Demon hunters, get your shotguns ready. The highly anticipated release of Doom on the Nintendo Switch is officially less than a month away, as revealed in a new developer interview with id Software. Creative director Hugo Martin and executive producer Marty Stratton sat down with Nintendo to discuss a variety of new features and answer some burning questions about the Switch version, including its release date of November 10.
For the uninitiated, the original Doom was released by id Software for PC in 1993. Part of a three-game legacy by the studio that also includes Wolfenstein 3D and Quake, these titles were credited with essentially creating the first-person shooter genre. Doom in particular has enjoyed a long lifespan, and this timeless joy of demon killing has been ported to consoles ranging from the Super Nintendo to the PlayStation 3.
While developing this new Doom reboot, originally released for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, Martin and Stratton saw the need to focus on the heart of the formula: the carnage. “Our mantra when we were developing it was to remove really all the barriers between the player and the combat,” Martin explains in the interview. “That’s why they’re buying Doom—to kill demons.” The result is a fast-paced, frantic, arcade-style shoot-em-up that hearkens back to the good old days while sporting the modern technical prowess one would expect.
On the topic of the technical performance, the developers had a lot to say. “In bringing it to the Switch, we worked with a developer called Panic Button that has a lot of experience with Nintendo hardware,” Stratton says. “They really tailored the experience toward [the Switch] hardware without watering anything down.” Panic Button does indeed have a wealth of porting experience, including work on titles like Disney Infinity and the upcoming Switch version of Rocket League.
Developing for the Switch, which has handheld functionality at the forefront, does seem to have led to some limitations. For Doom, it appears that the 60 frames per second dream will remain just that: a dream. “We did target 30 frames per second, because we wanted a target we could confidently hit and know that the gameplay was solid and fast and fluid,” Stratton explains. However, he does assure audiences that “we wouldn’t put it in people’s hands if we weren’t proud of it and we didn’t think it was the best possible representation of Doom.”
Switch owners can look forward to the definitive version of Doom from a feature standpoint. The full single-player campaign, arcade mode, and multiplayer are available, as well as all previous DLC. On the topic of bringing other games to the console, Stratton only hinted that they “have sister studios working on really exciting stuff.” However, it appears that Nintendo is looking to bring more mature experiences to the Switch, meaning id Software’s work on the platform may not be over just yet.