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Doom Eternal’s deadly game-hopping demons arrive in next update

Empowered Demons are coming soon

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Doom Eternal - Destructible Demons Image: id Software/Bethesda Softworks
Michael McWhertor is a journalist with more than 17 years of experience covering video games, technology, movies, TV, and entertainment.

Doom Eternal’s next update will include some tweaks to the game’s Battlemode multiplayer component, a few quality-of-life changes, and the arrival of Empowered Demons, the feature that will spawn demons in players’ games that have killed other players. Those “beefed up” demons will jump from one player’s game to another; killing an Empowered Demon will reward the avenging player with extra ammo and health, and bonus XP.

Empowered Demons are different from another promised demon feature coming post-launch: Invasions. Doom Eternal’s Invasions mechanic will actually let a player invade someone else’s game as a demon to ruin their host’s day. id Software hasn’t announced a release date for Invasions.

In a blog post outlining Doom Eternal’s next update, id also listed imminent Battlemode changes, including “Denuvo Anticheat features, changes to the tutorial walkthrough, poor network connection indicators, Echelon Leveling for players at the maximum level and a Death Report screen to offer players more combat insight mid-match.”

On the single-player side, players can also expect expanded demon tutorials, dashing vertically in water, and adjustments to toxic damage while swimming, id said. The developer did not announce a release date, other than to say the May update is “almost here.”

id Software also teased Doom Eternal’s upcoming campaign DLC on Twitter. Here’s a peek:

Doom Eternal is available on Google Stadia, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One. A Nintendo Switch version is also coming.


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