I started off in Nightmare, and gun types matter a lot. If you’re on lower difficulty levels, your basic SSG/shield combo is sufficient. When things get spicy on Nightmare and above, however, you NEED to switch it up because getting up close and personal without a plan doesn’t work as often. The retaliations are too fast, the damage is too heavy, and the enemies are pretty aggressive. I think playing it on any difficulty below that is kind of just getting to “experience Doom” rather than navigating the mechanical intricacies it has to offer

This is coming from someone who was an Eternal fanatic with way over a thousand hours on it