While some Slayers thrive on the challenge of being outnumbered (though certainly not outgunned), I enjoyed coordinating with a teammate in making the Slayer’s life a living Hell despite encountering almost no one with a microphone – mostly in unspoken contextual ways like avoiding the Slayer when my partner died in order to give him time to resurrect. Time-to-kill is extremely high for all three human players – particularly the Slayer – while it’s at its much lower campaign level for the AI minions. But I also had good rounds with the Revenant and its rockets and the Pain Elemental who spits Lost Souls. In concert with a good partner – say, an Archvile who can throw down an area-of-effect lake of fire – victory was well within reach. His throwable axe can annoy the Slayer at long range, while the double-barreled shotgun in his other hand can deliver a lot more pain up close. “I’ve played as every Demon, and while the Mancubus was my initial favorite, I’m now a Marauder man. Which combination of Demons you and your teammate use seems as important as the skills of the humans themselves. The monsters, by and large, feel cool to play as – particularly the Archvile, who is both tall and has giant claws for hands, and the Marauder, who is a menace in the campaign and packs a double-fisted axe/Super Shotgun weapon combo here. For me, I quickly learned that I’m best as a Demon, and it’s also where I have the most fun. None particularly stand out, though they all work pretty well for Battlemode in terms of their size and flow. The fight rages across a handful of maps that’re repurposed from the campaign.

However, it’s a risk too because they also provide him with health, ammo, and armor when he mows them down. Also in the field are the AI-powered lower-level monsters the two Demon players can summon in various ways, which can really help you slow down the Slayer so you can go in for the kill. A maxed-out, fully armed Slayer takes on a pair of player-controlled Demons in a best-of-five match – any combination of the Mancubus, Revenant, Pain Elemental, Marauder, and Archvile – and both Demons must be taken out before the other can respawn in order for the Slayer to win a round. Making multiplayer work well in a game designed to make you feel like the godlike combination of an unstoppable force and an immovable object can’t be easy, but Battlemode, like the single-player campaign, is very good at empowering players as well as requiring time to master.

Archvile doom eternal