Summary
Doom: The Dark Agesplayers love the new Shield Saw and the mechanics it introduces, but they also missEternal’s beloved Meat Hook and all of its fast-paced verticality.
Ever since Doom: The Dark Ages was first revealed, id Software made it very clear that it would be very different from both 2016 and Eternal. Now that the game is out, that claim has been proven true, and one of the main reasons for it is thenew Shield Saw that acts as the Doom Slayer’s main new tool.
While other Doom games had yourunning around and never stopping moving (especially Eternal), The Dark Ages asks you to stand and fight,focusing on parries and being a tank more than anything else. Teething issues of getting used to the new direction aside, the Shield Saw has been very popular so far, although some fans miss its equivalent from Doom Eternal.
Doom Fans Miss Eternal’s Meat Hook And How Much Verticality It Added
Some Argue That The Shield Saw Basically Lets You Do The Same Thing
In that divisive Doom game,the main tool that the Slayer had at his side beyond his usual weapons was the Meat Hook, an attachment to the Super Shotgun that let you grapple onto enemies and swing around the map like a hellish Spider-Man. Like the Shield Saw in The Dark Ages, the Meat Hook was a core part of that game and one reason why it’s so different from the others.
Over on the Doom subreddit,Redditor Right-Parking-1836 said that they love the Shield, but think that there’s something about the Meat Hookthat makes it “irreplaceable”. The responses are mostly in agreement, with many pointing out how much they miss Eternal and its more vertically-focused gameplay in general.
For example,Redditor King_Artis said that calling it a game-changer would be “underselling how good of a movement option it was”, while ApeMummy simply crowned it “GOATed”. While there’s a lot of love for the Meat Hook in the comments of the thread, there’s also a lot of defence for The Dark Ages' new approach with the Shield Saw.
My favourite comments are the ones coming to the best conclusion - imagine a game where we get both the Shield Sawandthe Meat Hook.
Redditor NeoZeed_vs_Shinobi pointed out that the shield bash serves a similar function and lets you move horizontally, while Fantastic-Ad8410 argued that The Dark Ages isn’t trying to (and shouldn’t) be Eternal. While both of those points are true to a point, it’s fair to say that the Meat Hook is what made Eternal so special, so it’s natural to miss it when playing such a different take on Doom.
