5 best Doom monsters of all time, according to the producer of Doom Eternal

Think your job’s hell? Marty Stratton has been clocking in, 9-5, to work with demons from the fiery pits every day since 1997.

That’s because he’s executive producer on Doom - and has worked on the iconic franchise which first launched in 1993 and effectively defined the entire first person shooter genre, for more than twenty years.

His latest work with demons comes in the form of upcoming shooter ‘Doom Eternal’ - the follow up to 2016’s ‘Doom’ and the fifth main game in the classic franchise, which will see Hell open up on earth - and its most ludicrous and menacing monsters rise with it, and see us once again take on the role of the Doom Slayer, bring down the horde from hell in all-out fun, FPS, flame-thrower action.

As the de facto demon expert, Stratton knows what makes a brilliant Doom baddie: “Personality. Visually, there’s a bit of you that laughs when you look at it. Hugo Martin, our game director, always described it when we were

first rebooting the franchise as things that a high school kid would draw on the back of his notebook in math class.”

“And then the purpose of all the demons, in the broader sense, is what's its role on the battlefield, and making sure that that comes through in everything it does, the way it attacks or the way it moves, or how easy it is to kill or what its weak point is - all those things coming together makes a successful demon,” Stratton tells Shortlist, as we sit down ahead of the game’s release on 20 March.

So here, as someone who knows how to make a monster, Stratton reveals his five favourite Doom demons of all time. But it’s important to note: these are in no particular order, he explains, “We have over thirty demons in this game. So this is like picking your favourite five of your thirty two children. And none of them sleep through the night.”

Doom Eternal is released on 20 March for PC, PS4, Stadia and Xbox One.

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1. Arch-Vile

As seen in: Doom II, Doom 3, Doom Eternal

“We’re reintroducing the Arch-Vile in Doom Eternal. He's very imposing, tall, kind of lanky, and very evil-feeling. All of our demons have a ton of personality, but when he was introduced in Doom II - man! - you were so afraid of him when he showed up. The way he would light fire and the damage he did: He was so dangerous. As we’ve brought him into Doom: Eternal, we've captured that essence of him when he shows up in the fight. You're like: ‘I'm dealing with him first, because I want none of of what he brings to the fight!’ He resurrects enemies and he has damaging fire attacks very similar to the original. That same sense of dread that he created on the battlefield is very present.”

2. Pinky Demon

As seen in: Doom, Doom 64, Doom 3, Doom (2016), Doom Eternal

“Another one that I love and is iconic is the Pinky Demon. He’s very well known from the original franchise, and he had a classic sound that everybody knows - the very cool, classic snorting sound. I won’t do it now because it's embarrassing. But when you heard that snort, you just knew he was around the corner. I think with Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal we've recaptured him in a really good way. Of the classics, he’s probably one of the funniest looking, so he kind of typifies the personality that all demons have, and we really tried to bring that into the modern games.”

3. Spider Mastermind

As seen in: Doom, Doom (2016)

“The original Spider Mastermind, with the brain and the, mechanical spider legs was super cool and iconic. We resurrected it in Doom (20016) with Olivia turning into the Spider Mastermind. And then, we have a very similar creature in the Arachnotron in Doom Eternal. When you when you see them, even just by their silhouettes when they show up on the battlefield, they’re so iconic that you're just engaged in what they mean and what they do, and they're so specific that you want to take them out.”

4. Cyberdemon / The Tyrant

As seen in: Doom, Doom 64, Doom 3, Doom (2016), Doom Eternal

“The Cyberdemon is another really popular classic one we brought back in Doom (2016). In 2016, we actually turned it into a boss, and now in Doom Eternal, we've turned it into a general AI that we call The Tyrant. So he's a reimagined version of the character who's on the cover of Doom II, from 1994 - you can see all the classic influences we pull are from Doom and Doom II. He’s been resurrected as The Tyrant for Doom Eternal.”

5. Mancubus

As seen in: Doom II, Doom 64, Doom 3, Doom (2016), Doom Eternal

“The Mancubus is the really fat, double-gunned demon, that, again, was a very classic character from the original games with a very distinctive silhouette. And he’s very destructive. We use him as one of our base heavies in Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal. For Doom Eternal, we've actually redone, not necessarily his full design, but we changed his texture to be more of an homage to the classic. It’s really cool.”

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