Chances are that you've played through the latest DOOM RPG game by now (best PC game of all time?). If so, you're probably wondering what the hell is up with the new DOOM timeline of Slaughter! I mean, when does Doom take place exactly?! Apparently, all the classic DOOM games are in a single-ish continuity now. But, if that is the case, then what went on with the Doom Slayer from DOOM to DOOM Eternal? The answer isn't quite as straightforward as we initially suspected, but it sure is interesting!

Today, we're going to take a trip into the surprising depths of Neo-DOOM lore and try to come out on the other end with a few good answers to our questions. Who and what is Doom Slayer, really? Is he a God? Human? Rage incarnate? How did he end up on Sentinel Prime? What happened between DOOM 2016 and DOOM Eternal? Let's try and figure some of these things out together! Be warned: spoilers await below, so we do recommend you play through as many original DOOM titles as you can before getting on with this. We're not joking: our classic DOOM timeline of events really does cover just about all of them.

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When Does Doom Take Place, and Who Exactly is Doom Slayer?

Who is Doom Slayer?

Believe it or not, even Doom Slayer himself was once merely human. From what lore we can glean from his recent adventures, his original DOOM RPG exploits back in 1993 truly were how it all began. You heard that right: The Slayer from the recent DOOM games is none other than the same person who purged demons in a first-person revolution almost three decades ago.

In 2016, when the DOOM franchise got a new lease on life, we suspected that this wasn't the case. As far as we could tell, neo-Doomguy wasn't even human, but a type of trans-dimensional Übermensch who really wanted to rip and tear. In truth, this is both correct and incorrect, because the lore is far deeper than we initially gave it credit for.

When does Doom take place?

In the currently established canon, Doom Slayer is an amalgam entity that somehow lives across numerous timelines. It's just that the DOOM Eternal timeline ended up being the one we got thrown head-first into with 1993's classic DOOM. That's right, the Slayer who decimates the forces of Hell in Eternal is the same one we controlled way back when! If that's not exciting, we don't know what is. At least, if you're a bit of a lore nerd like we are.

We'll go into more detail on how this works below, but basically, the Slayer is thrown back and forth between various DOOM timelines on his travels. We believe that his first adventure was the one we saw (and played) in DOOM 3, with all the others following rather neatly from this one wannabe prequel. This ties in perfectly with the wonderfully abrupt start of the 2016 title. Let us explain.

This isn't Doomguy's first rodeo, then?

At the start of DOOM 2016, we were led to believe that the Slayer was an ancient human-like creature that was a serious threat to Hell. An alien, perhaps. Fair enough, for sure, but then how is it that he uses advanced Earth-made firearms like he's got experience with them? None of his Night Sentinel chums used guns, far as we could tell. How could it be that one of their own was perfectly familiar with human-made tech? Further, the Slayer's power armor was completely out of place, if you consider that it had to have been encased in sheer rock for centuries! Featuring Earth production insignia and functionality not unlike our own, we were weirded out by what id Software came up with. At face value, none of it made much sense.

Our working theory is that Doom Slayer was, in fact, an Earth-born human. It's just that he came from a different dimension/timeline - the one we first saw in DOOM 3. As we've seen in Eternal, Maykr-tech makes good use of dimensional travel shenanigans, and the Slayer himself eventually ends up getting pulled out of Hell onto Argent D'Nur: The Night Sentinel homeworld. Following a campaign of bloodshed on Argent D'Nur, Doom Slayer eventually makes his way to an alternative Earth: that of DOOM 2016. Kinda messy, we know, but we did skip heaps of lore there. Perhaps an actual timeline might help in clearing things up. Scroll on ahead!

The Full DOOM Timeline, as we understand it

We'll try to go over the recontextualized events of DOOM in short order. This should explain a fair bit of lore that's otherwise rather jumbled. Do keep in mind that several interpretations of this lore do exist. This alternative timeline theory, however, covers practically all of them.

• #1 - DOOM 3: Slayer's first canonical encounter with the forces of Hell; the game is functionally a prequel hinted at by lore from Quake Champions
• #2 - DOOM 1993: Slayer's adventure continues on Phobos, a direct follow-up to the unresolved invasion from Doom 3
• #3 - DOOM II: again, a linear continuation of DOOM 1993
• #4 - DOOM 64: Slayer continues his one-man-war against Hell, and stays there to fight the horde until a mysterious unknown force pulls him onto the Night Sentinel homeworld
  • we know this is the case because Slayer wears the same armor he wore in 64 when Sentinels dragged him to their leadership
  • Slayer gets horrific PTSD sometime during his first long stint in Hell
  • the mysterious Seraphim (Samur Maykr, hinted to be Samuel Hayden) grants Slayer "terrible power and speed" as well as functional immortality
  • waging war alongside the Night Sentinels, they are eventually betrayed and decimated, and the Slayer ends up getting trapped in a casket of cursed hell-rock
  • a direct lead-in to DOOM 2016
• #5: DOOM 2016: Slayer awakens on Mars, begins a new reign of terror against the forces of Hell
  • ends up getting trapped aboard the Fortress of Doom at the very end
• #6: DOOM Eternal: finally released from his new prison, the Slayer returns to rip and tear in his latest adventure

What happens next?

When all the pieces are put into place, things start making sense. We now know a fair bit about the Slayer and his endless war. Of course, this does mean we could see more timeline-hopping in the future. Who knows what else the classic Doom Slayer might have gone through? The 'too angry to die' meme is surprisingly accurate here. We'll be seeing plenty more of Slayer in future DOOM games, that much we're sure of. Bethesda and id Software have announced that he might no longer be the sole protagonist, though! There's been no word on what, exactly, this might mean in the long run. As usual: time will tell.

Doom Eternal: more playable characters?

At first, the story of DOOM Eternal may seem more jumbled and disconnected than you might like, but it doesn't seem to us that this is a mistake. Remember the Betrayer? Isn't his set of armor quite similar to the one Slayer wears? Aren't his weapons just a tiny bit too detailed for him to have such a small role in the story?

We thought the Betrayer would be the main character in one of these two DLCs. In fact, we do still believe this might have been the plan at some point, though it seems not to have panned out in the end. If you check out the character's armor design, he does have all the same gadgets that are visible on Doom Slayer's armor, too. No point putting those there unless they were going to be used for something. Our best guess would've been an interim mini-campaign depicting the events between DOOM 2016 and Eternal. The Betrayer's plight as he attempts to save his son, perhaps.

The first DLC, however, did not use the Betrayer at all. Sadly! We got more Slayer antics, which is great, but we can't help but wonder why the Betrayer would seem like a fleshed-out character if id Software weren't going to use him. Odd! Who knows what the future might hold? In the end, id Software is clearly keen on continuing its renewed cycle of Rip 'n' Tear, and we can't blame them for it. Curious about our take on this whole Doom Slayer business? DOOM is awesome, but Neo-DOOM is even better. Keep it coming, id Software. We can't wait to see what else you have in store!

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