DOOM Eternal's Latest Update Has Some PC Players Furious
Bethesda and id Software have pushed update 1 out to DOOM Eternal, adding new features like empowered demons, echelon leveling, and a new Precious Metals event. In fact, between these new features, a slew of balance changes, and a bunch of fixes, this update adds a lot. Unfortunately, there are many players who are upset by one of the features the update is adding on PC: Denuvo Anti-Cheat.
According to the patch notes for DOOM Eternal update 1 over on Bethesda.net, this implementation uses Denuvo's new kernel-level driver. Bethesda says that the Denuvo driver will only start when the game launches and stop when the game does "for any reason," reassuring that it also won't take screenshots, scan file systems, or stream shellcode. Bethesda says that this Denuvo driver is required for playing Battlemode on PC.
Despite Bethesda's reassurances, PC players don't seem to be too happy about this – at least the ones who are replying to the tweet you see embedded below aren't. Indeed, PC gamers aren't usually fond of most types of DRM, and Denuvo has drawn particular ire many times in the past.
Update 1 for DOOM Eternal is now available. Empowered Demons, campaign & BATTLEMODE quality-of-life improvements, fixes, BATTLEMODE balance changes and more await. https://t.co/EkNyDwOLKU pic.twitter.com/SUR8bTpHm8
— DOOM (@DOOM) May 15, 2020
Aside from the DRM woes, players will find that this new update adds an empowered demon feature that sounds pretty neat. Demons that manage to kill players who are working their way through the campaign will now become powered up before being dropped in another player's game. Should you encounter one in your own game, killing it will reward extra ammo, health, XP, and progress toward events, though if you'd rather not deal with beefy demons, you can turn this feature off through the main menu.
Also new to the game is a feature called echelon leveling, which kicks in once you complete DOOM level 250. It's at that point that you'll get your first echelon, which grans you a special insignia and reverts your DOOM level to 1. Essentially, it's DOOM's version of the prestige systems FPS games have had for years.
Empowered demons and echelon levels really just scratch the surface of what's included in this update, so if the presence of Denuvo Anti-Cheat hasn't put you off the game, hit the link above to read more about the balance changes and bug fixes that are landing on all platforms. We'll see if Bethesda and id Software change their minds about Denuvo after receiving this blowback, so stay tuned for more.