Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
If you haven’t played DOOM Eternal yet, then you are missing out on an incredible game. I really suggest you give it a go.
Whether you have played DOOM Eternal before or not, there really has been no better time to pick up that controller and play.
Why?
Because Bethesda have just launched DOOM Eternal’s biggest free update yet – Patch 6.66!
Here’s a quick rundown of what is included in the devilishly demonic update:
- Horde Mode
- Battlemode 2.0
- Streak-based matchmaking
- Balance Updates
- Bug fixes
- New Battlemode arena
- New playable demon
- 2 New master levels
- Rewards & Cosmetics galore!
Doom Eternal Patch 6.66 Trailer
DOOM Eternal Horde Mode
In this new blood curdling single-player mode you battle your way through wave after wave of demons as you compete for the highest score amongst other players.
The mode is played over 3 missions. Each mission is a level from each of the games in the series (DOOM Eternal, Ancient Gods Part 1 and Ancient Gods Part 2). The levels are Cultist Base, Reclaimed Earth and The Holt, respecively. Don’t worry, if you don’t have all of these games; you will be able to play Horde Mode as long as you have at least one of the games from the DOOM Eternal series
There is a structure to each of the missions, comprised out of the following rounds:
- Arena Round where you kick ass against wave after wave of demons
- Blitz Round where you must slaughter as many demons as you can in a set amount of time
- Bonus Coin Round* where you must collect as many coins as you can in a set amount of time
- Traversal Round where you parkour and collect coins before time runs out
- Bonus Blitz Round* which is basically a Blitz Round but with Super Heavy Demons and Onslaught power-ups
You start Horde Mode with:
- 3 Extra Lives
- A fully mastered Combat Shotgun
- The Chainsaw, all Equipment and Dash
- All Perks, Runes and Sentinel Crystal Upgrades
- Another fully mastered gun is awarded at random on completion of each Arena Round
- Special weapons are given at the start of certain Arena Rounds
- Completing Milestones unlocks new customization items
- Additional Extra Lives are awarded by completing Blitz Rounds, Bonus Coin Rounds, Bonus Blitz Rounds, Combat Arena Rounds 1 and 2 in The Holt and by killing the required number of demons in Blitz and Bonus Blitz Rounds. They can also be acquired in level during any Traversal Round
Score Points By:
- Killing Stuff
- Killing Bigger Stuff
- Killing Bounty demons
- Completing Mission Challenges
- Picking up coins in Bonus Coin Rounds and Traversal Rounds
- Having Extra Lives left at the end of a round
- Having BFG Ammo left at the end of a round
Score 400,000 points or more to get awarded Slayer Medals
State Share
Throwing an interesting curveball, Bethesda has added Stadia’s State Share functionality to the new Horde Mode. Players can now State Share their loadouts via the “Post a capture” option in the Explore section of the Stadia App or they can share a link with friends, family or anyone on the Internet in a bid to challenge them to beat their score. Bethesda, being the good sports they are, have even shared their very own State Share link. Click here to play it now [icon name=”share-square” prefix=”fas”]
Check out my article, The Current State of Stadia’s State Share for more information on Stadia’s State Share feature.
New Rewards
The new DOOM Eternal patch comes with TONNES of new rewards & cosmetics too.
New Master Levels
Update 6.66 includes two new Master Levels, Mars Core and The World Spear. Complete the corresponding campaign level to unlock each one. Access your unlocked Master Levels from the Fortress of DOOM or the Mission Select menu.
You must also own the corresponding game to get this content
(i.e. You must own DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods – Part Two to play The World Spear Master Level)
DOOM Eternal Battlemode 2.0
Battlemode 2.0 has a tonne of new additions and changes. With the introduction of Hot Streaks and the new player matching system you are much more likely to be matched with/against other players of a similar skill level.
Hot Streaks
- A Hot Streak card is awarded when a player wins four games before losing two
- The Streak Tracker resets after losing two matches before a Hot Streak card is awarded
- The number of Hot Streak cards you have determines your Rank and Leader board position
Additional details:
- Playing as the Slayer and as a Demon each has their own respective Streak Tracker
- Exiting a Public match prematurely will count as a loss
- The Streak Tracker does not record wins and losses from Private Matches
- Rewards from the series page and the requirements to unlock them are different for Slayers and Demons
Unfortunately, not for lack of trying, I have still been unable to successfully join a matchmade multiplayer game of Doom Eternal on Stadia.
[wpdiscuz-feedback id=”1r9tsr2rbx” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”0″]Have you been able to successfully play DOOM Eternal multiplayer? Please leave a comment and let us know [/wpdiscuz-feedback]I may cover Battlemode 2.0 in more depth if I ever manage to play it. However, here are a couple of images outlining some Battlemode 2.0 features That I have been unable to tryout for myself:
Bug Fixes & Known Issues
This information has been curated from DOOM Eternal – Update 6.66 Release Notes | Bethesda.net and was up to date at the time of posting. However, please check this link for any updates to this information and for further information relating to other platforms.
Bug Fixes for ALL platforms
CAMPAIGN
- Fixed an issue where collision was present on armour and ammo drops
- Fixed in issue in which ambient music from the auto-map would persist outside of the Dossier
- Fixed the issue in which the Argentas Paladi Milestone progress would not complete correctly
BATTLEMODE 2.0
- Fixed an issue in which the Archvile’s Flame Wall would block the Marauder’s Shotgun Blast attack
- Updated the description for the Revenant’s Sadist upgrade to make the wording clearer
- Fixed an issue where Demon Players can stack Healing Zone for double healing with/without Tactician upgrade
- Fixed a physics-related issue that caused Slayers to lose momentum when dashing next to certain surfaces
- Fixed the Revenant’s jetpack acceleration so it is no longer frame rate dependent
- Fixed an issue where additional Demon Player models would appear on respawn after using Team Heal upon a Demon teammate’s death
- Fixed an issue where Slayers can generate more armour shards from Demon Players damaged by quick-swapping
- Fixed a culling issue on the ceiling of the Corrosion map
Known Issues for ALL platforms
GENERAL
- Issue: Series Challenge reward unlocks may be delayed
- Resolution: Series Challenge reward unlocks may not be immediate. If you experience this, don’t worry, they will unlock shortly
- Issue: Mission Challenges pinned on the HUD can appear to partially reset once completed
- Resolution: This is a cosmetic issue. Progress on the Challenge tracker in the Dossier remains intact
- Issue: Control inputs may not work correctly in Photo Mode third person free camera mode
- Resolution: We are investigating a fix for this in a future update
- Issue: The cooldown timer does not appear if you fail to kill the tagged demon with the Take Back Rune equipped
- Resolution: We are investigating a fix for this in a future update
- Issue: The Saving Throw cooldown timer is shared between Campaign and Master Levels on the same save file
- Resolution: We are investigating a fix for this in a future update
MILESTONES
- Issue: Progress for the “Headstrong” and “Blood Transfusion” Agnostic Milestones is not tracked in the campaign or Master Levels
- Resolution: We will fix these Milestone issues in a future update
MASTER LEVELS
- Issue: The Full Auto Combat Shotgun mod is not usable if you interrupt its pickup animation with the Plasma Rifle equipped in the Mars Core Master Level
- Resolution: Switch to the Sticky Grenades mod then back to Full Auto to resolve this
- Issue: Milestones and milestone progress is not visible from the Pause Menu while playing a Master Level
- Resolution: This is a cosmetic issue in which the UI is not displaying correctly. Unless otherwise noted above, Milestone progress is being tracked under the hood while playing Master Levels. We will fix this in a future update
BATTLEMODE 2.0
- Issue: Your personal Leader board Rank may not always match your public one if you are tied with another player
- Resolution: Just be aware and check to see if you happened to be tied with another player on the Leader board
- Issue: The Demon Loadout menu may auto-scroll after selecting a new Demon if placed in a different Podium slot from the previous match on Quick Play
- Resolution: Back out of the lobby before all players are readied up and rejoin a new one to resolve the issue
- Issue: In rare cases, player names may appear delayed in BATTLEMODE lobbies or fail to appear before matches launch
- Resolution: It should correct itself by the end of match
- Issue: If the host leaves a match in progress, the remaining players are placed in a broken lobby
- Resolution: Back out of the lobby to resolve this issue, if encountered. It will be fixed in an upcoming patch
Horde Mode
- Issue: The player’s “Previous Best” score displays as 0 on death and at the Victory Summary screen after finishing all Horde Mode rounds on Cultist Base and Reclaimed Earth
- Resolution: This is a cosmetic issue. The correct score is being tracked under the hood even though it displays as 0 on the UI. We are working to fix this issue in a future release
- Issue: The Difficulty Bonus score is incorrectly attributed to Combat Score on the Summary screen after losing your last life
- Resolution: This is a cosmetic issue. The correct score is recorded
- Issue: In rare instances, the player may get pushed out of the world
- Resolution: You will need to back out of the current Horde Mode playthrough to resolve this
- Issue: There may be briefly visible level culling present after teleporting and during Round transitions
- Resolution: This has no effect on gameplay
Known Issues for Stadia Only
Horde Mode
- Issue: The Demon Wave HUD element may not always display accurately during some Arena Rounds
Conclusion
It’s obvious that Bethesda have put in the work to ensure that DOOM Eternal’s Patch 6.66 is great.
It comes with a slew of new features, new gameplay modes, new unlockables & cosmetics, bug fixes and they have made sure to utilise some of Stadia’s unique features, which is always nice.
But will it bring enough players back to the game to make multiplayer on Stadia viable? I was kinda hoping for cross-platform Battlemode 2.0. But there seems to be no mention of it.
All-in-all this is a great bunch of extra content for an already great game. And to say that it’s free, I’d definitely say its worth giving the new
