early in Doom EXP's rapid transformation, mod creator Officer_D used community-made Doom 2 assets based on what had been revealed in Doom Eternal so far—including the flame belch, the crucible blade, and all the usual weapons, but with updated models and crosshairs—and he dropped them into Doom EXP. Movement abilities like the dash, double jump, and super shotgun's meathook carried over. You can even perform glory kills and regain ammo with the chainsaw. And yep, the Marauder is in there too.

But EXP has since been expanded into a wild, agile, empowering arcade take on Doom 2, with far more movement abilities, alternate fire modes, enemies, and enemy behaviors than Eternal. The 2.5 update seals the deal with the Cryobow, which fires frost bolts. Yeah, there's an elemental damage system, so just imagine packing in a few more decisions into every millisecond of Eternal and you'll get an idea of the complexity present in EXP so far.

Murder enough demons and you can buy the new Glacier Smash and Phoenix Dash attacks. The former is a ground pound that leaves behind a frosty AoE, and the latter sends a fiery Doomguy crashing forward. In a more simple homage to Eternal, Cacodemons will now choke on shotgun grenades in EXP and instantly open themselves up for a glory kill. Pain Elementals choke, too! That always annoyed me about Eternal. If I can make one floating eyeball guy gulp down a grenade with a cartoonish blorp, I should be able to do it to all floating eyeball guys. It's just science, ya know?

Besides the marquee additions, Doom EXP's 2.5 update has quite a few new features and bug fixes, some of which are pretty wild out of context. I'll list a few below, but for the full shebang and to try Doom EXP out for yourself, check out the mod page.

- Killer Instinct announcer added.
- Punch wall effects added.
- Fists can no longer be dropped.
- Cleaned up some spaghetti code.
- Bug fixed with ammo drops from poop not giving ammo.

James is stuck in an endless loop, playing the Dark Souls games on repeat until Elden Ring and Silksong set him free. He's a truffle pig for indie horror and weird FPS games too, seeking out games that actively hurt to play. Otherwise he's wandering Austin, identifying mushrooms and doodling grackles.