As per the listing, the collection is going to have one additional game that the PS4 and Xbox One releases of the compilation did not have- namely, DOOM 64, which got ported to modern consoles in early 2020. In addition to that, the package will also supposedly include DOOM, DOOM 2, DOOM 3, and DOOM (2016). Its release date is mentioned as September 2 on the Best Buy page, at a price of $49.99.

An official announcement for this collection’s Switch version hasn’t yet been made by either id Software or Bethesda, but with QuakeCon 2021 kicking off imminently, it’s possible that we’ll be hearing something about this very soon. Either way, stay tuned, and we’ll keep you updated on any new details that come our way.

In a new Xbox Wire post, Microsoft has announced 20 games from Bethesda Softworks that will be added to Xbox Game Pass today. With a few exceptions, many of these titles will be playable on Xbox consoles, PC and the cloud. Even though The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition is already available for console owners, subscribers on other platforms will be able to play it as well.

The full list is quite extensive and includes the following titles:

• Dishonored Definitive Edition
• Dishonored 2
• Doom (1993)
• Doom 2
• Doom 3
• Doom 64
• DOOM Eternal
• The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind
• The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (Console, PC)
• The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition
• The Elder Scrolls Online (Cloud, Console)
• The Evil Within
• Fallout 4
• Fallout 76
• Fallout: New Vegas (Console)
• Prey
• RAGE 2
• Wolfenstein: The New Order
• Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood

Prey and Fallout 4 will be returning to the service after exiting last year, though the latter is the base version and not the Game of the Year Edition. Dishonored Definitive Edition and The Evil Within are new entries while Dishonored 2 makes its return after leaving last September. It should be interesting to see if Dishonored: Death of the Outsider and The Evil Within 2 arrive on Game Pass at some point.

A roundtable discussion is currently on-going between Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda team members – find out more about that here. Microsoft has also confirmed that some future titles from Bethesda will be exclusive to Xbox and PC. Stay tuned for more details in the coming days on which ones.

#5. CYBERDEMON – DOOM 3

DOOM 3 catches plenty of flak from many series fans because of how different it was from its predecessors, with the game adopting a slower survival horror approach as opposed to the bombastic, in-your-face action DOOM is otherwise known for. And while many of those criticisms are fair, there’s still a lot to love in this game- sadly, the final boss fight against the Cyberdemon is not one of those things.

The fight against this beast does not do justice to it intimidating physical appearance. Though it’s equipped with a rocket launcher that can do devastating damage if it hits you, avoiding those hits is actually pretty easy- you just have to make sure you stay on the move, keep out of its line of sight, and use the spires around the Hell Hole for cover.

Keep killing the little enemies that spawn while doing so, and turn around every once in a while to fire off the Soul Cube- rinse and repeat just a few times, and the boss fight is over. Cyberdemons have appeared as major enemies in DOOM games quite a few times over the years, but this encounter in particular has to be one of the most disappointing against one of them.

#4. ICON OF SIN – DOOM 2

The Icon of Sin has a special place in the hearts of DOOM fans for many reasons, the primary being that John Romero’s head is literally the final boss in DOOM 2. But though the boss has a strong legacy and remains a popular one among the DOOM fanbase to this day, the actual fight is not the most difficult- if you play your cards right.

The biggest threat this encounter poses is not actually the Icon of Sin itself- it’s all the other demons that spawn around you. From Arch-viles to Pain Elementals to Revenants, there’s quite a bit that you have to contend with, so staying on the move and staying alert is pretty important. It’s just a little disappointing that the boss itself doesn’t pose too much of a threat itself.

The Icon of Sin is literally a giant head on a wall, and it doesn’t take too many shots to bring it down- just three shots with the rocket launcher, that’s pretty much all that’s needed. Sure, the other demons do make things a bit more complicated, but by and large, this fight can be dusted off with ease pretty quickly.

#3. MOTHER DEMON – DOOM 64

Unlike the Icon of Sin and the Cyberdemon, DOOM 64’s Mother Demon can be a pretty tricky boss encounter. For starters, she’s got some impressive attacks up her sleeve, from a flame trailer to her homing rockets, and both of these can be pretty devastating if they hit you. If you don’t manage to successfully dodge these, you’re toast.

Thankfully, keeping your distance from her is a good strategy that makes those dodges pretty easy to pull off. It doesn’t take a lot of shots with the Unmaker to kill her- of course, that depends on you having received all three Demon Keys beforehand, without which the Unmaker is unusable.

If you do find yourself in that situation, relying on the BFG 9000 is your next best bet, because even with more powerful weapons – like the rocket launcher – it can take quite a lot of shots to take the Mother Demon down. It also doesn’t help that she’s quite agile, which just makes the fight that much trickier.

#2. SPIDERDEMON – DOOM

The Spiderdemon was the perfect intersection between ingenious visual design and solid execution of mechanics. Visually, its weird, twisted form was horrifying to behold, and the actual fight against it did complete justice to how threatening it looked. It might not be the toughest boss fight in the series, or even the game itself, but it posed more than a semblance of challenge.

Its chaingun attack is nearly impossible to avoid, especially at close range, which means keeping your distance and keeping on the move is almost crucial in this fight, something that the ledges on the edges of the battlefield come in very handy for.

Defensively, the Spiderdemon isn’t the most formidable foe out there. Weapons like the BFG, the rocket launcher, and the Plasma Rifle are particularly effective against and, and it doesn’t have a ton of health, so if you know what you’re doing, you can actually get through the battle pretty quickly.

#1. SPIDER MASTERMIND – DOOM (2016)

DOOM (2016)’s final boss fight against the Spider Mastermind is an amazing tribute to the original game, and not just for the obvious reasons- it also excels as an actual boss fight in more ways than one, from its visual design to the context surrounding this encounter to the actual mechanics of the fight itself.

The Spider Mastermind has a pretty big pool of health, which means that it takes a hell of a lot of shots from multiple weapons to bring it down. Switching out your weapons constantly and making smart use of the ammo at your disposal to attack its weak points is key. Meanwhile, the fight also requires players to keep moving around, thanks to the Spider Mastermind’s own mobility.

And it’s not just a bullet sponge- it has plenty of deadly attacks of its own that keep you on your toes. From being able to electrify the ground to sweeping at you with its legs, from launching deadly projectiles at you to firing off a barrage of lazers, from using spike bombs to raising up pillars from the ground, the Spider Mastermind has more than enough up its sleeve to give you a very quick and painful death if you’re not paying attention.

While the vast majority of DOOM fanatics will be playing DOOM Eternal come March 20th, that day also sees the launch of one of the older titles in the series, with DOOM 64 being re-released on multiple platforms. And if you’re going to be playing that on PC, you’re going to be in for a treat, as far as performance and technical upgrades are concerned.

Speaking in an interview with US Gamer, Samuel Villarreal, the lead engine developer of KEX (the engine the game will be running on), highlighted some of the biggest upgrades the re-release is making over the original.

“There were many subtle things that were missed when I initially reverse engineered the game, such as enemies being able to trigger the dart traps in Even Simpler,” he said. “Enemies having different falling physics compared to the player’s. Delays in scripted events being one-frame shorter—the split door in Breakdown is a good example of that—and [the] slightly different line-of-sight logic. Getting those right also made it possible for the demos to sync up, which was something that I struggled with for years, so now users will be able to use the ‘RunHecticDemo’ password [a code used to watch a successful playthrough of Doom 64’s hidden level Hectic].”

Villarreal also confirmed that the engine is capable of supporting frame rates for monitors beyond 60Hz. That means players can run the game at 120 frames per second- or even over 1000 FPS, depending on the hardware you’re using (much like what id Tech 7 enables for DOOM Eternal).

“In addition to this, the game is also capable of supporting frame rates for monitors beyond 60Hz, meaning you can choose to run the game at 120 FPS or even above 1000 FPS,” Villarreal said. “Everything is now interpolated to run as silky smooth as possible.”

The system requirements for DOOM 64 on PC were recently revealed. Needless to say, there’s a huge gulf between the requirements for 64 and DOOM Eternal– to no one’s surprise.

DOOM 64 is out on March 20, the same day as DOOM Eternal, on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The re-release will also include a completely new chapter.

March 20 will see the DOOM franchise taking yet another step into the future with the long-awaited DOOM Eternal, but it will, at the same time, also be looking back at its earlier days. DOOM 64 – the Midway Games-developed N64 shooter – is also seeing a re-release on the same day along with the new sequel, and though Eternal is going to grab all the headlines, veteran fans of the series will be quite excited about revisiting one of its classic entries.

DOOM Eternal is looking to be a technically impressive game, and its demanding system requirements on PC obviously fall in line with that. But seeing as DOOM 64 is a re-release of a game that’s more than two decades old, it’s unsurprisingly lenient with its own requirements (via Steam). At minimum, you’ll require an Intel Core i5-750 alongside either an R7 240, or a GTX 660, or an Intel HD 530. Meanwhile, if you want to run the game on recommended settings, you’ll need either an Intel Core i5-2400 or an AMD Phenom II X6 1075T (3.0 GHz), along with either a GTX 780 or an R9 290. So basically, if your computer isn’t eons old, you’re going to be able to run the game pretty easily.

DOOM 64 will release on March 20, the same day as DOOM Eternal, on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The re-release will also include a completely new chapter that wasn’t in the original game.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: Intel Core i5-750
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: R7 240 | GTX 660 | Intel HD 530

RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS:

• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: Intel Core i5-2400 | AMD Phenom II X6 1075T 3.0 GHz
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: GTX 780 | R9 290X

For many years, DOOM 64 was something of a lost chapter in the DOOM saga. The other games have been available in some form or another on various platforms over the years. But in the case of DOOM 64, it’s been locked away on the Nintendo 64 platform, where it originally released in 1997. That changes this month, as the game will re-release alongside DOOM Eternal, and it’ll come with a treat for fans.

In an interview with US Gamer, Bethesda’s SVP of PR and marketing Pete Hines confirmed that the upcoming port will have a brand new chapter. It’s not clear how much content that will include, but considering how a lot of people will be playing this for the first time, it’ll just be more new stuff on top of already new stuff.

“As we’ve seen more of id’s DOOM Eternal in the months since, the reasoning behind bringing back DOOM 64 has become much clearer,” Hines said. “After all, DOOM 64 isn’t just riding the wave of hype that DOOM Eternal has generated.

“Midway more-or-less designed DOOM 64 as a sequel to DOOM 2. It picks up the story from there and, rather than stick close to the presentation of id’s originals, DOOM 64‘s levels are typically much darker and its ambient soundtrack is more foreboding. DOOM 64 took the series in that direction long before DOOM 3 came about, and we’ll also get to see that atmosphere and story expanded upon in a brand new chapter made for the port.”

DOOM 64 will release on March 20th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. You will be able to buy it on its own for $4.99 USD, while it’ll also be available as a pre-order bonus for DOOM Eternal on the same date for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

CYBERDEMON

One of the deadliest demons in the entire series, the Cyberdemon has been tormenting players since the very first DOOM, and appeared repeatedly over the course of the mainline series. With a behemoth’s body that can take a startling amount of punishment before going down, the Cyberdemon inspires fear in the hearts of people not only with its appearance, but also with its combat capabilities.

Granblue Fantasy: Versus

Cygames’ Granblue Fantasy: Versus has already made waves in Japan and Asia with digital sales and shipments crossing 150,000 units. It’s out on March 3^rd for PS4 in North America, offering a stellar aesthetic and solid fighting mechanics with characters from the mobile RPG. All in all, even with concerns over its netcode, Granblue Fantasy: Versus should be a good diversion especially with its side-scrolling RPG Mode.

Bethesda has released a new trailer for DOOM 64, the cult classic that was built specifically for the Nintendo 64. It’s out on March 20th 2020, the same day as DOOM Eternal, and will be available for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch. Check out the trailer below.

As previously noted, all pre-orders for DOOM Eternal will get DOOM 64 for free. The port features over 30 levels as the Slayer seeks to take down the Mother of Demons. Along the way, you’ll find numerous iconic weapons and diverse range of secrets. You may even come across Hectic, a secret level that’s one of the toughest in the series.

DOOM Eternal is also coming to Xbox One, PS4, PC, Google Stadia and Nintendo Switch, having been delayed from its original November release. The Switch port is slated to release later than March 2020 so we’ll have to wait for more information on the same. Check out all the pre-order bonuses and the Collector’s Edition here.

Hollow Knight – Path of Pain

The White Palace is already a pretty haphazard place full of platforming terrors but necessary for getting the best endings. The Path of Pain, added with the Grimm Troupe DLC, is on another level though. There’s your average range of spikes, buzz-saws, thorns and whatnot but this area tests your mastery of bouncing off obstacles with the Nail. Even if you happen to get through it all, there are two Kingsmoulds waiting to be fought.