Doom is back: the best moments from today's gameplay reveal

Raise your hands, because id Software's Doom reboot is coming next year. The fourth major instalment in the series is taking a back-to-basics approach, and today's footage drove that point home. There's shooting, running, and brutal chainsaw finishing moves. Blood is everywhere, and no one is having a pleasant time. In fact, everything is ugly and evil and the only way to fix things is to kill lots of demons. That probably won't fix things either, but whatever!

Bethesda's showcase did a pretty good job of covering the basics, but what follows are some of the features that got me pretty excited.

You can play as a Revenant

We know Doom's multiplayer component will feature "fast-paced, arena style combat", but apart from some snappily edited footage there's not much info regarding its modes. Here's good news though: there will be collectibles for morphing into demons.

Today's multiplayer footage shows a bright red pentagram collectible which, once collected, turns the player into a Revenant. That means you'll get a jetpack, dual-wielded fireballs and the ugliest most shootable face in the arena.

Demons can perform finishing moves, too

Much has been made of finishing moves in Doom, but I was surprised to see that demons can perform ludicrously violent finishers on Doomguy, too. The footage featured a Revenant cracking Doomguy's helmet (thus presumably suffocating him) before ripping his arms off and whacking him around the head in a weirdly playful fashion.

Mancubus are back, and still ugly

These corpulent monstrosities were among the most satisfying demons to kill back in the '90s because when they go down, they go down like a sack of pinkie demon skulls. Nowadays they appear to wield plasma weapons instead of fireballs. It's good to see Mancubus are moving up in the world.

Doom is obscenely violent

It's hard to believe, but when Doom released in 1993 it didn't look like a quaint retro FPS: it looked like a hardcore murder simulator. id Software hasn't pulled any punches with the reboot, with today's gameplay demo featuring as much – if not more – blood as Killing Floor 2. The finishing moves are brutal, the chainsaw is ghastly, and you can even rip the arms off corpses. Charming.

Cyberdemons are even bigger

My first encounter with the Cyberdemon back in the original Doom still sends shivers down my spine. It was the first time an FPS pitted me against something much bigger than Doomguy, but it couldn't have prepared me for this. The Cyberdemon is bigger than ever before...

(good thing the BFG is back, then)

...so it's a good thing the BFG – or Big F**king Gun – is back too.

Modding is in, with a low point of entry

Modding is incredibly important to Doom: it's why the original game still boasts a huge community 22 years later. Doom Snapmap is a modding suite built into the new game, and judging by the fleeting glimpse we saw today it'll be a powerful tool. In addition to map building, Snapmap will allow users to build "custom gameplay [modes]" and "to create or edit game logic."

Modding for beginners

If you're a bit intimidated by the prospect of building Doom levels from scratch, you'll be able to choose from a range of id-created Blueprints, and then fiddle with them as you see fit.

Modding for the advanced

Laying out a map in Doom isn't as simple as connecting rooms together: you need to make navigating them scary. Like in the original Doom, it looks like you'll be able to set invisible trigger points throughout levels. For example, passing a certain point in a hallway can open a monster closet behind you, or touching a certain item will spawn in demons. Expect torment.