iD Software Reveals Better Doom Cover Art

[Steven Bogos]

iD Software Reveals Better Doom Cover Art

iD has asked fans to choose between two "reverse sleeve" alternate cover art designs.

We at The Escapist don't like to judge things by the cover (at least pretty much any game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/judging-by-the-cover].

iD and Bethesda have been listening, and have been hard at work whipping up some better alternates. Here is "option A" for the reverse sleeve cover art:

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/DOOM/status/705422610578980864]

Bloody hell guys, that is so much better! Forget reverse sleeve, this is what the actual cover should be, with Grunty McSpace Marine being on the inside. It has the black and red color scheme, the pentagram, and the demon goat skull. It screams "Doom". Awesome!

But wait, there's more! Here is "option B"

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/DOOM/status/705423011969699840]

Are you fucking kidding me? This is essentially a no-holds-bared tribute to the original game's cover art [http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/doom/images/9/91/TITLEPIC.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140323153207], which is fondly remembered as probably the most badass cover art of all time. Come on guys!

You can vote [https://twitter.com/DOOM/status/705424052358418432?lang=en] on which reverse sleeve cover you like best. Personally, I think they should use option B as the actual cover, with option A being the reverse sleeve. Problem solved.

Source: Twitter [https://twitter.com/DOOM/status/705422610578980864]

Permalink

 

[Xan Krieger]

A game company actually listened to everyone and did something positive? It's a miracle and I love it. Voted B because well...just look at it. While A certainly has the horror right the last time id did horror all it was was darkness. B evokes action and action is what we want.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

the real best option would be to have one of these be reverse cover of the other.

 

[Metalrocks]

i would go for B too. but i have no account on twitter and im certainly not creating one just for that.

 

[Hawki]

Can I vote neither? Pretty please?

Okay, I've explained elsewhere why I liked the now former cover and why I felt it suited the series at this point in time, but looking at these options...um, no. Starting with Option B, it certainly suits the original Doom series very well, but it doesn't fit the current game based on what we've seen. The colour tone is different, the marine's armour seems to have regressed technologically, and Hell on the cover looks nothing like it does in the trailers. As artwork for the original Doom, it's excellent. As artwork for the current Doom, it's nothing alike.

So, Option A then. How's that? Well, honestly, I feel it suits Diablo better than anything else. It's not entirely out of place for Doom, but Option A seems like the cover of a horror game, which Doom most certainly isn't. That, and Doom has never really delved into any elements of Hell outside "they're the bad guys," so using the pentagram doesn't really say much, and while I assume the skull is Baphomet, I'm not sure if he really belongs as the 'face' of the game. At least using the Maledict made sense in the game's context.

 

[Vern]

I like A. Far better than the generic space marine cover they announced. Now don't get me wrong, I love the original cover art for Doom, even if the firearms being used weren't in the game, and the demons didn't exist in the game. It's a campy, wonderful cover. So wonderful, I still have the original poster of it that came with Ultimate Doom, that I got in 1995.

That being said, while B is truer to the original poster, it just screams "BRUTAL DOOM" to me. And I certainly play and enjoy Brutal Doom, but I prefer the original gameplay to it. It's a shame they couldn't have gotten Don Punchatz to make a new cover, but that would be rather hard at this point. It lacks the detail of the original poster, and just comes off looking over the top and cartoony. Look at the original Doom cover, the attention to detail is amazing, the new one just looks washed out.

My two cents, and it's all based on personal opinion. But I would go with A as the main cover, and B as the inside. They're both still better than the original cover that was announced. And I mean really, from what I know this is more a remake/retelling/reboot of Doom 2, so having the Icon of Sin on the cover works very well for it.

My one regret is that I won't be able to fire rockets at John Romero's head on a stick.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't have Twitter so I can't vote, but I say they should use these as the official cover art and abandon the current one.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

I like option A best. It's simple and understated, which makes it a fresher choice for a Doom cover than option B, which is nice but feels too original 90's Doom and this new Doom is not really that.

Also, who's with me on offering alternate covers becoming a more common thing? If need be, they don't necessarilly need to include alternates in the box. Just offering them for download from their website would be fine too. I remember getting BioShock Infinite and the first thing I did was printing one of the many far prettier cover available online.

 

[Seishisha]

Whats that old saying, somthing about books and covering them? Ah well i guess if they want to redo the artwork i can't complain but it does seem ultimatly pointless.

Go bethesda art team go!

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

I'd go with option B. It is true to the original games. It doesn't matter if the cover might not represent the new game. It personifies the entire franchise, and that's what an already established fan, who is asking for a new cover, may want displayed on their shelf. Generic space marine no. 12541 doesn't work in that case.

Option A, while also true to the franchise's theme, will be hard for many people to explain to some family members. I still remember Spoony's hypothetical story in his review of Ultima VIII: Pagan (cover: a big, red five-pointed star in a circle over a background of flames, also the word "Pagan"). It's not easy telling someone the game with the demonic imagery on the cover is about repelling and defeating hell spawn, not calling them over for some tea.

If they are just going to be reverse inserts, why not just offer all of the concepts they've came up with for download in a format that prints out in the perfect size? The fans probably are working on their own already. They can still finish this poll and print reversable sleeves with the winner as well.

 

[RealRT]

Can I vote neither? Pretty please?

Okay, I've explained elsewhere why I liked the now former cover and why I felt it suited the series at this point in time, but looking at these options...um, no. Starting with Option B, it certainly suits the original Doom series very well, but it doesn't fit the current game based on what we've seen. The colour tone is different, the marine's armour seems to have regressed technologically, and Hell on the cover looks nothing like it does in the trailers. As artwork for the original Doom, it's excellent. As artwork for the current Doom, it's nothing alike.

So, Option A then. How's that? Well, honestly, I feel it suits Diablo better than anything else. It's not entirely out of place for Doom, but Option A seems like the cover of a horror game, which Doom most certainly isn't. That, and Doom has never really delved into any elements of Hell outside "they're the bad guys," so using the pentagram doesn't really say much, and while I assume the skull is Baphomet, I'm not sure if he really belongs as the 'face' of the game. At least using the Maledict made sense in the game's context.

It's not a "now former" cover. The cover art they revealed a while ago stays. Either A or B will be printed on the reverse side of the sleeve so you can turn it over and have a good cover art instead of the default.

 

[Barbas]

It makes some sense that the first time I see fuck invoked in an Escapist article, the author would be either Steven Bogos or Jared Jones. You've never been my favourite staff writer, but it's still a bit of a shame. You're excited, we're excited, but can you show a bit more restraint in a news article? If you want to go wild about a topic, you can put it into an editorial or something like that.

OT: A on one side and B on the other would be nice, and you could always flip them around the other way to get the cover you want. Both are more interesting to look at than the original, but I have a feeling that A's going to win out because of how relatively clean and minimalistic it looks.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

Personally, I'd say option A ought to be the official cover, and option B ought to be the reverse, although the opposite would also be fine. The actual official cover is possibly the safest, most by the numbers design, with the completely generic space marine staring forward while brandishing a gun and surrounded by a could of embers. Yawn.

If I had to chose just one, I'd go with B.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

I don't have Twitter and therefore cannot vote, but I'd go for B simply because its obvious inspiration from the original Doom cover-art means it emphasises id's <a href=http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/Doom_(2016)#cite_ref-LegendReborn_1-2>decision to model the new game much more on the originals.

 

[Morsomk_v1legacy]

I personally like both, so I had to flip a coin to decide the vote. It was B and at the time of this writing, 43 thousand people have voted on the twitter account with 69% of the majority being option B.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

I personally like both, so I had to flip a coin to decide the vote. It was B and at the time of this writing, 43 thousand people have voted on the twitter account with 69% of the majority being option B.

Sweet, I voted for B.
Seriously, it looks awesome.
Still after seeing some others say it, it would have been cool to have both covers on either side.
Looking at it, option A looks like it would be the cover of the special edition, don't you think?

 

[warmachine]

Call me old school if you want but the current cover says modern, cover-based shooter, which does not interest me, whereas option B says old school, run-and-gun, which does. Or to use Yahtzee's terminology, the current cover says spunkgargleweewee, whereas option B says colourful, balls-on-a-tea-trolley action.

Since Bethesda's marketing think suggestions of action or horror should be relegated to the box interior, I guess Doom is a boring game not for me.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

B for the normal edition, A for the special edition. A is more stylish and minimalistic, invoking that tiny bit of elitism that makes buying special editions feel special. Has id actually given any reason why they aren't just calling this Doom 4? It's not like there's a story that calls for rebooting or established game mechanics that have gotten stale. If option B ends up being the official cover, future generations are going to have 2 games called Doom with almost the exact same cover art.

 

[MHR]

Oh thank fuck. The old cover was about as pleasant to look at as piss in my toilet bowl.

I like both of the new covers. The second one looks sort of busy, but I think they are doing it exactly right if Doom looks like the cover if a death rock album.

Damn, it's so hard to decide. Option A looks clean, badass, and perfect. Option B looks badass, more badass, and perfect. If it were up to me, I'd use B for the base game, and maybe A for the collector's edition since it gives off an anti-bible vibe which lends itself to the theme of having lots of extras and such about Doom.

 

[Jacked Assassin]

I'd have to go with Option B because Option A reminds me of how Yahtzee hated Elder Scrolls covers 3, 4, 5, & ESO.