8 Video Games That Faced Development Hell (And Turned Out AMAZING)

3. DOOM (2016)

One of the best games of the generation so far, the simple, back-to-basics approach of 2016's DOOM was a breath of fresh air for first-person shooter fans. By looking to the past and reviving old-school mechanics, the reboot of the iconic franchise ironically managed to feel fresh, stripping away the baggage that had crippled other shooters at the time and putting the focus purely on buttery-smooth demon killing.

While that approach seems like a no-brainer now, it only came about after years of Id Software trying to keep the franchise relevant. After Doom 3 brought the series more inline with other serious military shooters, the fourth game (officially announced in 2008) was set to take that one step further. Taking the action to Earth, the sequel was being built with Call of Duty in mind, swapping out open levels for linear shooting galleries, a grey-and-brown colour palette and a narrative that would team you up with a bunch of other A.I. mercs.

It didn't look all that bad, but it certainly wasn't Doom. It was labelled a "mess" by people who worked on it, and eventually had to be rebooted entirely in 2011. From there, the developers had to rediscover the series' identity, dropping the Earth setting entirely, putting the focus back on fast combat with projectile-based weapons, and stripping out the majority of the scripted storytelling in favour of an unrelenting power trip.