?? There is too much incentive to explore? Don't you mean: There is not enough incentive to explore? I mean sure, there are lots of secrets hidden around, but I never felt it was worth it to spent that extra time, rather than just follow the direction the game points, which leads you faster to the action and the goal. The only level that actually feels designed for exploration, is the third level, 'The Foundry'.

If you don't like the weapon upgrades in DOOM 2016, you will despise it in Eternal, which has much much more of that kind of stuff. It also has its fair share of tutorials.

I am in general on the positive side when it comes to DOOM 2016, I like the glory kills, the gunplay and the overall ride. But I agree with some of the criticism. And unfortunately the flaws are much worse in Eternal, where it at points feel like they didn't get classic DOOM's design philosophy.

I think one of the greatest moments in video game history is when you start the first DOOM, the badass music kicks in, the game doesn't tell you how to play, where to go or what to do. That's up to the player to figure, and it works well because the mechanics are kept simple and intuitive. DOOM Eternal and most modern games in general are the complete opposite.

1. Doom 1 - Vanilla DooM still plays fantastic today. Fast brutal and music never gets old;
2. Doom 3 - Totally different from rest of the series but fantastic horror game (especially the original version, bfg edition is not as good);
3. Doom 2016 - one of the best reboots ever;

It's not just a random medpacks and such that's in the secrets, it's things usable for upgrades and so on. For someone who has a natural tendency to explore every nook and cranny, that's too much, especially considering how easy it is to check if you're missed something. My strong tendence to explore combined with the game telling me too clearly I've missed something makes the game ridiculously tedious to play. Now that I think of it, the originals didn't have this problem, which is probably I never had this problem with them despites the secrets sometimes being quite hard.

Oh, I'll have none of that, because I probably won't be getting Eternal (ever). I only got the 2016 game despite by reservations because it was so cheap and I wanted to give it a better chance than the demo.

I kind of feel like even the 2016 misses a lot of what made the original games great (at least to me). They took what they thought was great about the original games, pumped them up a hundredfold, slapped some modern features on top, and called it a day. The 2016 game feels like a cold product instead of something made with passion, which is probably exactly what it is - like most AAA games these days, so I don't particularly hold that against just Doom 2016. (And yes, I realize that in a way, the purpose of games, especially big games, is to make money, but you don't have to make it feel like it.)

Doom 1= Doom Eternal > Doom 2016> Doom 64> Doom 2>>>>> Doom 3. 

Well, I think this video is actually a good authority on Doom games:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKjbPaFMCOE&ab_channel=GmanLives

Personally I like Doom 64, and not for nostalgia because I didn't even knew that existed until it was rereleased for modern consoles last year. But yeah, I am not so much into action and ripping and tearing, but much more into horror, so that makes my preference kinda pointless for Doom. I like though that with Doom64 exists such a diversion in the series and visual and sound design is just excellent. Also these levels rock.

Doom 3, because it's vastly different from the rest of the series and much more like Dead Space. It's a great horror game. Much more my style than the newer versions.
Doom 1 was great, revolutionary, loved it. Doom II felt like more of the same though, still good, but less.
I tried Doom 2016, not for me.
I played Doom VFR on PSVR. Sadly very badly made, none of the control schemes actually worked. It was an annoying mash up of teleportation half turned into free movement. Not being able to walk up a 1 inch step, have to teleport up lol. Strafing didn't work right, aiming was messed up, it could have been great.
Doom eternal simply did not appeal to me.

Doom 2016 for me.
Havent played Eternal. Didnt like Doom 3 and Doom 1 and 2 I played way after original release which didnt seem all that great at that time.

They're all good games in my view, with the original being a timeless classic that's aged like fine wine and 2016 and Eternal being two of the finest FPS games ever made.

In the end though, I think I have to award my vote to Eternal. It takes pretty much everything that was awesome from the 2016 reboot (combat, pacing, music, and sheer fun factor) and makes it faster, fiercer, more varied, and more deliciously over the top. The action flows like an explosive ballet of blood, guts, and gunpowder, and it really made me feel like the ultimate badass.

Nothing beats the original, with GZDoom and highly customizable mods like BD or PB, it's still one the most playable fps games ever. Doom 64 is excellent as well. I can appreciate Doom 2016 for what it is but the game gets repetitive fast for me (glory kills are mandatory for resource management, lack of non-arena battles).

Doom 2016 for me. It was fast, had a nice variety of guns, the map design was great with tons of things to find and generous item detection range made it so it wasn't too painful to find the missing items, the upgrades allowed for different fighting styles, the soundtrack was amazing and helped the badass feeling.

I feel like Eternal went too far with it, too many things to keep track of which made encounters a chore as exposed to a joy like in its predecessor.