Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Doom 4 was canceled, but then Bethesda quickly swooped in and save the day, denying the claims. As far as we know, Doom 4 is still on track, taking working-class passengers left over from the Rage train now that it's arrived at your local retailer.
But the really juicy news that accompanied the Doom 4 cancellation/non-cancellation tidbit was the awesome batch of screens. Funny thing is, Bethesda didn't confirm or deny that the screens were indeed yanked from Doom 4. Even more, id design director Matthew Hooper jumped on Twitter and seemingly validated their authenticity.
"Those images have nothing to do with what you’re gonna see in Doom 4," he said. "When we officially show things, you’ll see awesome."
"When we officially show things, fans will be happy," he added.
As reported earlier, the first batch of screenshots appear to depict a "hell of earth" scenario with a portal opening up above a metropolitan city. The shots are likely from an opening sequence telling the story that transpired just before the player assumes the role of the protagonist.
As second, larger batch of 170 images was then uploaded (zip), depicting character models and "unskinned" bare-bones props that will presumably be used in the game. The previously leaked screens were also included in this larger batch, with one image actually naming New York City. Another image render showed an uncanny "nest" crammed into ceiling corners that could very well produce some nasty-looking creatures. Other images show the ground splitting wide open, revealing a fiery, hellish death underneath.
It's still possible we're seeing a Rage expansion pack due to certain similarities, but there's good indication these are all from Doom 4. Either way, it's awesome to see these little hints of id Software's next game prior to anything official... it's like peeking through the keyhole.
