DOOM (2016)

id Software's 2016 reboot arrived after a troubled development that had once aimed at a cover-shooter, and what shipped is the opposite of that. Health does not regenerate, you cannot hide, and the only way to survive is to keep moving toward the thing trying to kill you - glory kills return health, chainsaws return ammo, and the arenas are built as open loops with no dead ends. It is a deliberate argument against a decade of shooter design, and it won. The weapon set is short and each entry has a purpose, mod pods add alternate fire modes worth using, and the double jump plus ledge grab make verticality routine. Mick Gordon's industrial score, which layers in as combat escalates, is inseparable from how the game feels. Its lore is delivered by codex entries you can ignore entirely, and the game's contempt for cutscenes is a running joke in its own opening. SnapMap and the multiplayer were forgettable; the campaign redefined the genre's expectations.