The Canceled Doom Sequel That We Never Got To Play

The wait between the releases of Doom 3 and 2016's Doom reboot was eternally lengthy (pun intended).

While id Software had adopted survival horror themes for the third game in its demon hunting series, the Doom series' 2016 installment took it back to basics by embracing the fast-paced gunplay that fans have come to adore. Thanks to the hugely positive critical and fan response to id's reintroduction of the legendary franchise, Doom has reclaimed its spot as a premier first-person shooter franchise. But what's wild is just how long it took for Doom to make a proper comeback — 12 years!

During that excruciatingly long time span, id was focused on developing an official sequel to Doom 3. However, it never saw a release, leaving fans to forever wonder what could have been.

Here's a brief primer on Doom 4 and why it was cancelled before it could even reach the hands of gamers.

Doom 4 was set to launch sometime in the early 2010s for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.

Footage of the game has since made its way online, and it provides a clear idea of what id Software was going for. Doom 4 would have featured all of the demon hunting the franchise is known for. However, its color palette matched the grey sheen that many FPS games adopted after the success of 2007's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Funny enough, part of the reason why this iteration of the game was canceled is because it resembled Call of Duty just a bit too much.

Bethesda Softworks' Pete Hines did an interview with Polygon and revealed why Doom 4 ultimately got canned. "We weren't happy with the game that was being made," Hines said. "We decided that it wasn't Doom enough and needed to be thrown out and started over. Some folks left and some faces changed at the studio. Out of that change — which was not easy for those guys to go through — some amazing things happened."

Those amazing things resulted in 2016's Doom and its Easter egg-filled sequel.