Bethesda and id Software have revealed the first gameplay footage of the next Doom instalment, Doom Eternal - which is set to launch on Xbox One, PS4, PC, and, yes, Switch.

Doom Eternal is a direct sequel to 2016's excellent Doom reboot, and was first announced in June, during this year's E3. That particular reveal was accompanied by a teaser trailer, and word that id Software would do a proper unveiling in August, as part of QuakeCon 2018. And lo, QuakeCon is now here.



To get its surprisingly substantial unveiling rolling, id Software teased a few of the new additions to Doom Eternal, a game about "killing bad ass demons with big guns in unbelievable places".

DOOM Eternal – Official Gameplay Reveal Watch on YouTube

id's first goal this time, it said, was to create the "the strongest, most powerful hero we've ever created", and the result is a positively beefy new lead, who sports heavily modified armour, and a variety of new tools and abilities - including the Ballista gun, which can spear demons with explosive bolts, and a Super Shotgun that features a rather nasty looking"meathook".

We also got a look at some appropriately hellish new opponents; Doom Eternal will feature twice as many enemies as in the previous game, including updated favourites and reimagined classics, such as a new-look Pain Elemental and Arachnotron.

As for the long-promised gameplay footage, it certainly delivered on the core Doom staples: we got a whole lot of rippling spacemuscle exploding demons in an endless, utterly over-the-top shower of shredded flesh. And, oh, what lovely looking giblets they were.

Opening on the impressively vast sprawl of a demon-ravaged, demon-infested Earth city, it didn't take long for Doom Eternal to reach the kind of high-velocity carnage that made Doom 2016 such a treat. In among the destruction, we even got a glimpse of the aforementioned new enemies, and a new visual flourish whereby every bullets strips away more and more of your destructible opponents' flesh, until there's not a whole lot left.

A little later, id offered footage of the Slayer's equally messy arrival on Phobos, the setting for the original Doom, and even teased one other new, Dark-Souls-esque feature: in Doom Eternal, you'll be able to take control of a demon and invade another player's campaign, even teaming up with fellow bad apples to make a Slayer's life just that little bit more miserable.

All in all, the first proper look at Doom Eternal offered exactly the kind of obscenely violent, breathlessly paced carnage you'd want from a follow-up to 2016's Doom. Its arrival on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Switch should be quite the occasion.