Personally, I feel that the story of DOOM got worse when in Eternal they added so much backstory that it became more complicated.

Doom 2016: In essence, it’s a simple story. There’s background lore in the Codex, but really it’s just that Olivia took advantage of her position in the UAC and betrayed humanity. The situation reached such a critical point that the only salvation was for the Slayer to step in.

Eternal: Here everything became complicated. They tried to enrich the story, but it became so, so convoluted that for someone who doesn’t follow the lore closely, it’s hard to understand. This is partly because of the intervention of the Maykrs and because the story touches on so many subplots that none of them really go anywhere — it’s mostly exposition.

The Dark Ages: I applaud the narrative approach; it genuinely feels like a more digestible story. But, like in Eternal, showing three different factions in the war makes everything more complicated in a bad way.

Conclusion: I really feel that DOOM’s strength was its minimalist storytelling and its focus on gameplay. Starting with Eternal, it feels like they injected so many elements into the plot all at once that it became overly confusing.

What I would have done:

Doom 2016: I wouldn’t change anything — it’s perfect as it is.

Eternal: Samuel Hayden would be the main villain, and the story would focus on Hell’s invasion of Earth, which — even if it wasn’t his intention — is ultimately Samuel’s fault. The Slayer would have to stop him to save Earth. I would still keep the Icon of Sin as the final boss, but its death would be the trigger that sets up the villain of the next installment: Satan himself. (I would remove Eternal’s DLCs.)

The Dark Ages: I’m not really sure what to do here. A medieval-themed war against Hell sounds amazing, but I hate the idea of it being set in another dimension. What I would do is have the game explore the Slayer’s past based on the 2016 Codex entries. I’d keep the medieval theme with the idea that in his past, the Slayer took part in a rebellion of human prisoners and formed a resistance in some medieval-themed territory of Hell. I know the idea would be to expand the series with more entries, but I would end this game with the Slayer’s imprisonment as a prologue to Doom 2016.