When DOOM hit the gaming landscape in 2016, it proved to still be a major titan of the industry, especially after its remarkable follow-up, DOOM Eternal, hit stores last year. However, DOOM's successful foray into the modern gaming landscape wasn't without precedence; the game seems to have taken a page or two from 2002's Metroid Prime.

DOOM fit together effortlessly; it presented a complex world to explore with a central narrative, tied around fast moving gunplay, an arsenal of options and a series of incremental power-ups to gain over time. What's great about DOOM is the great care taken to give players the visceral experience of being the DOOM Guy. They deliver bloodthirsty punches to demon jaws and rip them to pieces with a chainsaw. Players violently shake keys off corpses with no regard. All these details give so much character to the DOOM guy and give him a unique feeling among modern shooter protagonists.

The game is also unique for being a story-driven, first-person game before anything else. This lets the developers focus their efforts on creating a seamless experience. Some of the only games that fit this category are Bioshock, Crysis and Halo. There is another game, however, that fits this mold even better: Metroid Prime.

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Released in November 2002, Metroid Prime served as a reboot to the Metroid series. It successfully translated the series from 2D to 3D. Having skipped the N64, the last entry into the Metroid series at the time was 1994's Super Metroid, released for the Super Nintendo. An eight-year gap was enough to trouble Metroid fans about the future of the franchise. Many were unsure about the decision to change the game to first-person.

Once fans played Metroid Prime, worries about the new perspective were set aside. The game proved it could stand out as a genre-defining, first-person adventure game with understandable controls (the first of their kind), unique gunplay and a mysterious world to discover.

Players take part in light platforming and puzzle solving while locking onto enemies, using various energy beams, weapons and abilities collected over time. The unique levels excel at making the player feel isolated, a key element to the Metroid series. Many contain bosses to fight, as well as numerous scriptures, research papers and data logs for players to uncover and learn about.

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Most importantly, the game makes players feel like Samus Aran, which to this day is one of the most impressive elements of Metroid Prime. Samus jumps around and lands from any height without fear, as her Chozo skeleton and custom-made suit are equally equipped to handle such trauma. Energy blasts up-close reveal a glimmer of Samus' face and when enemies attack her, her pain is audible. The game grants players multiple suit upgrades that change their abilities over the course of the game, to go along with changing beam-types.

id Software, in one way or another, ended up borrowing some of the techniques that made Metroid Prime's Samus Aran feel authentic and rejuvenated for modern gaming, then applied them to the DOOM Guy. When looked at in this light, it's hard not to see the similarities in the personage granted to the players in each game. Each one is a lone, calculated hunter and explorer with plenty of character.

The sci-fi worlds they inhabit are also similar in structure, filled with opportunities to create new paths, visibly effecting the world around them. The interactive 3D map in the menu screen is another similar element in both games that allows 3D, Metroidvania-gameplay without confusion. Throughout the world, there are plenty of collectibles and power-ups available to make players stronger, letting the game throw bigger, nastier enemies at them.

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With a successful formula, id Software has done impressive work with the DOOM series during this era of gaming. It's a testament to the power of single-player games from a first-person perspective. While so many shooters strive to create honed competitive experiences, few allow the main focus to be the story and gameplay over finding ways to monetize the player experience.

It would make sense if Retro Studios, a studio that has been forced to pick up the pieces of Nintendo's Metroid Prime 4, looked to the progress made in recent years by DOOM and DOOM Eternal for inspiration on how to progress the franchise. The series could see a different approach to shooting mechanics, while focusing on creating memorable world-building. It could be the key to evolving a genre they had a hand in creating in the first place.

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