I watched John Carmack's talk last night at Quakecon and he related how some People (lightweights) had complained about DOOM 3 being to dark and hence the result was the bright and sunny RAGE game. Hopefully DOOM 4 won't go the same way. I think that the darker areas in D3 added to the apprehension in the game, the darkness, the unknown, what murderous creature awaits. I think DOOM should keep the darker areas for the exactly the unknown apprehension factor. What do you think yourselves?

I didn't think the game was too dark, just too slow and too dry for Doom. Although honestly I don't think the darkness contributed much to the game, all of the "scares" were predictable and usually the demons spawned right in front of your face so they rarely actually hid in said darkness. I found it rather tedious to have to constantly switch between my guns and my flashlight, personally... it has nothing to do with being creeped out, it was just annoying. If there's a light attached to your guns this time around I wouldn't mind as much, but I also won't shed a tear if they do away with the dark environments.

I like the idea of flashlights attached to weapons but having to switch from weapon to light didn't bother me that much, carrying the flashlight alone left your character vulnerable to attack, added to the game I thought, good idea in D3 Res. to include it on the pistol tho. But I still like the vulnerable aspect. I remember teleporting into a completely darkened warehouse in the original D game to pick up the plasma rifle, was quite hectic fighting with just gunfire for light. Liked it!

It left him vulnerable sure, but since it was usually very easy to tell when you were about to get attacked it was just a matter of pressing a button to get your weapon back. I felt that this constant switching got extremely tedious once the novelty wore off.

I don't think the Orginals have been beaten for surprise attacks!

Plus last nights NO DOOM 4 talk or Trailer was very very disappointing Ruined it completely. I don't give a damn about the iphone. Apologises for the off-topic let down no D4 whinge.

The darker it is the BETTER it is.

Here Here, Well said

I never played Doom 3 because it never was on the PS2. Heard it was very dark but Doom1 & 2 aren't scary/dark at all. I really liked Doom 64. Really cool game & it was VERY scary and not too dark. If I remember correctly you sometimes could have heard a baby crying or was it a girl laughing? IDK a while ago.

Well, you're a xenomorph, so... I mean, that's... yeah.

I feel like it should be chiaoscuro, some high-contrast combo of light and dark. I like it when sometimes it's light, and I'm just killing stuff, and sometimes I want a tension-building scene.

I think the Survival Horror vibe fits DOOM 3 very well... a lone marine stranded against demons, zombies and monsters begs for a darker tone.


Whether DOOM 4 follows this formula is up to the developers including the wonderful Mr. Carmack of course. It may be that this follows a different story direction and a different amount of lighting and atmosphere would be required.

no, god.

I actually had some free time this weekend played through the whole game again. Its ridiculously dark...but man..the models are amazing for last gen....the textures look kinda last gen, though.

Was Doom3 too dark? Yes. Sure it was required for the atmosphere, but it simply was too dark to be played conveniently. Keep Doom 4 dark, but not THAT dark. And have atleast one gun with a built in flashlight. Or bring back light amplification goggles from the classics.

I'd prefer if it was something like night vision (totally green) so it doesn't completely put you at an advantage.

when I played DooM 3 I modded the Shotgun to have a light but didn't mind the darkness

That impressive statement speaks for itself

I think the lighting is just right. I just wish the weapons would have flashlight attached so I won't have to keep switching. And I found switching weapons is smoother in the old Dooms than Doom 3...

I love D3. I love the first two, too, but for different reasons. I think the perfect balance is probably somewhere in the middle: keep the dark areas, but bump up the enemy count.

Switching between the flashlight and the gun was kind of annoying after a while. I think it was a good idea that suffered a little in the execution. I would have liked a flashlight mounted on the gun that sometimes dimmed, or flickered, or went out occasionally for a couple of seconds, completely randomly. Sometimes just going out completely until you bang it with your fist to get it working again. Maybe even getting brighter or duller when certain enemies were present. Maybe even have different types of lights with different intensities, range, etc.

That would have avoided the tedium of switching without losing the added tension of having something that couldn't be completely relied on and that occasionally made you more vulnerable.

Doom is meant to be dark. Especially Doom 3! Doom fans play the game so they get that eerie dark scary effect! People play it because of the awesome story lines and to be freaked out!!! Doom is meant to be dark because when it scares you, it gets you into the game and the adrenaline starts to flow and then you don't want to stop! Any doom fan would agree that it's addicting

Having just gotten and beaten Doom 3 this very week, I can say that the darkness didn't matter for much. I almost always knew where the enemies were, and besides that, I could kill them in one or two shots from my shotgun.

In fact, I noticed something very fast. The game play was very much like Doom 1 and 2. Sprint toward the enemy and then blast them in the face with your shotgun. Rinse and repeat.

That being said, the darkness might as well have not been there if it wasn't going to have much of a real effect on gameplay. It just got to the point where I was so good at figuring out which parts where going to have enemies in a corner or have a monster closet or a potential summon that it didn't matter anymore. I'd sprint through dark hallways without even switching to my flashlight.

And no, dagade2005, it wasn't really eerie or scary. For me, to be 'scared', I have to now that my weapons are going to be relatively ineffective and that the enemies are strong, in addition to them finding crafty ways to sneak up on me. But with Doom 3, one to two shotgun blasts and an enemy was dead. I don't care if the enemy was a naked Rosie O'Donald, it just can't be scary with me knowing how easy it is to drop them.

Edit: Just for clarification, I play a LOAD of Doom 1 and 2 (just got finished with both of them on UV mode. I'm playing Plutonia right now). So I clearly love Doom, and after playing Doom 3, I can safely say I liked it quite a bit. It was different from Doom 1 and 2 in that it had less enemies but they were stronger (and your weapons did more damage to compensate), but it was also extremely similar in that it was still run and gun, unless you're afraid and inch along the hallway with your flashlight, despite the fact that almost every enemy can die in under 2 seconds.

I didn't mind its darkness at all.

Yeah, the baby crying...weird. In DOOM 3 I only played DOOM 3 once and I can't remember.:shrug:

OT, I personally like it dark.

I've recently started through Doom 3 and I'm very impressed with how well it replicates so much of what made Doom fun while still being its own game. I do think more well-lit areas would have given the game some contrast but I don't think the game is damaged by the lack of this.

Confusing poll. The answer to the topic question is likely the opposite to the question posed on the poll itself.

Anyhow...

It was stupid dark. I was a DOOM1/2 die-hard. I played it all the time over a local BBS and even lead a "PWAD Projects" group modding the game with new levels, music, sound, weapons, etc. I played DOOM3 for all of 5 minutes and had had enough. It simply wasn't the same. At all. The darkness simply made it unbearable, impractical. You can't appreciate what you can't see.

That was my first thought when I played Doom 3 as well years ago, but now that I've gotten further in to it I'm actually quite impressed. In fact there are a lot of things, like doors suddenly opening to reveal monsters when picking stuff up, that you hardly ever see any more since it's "unrealistic" but which were strewn all over the levels of Doom and Doom 2. That's hardly the only nostalgic moment but it's one I've enjoyed.

There are mods out there to brighten the game and when I've finished playing through I'll probably give those a try. This will unfortunately take the bite out of the really dark sections where it's used well but it will make the rest of the game more accessible.