Doom fans glad we never got canned Call of Duty clone

When you think of first-person shooters in 2024, Call of Duty will likely come to mind. From the muddy trenches of World War II to the far-flung future and now, the Gulf War, the CoDverse has (almost) done it all since arriving on the scene in 2003.

Call of Duty wouldn't be where it is today, and frankly, it might not exist at all if it were not for ID Software's Doom series. Doom debuted in 1993, and as the seminal shooter, we've been blasting Pinkies ever since. Doom is set for a resurgence thanks to DOOM: The Dark Ages, but do you ever wonder what could've been?

Doom fans are glad we never got 'Call of Doom'

There's been a recent resurgence in interest in Doom 4, or as some players unaffectionately dubbed it, 'Call of Doom.' We've previously shown off footage of the game you'll never play, but over on the Doom subreddit, gamers are sighing with relief that we never got this cheap cash-in on CoD's growing popularity in the mid-noughties. 

When one sceptic wrote, "These images are giving me Duke Nukem Forever vibes," another added, "Yeah the footage smelled of a COD clone. F**k that." A third said, "I remember it being canned for being "Call of Duty with demons. So, thankfully it never was."

Responding to the OP's interest in the project, someone else said, "Hell no. They were modelling it after Call of Duty style because that's what was popular at the time. Sounds like it would have sucked." From the footage and screenshots, it's clear that Doom was in danger of losing its Doom-iness after Doom 3 already tried something different. 

Perhaps the biggest sin is that Doom 4 would've included the beloved Doomslayer alongside a bunch of other CoD-inspired characters. It was once again taking the story to Earth, but with more humanoid enemies and a slower pace, it feels like it could've been any generic FPS slapped with the Doom logo. 

Speaking to Polygon in 2015, Bethesda's Pete Hines was candid about what went wrong with Doom 4 and how it didn't feel like a Doom game at all. "We weren't happy with the game that was being made," admitted Hines. "We decided that it wasn't Doom enough and needed to be thrown out and started over."

Pinpointing the problem, Hines explained, "You can probably close your eyes and imagine a 'Call of Doom' or a 'BattleDoom' game, where it starts to feel way too much like: 'Wait, this doesn't feel like Doom, it feels like we're playing some other franchise with a Doom skin on it.'"

Thankfully, while Doom 4 fell into development hell, the extended hiatus led us to the glory of 2016's franchise reset. Doom 3 had already put the series on uneven ground, and instead of powering ahead with a sequel to make a quick buck, letting Doom collect its thoughts for 12 years was clearly the right thing to do.

If you want to play Call of Doom...boot up a round of Zombies. Trust us, it's better than whatever Doom 4 would've been.