First announced as being under development in 2008, Doom 4 has been a long time coming. However, a teaser trailer shown at E3 suggests that the game may finally be nearing release.
The E3 trailer is light on details, focusing mostly on a CG rending of a cyberdemon, a classic Doom enemy. Portraying the union of flesh and steel into a terrifying monster certainly sets the scene for a Doom game, despite the lack of concrete information. The trailer does announce that Doom 4 will be revealed at QuakeCon, which will take place from July 17 to 20 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas. What this reveal will entail is still unclear, but fans are hoping for a playable prototype to make an appearance.
Development was originally started by id Software, which has since been acquired by Bethesda. Doom 4 has experienced a number of other hiccups as well. The game was scrapped and rebooted from scratch in 2011, with developers saying that the prototype didn't feel like a Doom game, and was below the bar of quality that fans expected from the series. Doom creator John Carmack also left the company in 2013 to work for Oculus. Despite these setbacks, Bethesda is continuing development on the game, and the long-awaited release date may be arriving soon.
Bethesda announced in February that customers who pre-ordered 'Wolfenstein: The New Order' would receive early beta access to Doom 4. With Wolfenstein already released as of May 10, the beta shouldn't be too much further behind, although no date has been revealed as of yet.
At QuakeCon 2013, Carmack said that Doom 4 would be done when it's done, but that Bethesda is committed to the game.
"The Bethesda family really is about swinging for the fences," Carmack said. "I hope that we do get back to mobile in various ways in the future, but the real aim is blockbuster triple-A titles, and for Id that means Doom 4. Essentially everybody will be focused on Doom 4 as a project."
With so little information to go on, Doom fans will be eagerly awaiting QuakeCon for further details on Doom 4. The series has a large and devoted following going back to the release of the original Doom in 1993. That first game is considered the genesis of the first-person shooter genre, meaning Doom 4 will have quite the reputation to live up to.
