The first part of Doom Eternal's The Ancient Gods DLC is finally here, bringing with it a brand-new campaign, fresh enemies, and a continuation of the original game's story. Both new entries in the Doom series have come packed with a ton of fun secrets, and The Ancient Gods: Part 1 is no different.
One of the most notable discoveries thus far was shared on Reddit yesterday, when user Every-Mercy-Main realized that pressing X three times while on the DLC's runes tab on Xbox One brought up a strange variation of the game's title. Instead of saying Doom Eternal, the image instead reads "DOOG Eternal," with fans immediately recognizing it as a reference to popular Hololive Vtuber Inugami Korone.
Renown for her goofy persona and strange love of violence, Korone recently beat all of Doom 64 in one sitting on stream, with the playthrough lasting ten hours. She eventually went on to play through all of Doom's 2016 reboot as well, with the Vtuber's fans dubbing her playthrough "DOOG" on account of her avatar being an anime dog-girl. Watching the streams makes for a surreal experience, as the adorably rendered Korone gleefully wields chainsaws, blasts demons with shotguns, and crushes skulls with her fists.
Korone Reference in New dlc? My brother discovered this by hitting X 3 times while playing from Doom
The Easter egg clearly references the Hololive Vtuber, with id Software seemingly showing its appreciation for the crazy streams and Korone's love of the franchise. For those who aren't aware of what a VTuber is, the concept centers around YouTubers or streamers that operate under the alias of a digital 3D avatar. Although the niche style of streaming has been around for a while, it has recently grown exponentially, with even popular streamer Pokimane trying out Vtubing last month. Hololive is one of the agencies that works with Vtubers, and Korone is currently signed to the brand.
It's great to see id Software acknowledge the more eccentric areas of its community as it embraces the passion of Doom's fanbase. Ancient Gods has garnered a lot of acclaim since its debut last Tuesday, with players claiming it makes for a more intense and challenging follow-up to the base campaign. Not only does the additional content pick up exactly where Eternal left off, but it also adds in fun new enemies and encounters, including sharks and creepy angelic foes called "Blood Makyrs." All in all, it seems like an essential purchase for Doom fans.
Doom Eternal is available for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X versions in development.