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‘Doom 4’ Game Cancellation Explained, But 2016 Version Has Its Glory Kills — ZDoom Stops Source Mods

By Tony Smejek
Published on: 08:38 PST, Jan 9, 2017

The Doom 4 game’s cancellation was recently explained by Bethesda’s Pete Hines, who stated that it was the correct decision to make. At least the 2016 version carried over the Glory Kills. Also, there was announced the demise of ZDoom, a source mod provider for fun and timeless Doom game mods since 1998. ZDoom had a good run and had passed on the torch to QZDoom and GZDoom for further mods.

The popularity of the game, which was originally developed by id Software, continues to this day. It had its rough patches back in the day, and now the Doom 2016 game is out and being enjoyed by many. The recent documentary, DOOM Resurrected, is a good watch if you want to learn about its origins or want to refresh your knowledge if you’ve been a long-time fan.

Doom 4’s Cancellation The Right Choice?

Bethesda Softworks’ Pete Hines gave some insight regarding Doom 4’s cancellation and how it was the right decision. Hines mentioned how not only did Bethesda reach to him about where Doom stood, but id Software also spoke out, according to Games Radar.

“This game is not hitting the marks it needs to hit. It’s not that it’s not a good game or an okay game, but it’s just not Doom. It’s veered from the things that we think Doom should be about.”

There was no denying that Doom 4 wasn’t good nor not fun, but it seems the project skewed in a direction that didn’t have the personality that people were used to. There was an acknowledgment about the amount of time and effort given to Doom 4, only to have it cancelled in 2011 when pre-orders were made via its announcement in 2008.

The aforementioned Doom game documentary revealed that it was more like other shooters of the time. The early version, called Call of DOOM, was touted by producer Marty Stratton as having a scripted, cinematic feel, according to VG 24/7.

“It was much closer to something like that type of game. A lot more cinematic; a lot more story to it.”

Glory Kill Carry Over

All is not lost, as the 2016 version of Doom carried over the Glory Kills mechanic, so at least there are some remnants that stuck around, according to Attack of the Fanboy. Although Doom 4 was cancelled, Creative Director Hugo Martin mentioned that although the idea was fascinating, he’d rather explore it in a non-Doom game.

Game director Marty Stratton referred to this initial mechanic as a “Sync Melee.”

“You would look at that and think of glory kills, ya know? But it was slow, deliberate, very cinematic way of approaching that.”

So it looks like something good came out of the canceled id Software project in 2011.

ZDoom Stops Source Mods

Just a couple of days ago, the site admin for the projects designed for the FPS shooter made an announcement that they will no longer provide Doom game source mods — or “WADs” as referred to in their file extensions — according to ZDoom.org. The site will still be active, along with the message boards, but the torch has been passed on to QZDoom and GZDoom.

“I am hereby eschewing further ZDoom development. There will be no future releases. Consider QZDoom or GZDoom as replacements. As for the zdoom.org site, eruanna has kindly accepted to take care of it so that the forum and wiki can continue to live on.”

Doom game mods will still be made available, just by other means and other creative minds of the gaming community.

What is your take of the 2016 version of Doom and the cancellation of Doom 4 as well as the carry-over of its mechanic?

[Featured Image by Christian Petersen/Getty Images]

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