Google I/O 2025 was chock full of announcements. The problem is, Google isn't always clear about which features are new, which have already been released, and which are coming out in the future. While there are plenty of features to look out for on the horizon, and a number still that you've been able to use for some time, there are brand new features Google rolled out immediately after announcing them. Here are all the Google I/O features you can check out right now—though some do require you to pay.Imagen 4 Credit: Google Google's latest AI image generation model, Imagen 4, is available today. Google was sparse on too many specific upgrades with this new model, but says that Imagen is faster, and now capable of images up to 2K resolution with additional aspect ratios. The change the company focused most on is typography: Google says Imagen 4 can generate text without any of the usual AI errors you associate with AI image generators. On top of that, the model can incorporate different art styles and design choices, depending on the context of the prompt. You can see that in the image above, which uses a pixelated design for the text to match the 8-bit comic strip look.You can try the latest Imagen model in the Gemini app, Whisk, Vertex AI, and through Workspace apps like Slides, Vids, and Docs. AI Mode Credit: Lifehacker AI Mode essentially turns Search into a Gemini chat: It allows you to ask more complicated and multi-step questions. Google then uses a "query fan-out" technique to scan the web for relevant links and generate a complete answer from those results. I haven't dived too deep into this feature, but it does largely work as advertised—I'm just not sure if that's all that much more useful than searching through links myself.Google has been testing AI Mode since March, but now it's available to everyone in the U.S. If you want to use it, you should see the new AI Mode option on the right side of the search bar on Google's homepage. "Try it on" Credit: Google Shopping online is so much more convenient than going in-person, in all ways but one: You can't try on any of the clothes ahead of time. Once they arrive, you try them on, and if they don't fit, or you don't like the look, back to the store they go. Google wants to eliminate (or, at least, greatly cut down on) this from happening. Its new "try it on" feature scans an image you provide of yourself to get an understanding of your body. Then, when you're browsing for new clothes online, you can choose to "try it on," and Google's AI will generate an image of you wearing the article of clothing. It's an interesting concept, but also a bit creepy. I personally do not want Google analyzing images of myself so that it can more accurately map different types of clothes on me. Personally, I'd rather run the risk of making a return. But if you want to give it a go, you can try the experimental feature in Google Labs today.Jules Jules is Google's "asynchronous, agentic coding assistant." According to Google, the assistant clones your codebase into a secure Google Cloud virtual machine, so that it can execute tasks like writing tests, building features, generating audio changelogs, fixing bugs, and bumping dependency versions.The assistant works in the background and doesn't use your code for training, which is a bit refreshing from a company like Google. I'm not a coder, so I can't say for sure whether Jules seems useful. But if you are a coder, you can test it for yourself. As of today, Jules is available as a free public beta for anyone who wants to try it out—though Google says usage limits apply, and that they will charge for different Jules plans once the "platform matures." Speech translation in Google Meet Credit: Google If you're a Google Workspace subscriber, this next feature is pretty great. As shown off during the I/O keynote, Google Meet now has live speech translation. Here's how it works: Let's say you're talking to someone on a Google Meet call who speaks Spanish, but you only speak English. You'll hear the other caller speak in Spanish for a moment or two, before an AI voice dubs over them with the translation in English. They'll receive the opposite on their end after you start speaking. Google is working on adding more languages in the coming weeks.Google AI Ultra subscription Credit: Google There's a new subscription in town, though it's not for the faint of heart. Google announced a new "AI Ultra" subscription at I/O yesterday, that costs a whopping $250 per month. That extraordinary price tag comes with some major AI features: You get access to the highest limits for all of Google's AI models, including Gemini 2.5 Deep Think, Veo 3, and Project Mariner. It also comes with 30TB of cloud storage, and, amusingly, a YouTube Premium subscription. You really have to be a big believer in AI to drop upwards of $3,000 a year on this subscription. If you have a budding curiosity for AI, perhaps Google's "AI Pro" plan is more your speed—this is the new name for Google's AI Premium subscription, and comes with the same perks, plus now access to Flow (which I'll cover below). Veo Veo 3 is Google's latest AI video model. Unlike Imagen 4, however, it's only available to AI Ultra subscribers. If you're not comfortable with spending $250 a month on Google's services, you'll have to stick with Veo 2. Google says Veo 3 is better at real-world physics than Veo 2 and can handle realistic lip-syncing. You can see that in the clip above, which shows an "old sailor" reciting a poem. His lips do indeed match the speech, and the video is crisp with elements of realism. I personally don't think it looks "real," and it still has plenty of tells that it's an AI video, but there's no doubt we are entering some dangerous waters with AI video.AI Pro subscribers with access to Veo 2 have some new video model capabilities, as well, however. You now have camera controls to dictate how you want shots to look; options for adjusting the aspect ratio of the clip; tools to add or remove objects from a scene; and controls to "outpaint," or to add on to the scene of a clip. Flow Google didn't just upgrade its AI video model: It also released an AI video editor, called Flow. Flow lets you generate videos using Veo 2 and Veo 3, but it also lets you cut together those clips on a timeline and control the camera movements of your clips. You can use Imagen to generate an element you want to add to a scene, then ask Veo to generate a clip with that element in it. I'm sure AI film enthusiasts are going to love this, but I remain skeptical. I could see this being a useful tool for story boarding ideas, but for creating real content? I know I don't want to watch full shows or movies generated by AI. Maybe the odd Instagram video gets a chuckle out of me, but I don't think Reels are Google's end goal here.Flow is available for both AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers. If you have AI Pro, you can access Veo 2, but AI Ultra subscribers can choose between Veo 2 and Veo 3.Gemini in Chrome Credit: Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers now have access to Gemini in Google Chrome, which appears in the toolbar of your browser window. You can ask the assistant to summarize a web page, as well as inquire about elements of that web page. There are plans for agentic features in the future, so Gemini could check out websites for you, but, for now, you're really limited to two functions.

Upgrading your health is arguably the single most important thing for your survival in Doom: The Dark Ages. To make it through all the challenges entailed by fighting demons with minimal suffering, improving your health could mean the difference between life and death. And you can considerably improve your chance of staying alive if you upgrade your health in Doom: The Dark Ages. But your health bar is not a simple task. First, you need to prove yourself by fighting stronger – and quite annoying – demons and sucking their essence to make you stronger. In this Doom: The Dark Ages guide, we explain how to upgrade your health plus show you where to find all health upgrades. How to upgrade health in Doom: The Dark Ages While your guns, shield, and melee attacks can be upgraded using special currencies to buy new abilities in a Sentinel Shrine, increasing your health requires a little more fighting. Following the same idea as upgrading your ammo capacity and armor, health upgrades are permanent and obtained when you defeat leaders that grant those upgrades. All you need to do is to defeat them to collect their Demonic Essence.  Leaders are stronger than your usual demons. You can identify them with ease, since they have a blue-hued plus sign floating above their head. Below, see maps showing the locations of all health upgrades in Doom: The Dark Ages and the requisite leaders they’re associated with. Hebeth (Chapter 2) You face the first leader in the Doom: The Dark Ages in the second level, Hebeth. You find the leader of this level in the final segment of the map. Before you can challenge them, you must clear all the waves of enemies with all kinds of demons you found until then. A short cutscene will play when you’re done, showing the leader. They are a stronger version of the Pinky Rider demon. They still shoot a Hell Surge projectile to attack you, but their special move is a wave of shields. One of the shields is green and you must try to parry it. If you pay attention, the beast has armor. Even though it protects them from your attacks, the armor follows the rule as the regular metal shields some enemies carry. Superheat the armor then use the Shield Throw to remove it completely. Since this is a tough enemy, consider keeping some of the other demons alive during the fight so you can follow one of our tips and kill them to recover life. The Holy City of Aratum (Chapter 5) As you fly through the Holy City of Aratum in Chapter 5, you can land your cyberdragon on secret landing zones. The leader you want to fight in this chapter to receive a Health upgrade is in the first secret landing zone, a small tower on the left side of the starting gate. You must defeat a Titan who is defending the place before you can actually land in the arena. Once you’re there, enemies will spawn. Defeat some of them for the leader, a Pinky Rider demon, appears. Be careful with the other demons in the arena and focus on breaking the leader’s shield with the Accelerator. Parry their Hell Surge arrows and survive long enough to claim their Demonic Essence. Siege – Part 2 (Chapter 7) The third leader who gives you a Health upgrade is found in Chapter 7 “Siege – Parte 2”. You can’t miss them since they are a mandatory encounter in the main mission. While you are trying to defend the city and rescue Novik, you reach a part of the main building marked as a red zone on the map with a crowned skull icon. This is where you will be facing the leader. The leader is an armored Hell Knight. You have already faced one of these jumpy annoying demons when collecting the first Ammo upgrade. They keep pressuring you with melee attacks and throwing their axe at you.  Keep a distance and bait their Hell Surge axe attack to parry it. Break Hell Knight’s armor as soon as possible and keep your eyes open for the incoming attacks from the regular Hell Knights who are following the leader. Ancestral Forge (Chapter 9) In Chapter 9 “Ancestral Forge,” you find the next leader to fight as you progress in the main mission. They are in the red zone on the right side of the map, close to where you find the Purple Key.  When you get to the location of the encounter, you first need to clear the area of some groups of regular enemies. After a few minutes — and many demon bodies on the ground — the leader will appear. You face another armored Hell Knight, which is great considering this is the same kind of demon you defeated to get your last Health upgrade. Follow the same strategy and you will be fine. The Forsaken Plains (Chapter 10) While the enemies you’ve faced so far were not a breeze, be ready to meet a new kind of challenge when hunting leaders. Chapter 10 “The Forsaken Plains” has a Cyberdemon leader and they have a morale bar. You find them while you’re looking for the Hell Cannons to destroy them as your main mission. The arena where you fight the Cyberdemon is in front of one of these cannons. Before you can fight the leader, you need to deplete their morale bar and disable their shield by killing other demons. The leader doesn’t take damage while they have the shield up so you can’t rush the process. The best approach to a fight against a Cyberdemon is to get closer to them and bait their melee attacks, which you can parry. It is dangerous though, so learn to read their moves and parry all their Hell Purge attacks. Sentinel Command Station (Chapter 12) The sixth Health upgrade available for you is in Chapter 12 “Sentinel Command Station.” To find the leader in this chapter, just follow the main mission which asks you to defend the Command Station. Eventually, you will have to look for the Hangar Card key and also find a new weapon, the Ravager. When you get to this point, you’re right beside the leader’s room. The arena is a large space and the leader won’t appear until you have cleared the place by killing some of the demons who are already there. The leader this time is a Pinky Rider. You’ve already beaten many of these demons so go get their Demonic Essence. Spire of Nerathul (Chapter 14) Although it is not actually hidden, the leader in Chapter 14 “Spire of Nerathul” can be easily missed if you ignore the secondary objectives of this chapter. To find them, you move forward after deactivating the first Stasis Emitter.  On the path to find the second one, you will find a red zone with a crowned skull icon. All you will see in the area is a tree with a red portal above it. Once you destroy it, the leader and many other demons will appear. The leader is another Cyberdemon, but this time they have a morale bar. Begin by killing all the other demons to deplete the Cyberdemon’s bar. Start fighting them as soon as the shield goes down. City of Ry’uul (Chapter 15) As you explore the alien corridors of the City of Ry’uul in Chapter 15, finding the leader whose Demonic Essence raises your maximum Health is a matter of time. Follow the main mission until you get into a large circular room using a water tunnel.  There are some strong enemies – a Vagary and a Cacodemon Hybrid – waiting for you in this room. Kill them for the leader to finally appear. This time you fight an Agaddon Hunter leader. The best strategy is to learn their move set and parry their attacks. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by their attacks, run from them and look for weaker enemies to kill and recover Health, Armor, and Ammo.  Harbor of Souls (Chapter 19) Your main mission in Chapter 19 “Harbor of Souls” is to find the way to the Mortal Realm and you can imagine it’s going to be one hell of a journey. In the middle of the way, there is also a leader for you to defeat. The arena where you find the leader is after the first gate that requires the Red key. Keep following the path indicated by the game and you will eventually reach the place. Before you can actually fight the leader, you need to kill a Cosmic Baron and an armored Pinky Rider.  The leader is a Komodo, a complicated foe to face. They are quite agile and hit really hard, always pressuring you with their sequences of attacks. Wait for the right moment and use the Rocket Launcher. Since the leader is always close to you, it’s easy to land your shots. Resurrection (Chapter 20) The leader of Chapter 20 “Resurrection” is the first major enemy you face in the chapter. After the cutscene, pass over the Sentinel Shrine and you will see a vast area filled with demons. This leader, a Revenant, has a morale bar, which means that you must kill every demon you see before you can go land some shotgun bursts onto the leader. Since this is one of the last chapters in the game, you will find all kinds of enemies in the area. From a Cyberdemon to a Pinky Rider, there are enough deadly creatures ready to rip you apart if you don’t pay attention. 

Obsidian 1.9.0 (Desktop) is now available in early access and comes with some hefty updates. If you have not heard of it, Obsidian is a powerful tool for building a "second brain" right on your machine. Its whole deal is "file over app" – your notes are just plain Markdown files, stored locally. That means you own your data forever. No cloud lock-in; grab any text editor, and your note is still there, even if Obsidian disappears tomorrow. The headline feature in the 1.9.0 update is a new core plugin called Bases. This tool lets you turn collections of notes into structured databases, which can be especially useful for organizing projects, managing research, planning travel, or tracking your reading list. With Bases, you can create custom table views, filter notes by specific properties, and define formulas to generate dynamic values. To support this functionality, Obsidian introduces a new .base file format and syntax. However, all your data remains stored in local Markdown files and YAML frontmatter, so nothing about your current setup changes in that regard. The Obsidian team notes that Bases is still in early beta, so you can expect more improvements and features over time. Also included in this release is a new Footnotes view core plugin. This feature adds a dedicated sidebar tab for managing all footnotes within a document, which helps you stay focused without constantly scrolling through long texts. It is particularly useful for academic writing or any work that involves detailed citations. One important note: this update includes some breaking changes. Obsidian has removed support for the singular forms of certain properties: tag, alias, and cssclass. You now need to use the plural forms tags, aliases, and cssclasses, and the values must be formatted as lists. If you have been using single text values, you will need to update your files to maintain compatibility. A bunch of smaller tweaks landed, too. For example, fuzzy search for file suggestions is now a thing, making it easier to find what you are looking for, and dark mode text selection contrast got a boost. Other notable improvements include better whitespace handling in Sync history, and the "Export PDF" button now receives initial keyboard focus. Additionally, the "Move file to..." option now remains available even if the Files plugin is turned off. The "Save file" command will only appear in the Command Palette when a file is actually active, reducing clutter. And for those using the Unique Note Prefix plugin, there's a new "Add unique internal link" command that lets you quickly link selected text with a unique reference. Lots of old annoyances got squashed. The command palette search results make more sense now, which was needed, and Canvas cards finally play nice with callouts, which is a relief for those who use that feature heavily. Other important fixes include consistent list numbering in callouts and the PDF view no longer stealing focus when opened in the background. Markdown tables that include partially complete HTML now render correctly, and autocompleting code blocks properly handle indentation as well as cursor placement inside list items. Developers get some goodies too. For instance, ButtonComponent now automatically shows a loading spinner if the onClick event is asynchronous, and you can now bypass the Web viewer to specify that a URL is opened in the user's default browser. Since version 1.9.0 is still in Early Access, you'll need a Catalyst license to use it. If you're not looking to test the latest release and just want to explore Obsidian, you can download the most recent stable version instead: Windows | macOS | Linux (AppImage | Snap | DEB). Obsidian is also available on mobile: Android | iOS. You can check out the full version 1.9.0 changelog here.

Google I/O 2025 keynote session on Tuesday was focused on new artificial intelligence (AI) updates and features. Alongside, the Mountain View-based tech giant also introduced a new tool to bring more transparency when it comes to AI-generated content. Dubbed SynthID Detector, it is an under-testing verification portal which can detect and identify multimodal AI content made using the company's AI models. The technology can identify audio, video, image, and text, allowing individuals to easily assess if a piece of content is human-made or synthetic.Google Tests SynthID Detector Verification PlatformThe company first unveiled SynthID in 2023 as a technology that can add an imperceptible watermark into content that cannot be removed or tampered with. In 2024, the company open-sourced the text watermarking technology to businesses and developers. The invisible watermark shows up when analysed using special software. Google is now testing a verification portal dubbed SynthID Detector that will allow individuals to quickly check if a media is generated using AI or not.In a blog post, the tech giant said the portal provides transparency “in a rapidly evolving landscape of generative media.” With Veo 3 and Imagen 4 AI models that can generate hyperrealistic images and videos, the risk of deepfakes has also increased significantly.While measures such as the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standard have offered a way for AI companies to highlight AI-generated content, they are not completely tamper-proof. Advanced watermarking technologies enable users and institutions to protect themselves from misinformation and synthetic abusive content.The portal is straightforward to use, Google explains. Users can upload media they suspect to have been generated using Google's AI tool and SynthID Detector then scans the uploaded media and detects any SynthID watermark. Afterwards, it shares the results, and if a watermark is detected, it highlights which part of the content is likely to be AI-generated. Notably, the tool does not work with non-Google AI products. One of the biggest advantages of SynthID is that the imperceptible watermark does not compromise the quality of the media, and at the same time, it is not possible to remove or alter it. Currently, Google is rolling out the portal to early testers, and it plans to make it available more broadly later this year. Journalists, media professionals and researchers can join the waitlist to gain early access to the SynthID Detector. For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube. Further reading: Google IO 2025, Google, SynthID, Gemini, AI, Artificial Intelligence Akash Dutta Akash Dutta is a Senior Sub Editor at Gadgets 360. He is particularly interested in the social impact of technological developments and loves reading about emerging fields such as AI, metaverse, and fediverse. In his free time, he can be seen supporting his favourite football club - Chelsea, watching movies and anime, and sharing passionate opinions on food. More Related Stories

Prior to the pandemic, there was nothing particularly interactive nor collaborative about video conferencing solutions. But during the lockdown desperate times called for desperate measures. Many of us learned to regularly jump onto video software solutions like Zoom and Microsoft Teams to keep up with deadlines, schedule interviews, and even occasionally just connect with colleagues from all distances. To this day a good percentage of the workforce still depend upon these sorts of virtual interactions to keep working together and build/maintain social connections. Especially so within the context of hybrid work where some days may be spent in the office, others working from home. Steelcase’s most recent collaboration with video technology brand Logitech is designed to serve such realities in the form of Ocular View. Ocular View was developed to give co-workers and collaborators a more personal and immersive means to meet virtually, described by Steelcase not as a virtual reality technology but rather an extended reality experience. So how does this Ocular View pod differ from the usual webcam, microphone, and speaker setup we all already know and use? To answer that you have to rewind back to 2023 when the technology was first unveiled as a prototype at Integrated Systems Europe under the code name, Project Ghost. Developed to record and parse workers’ needs for improved hybrid collaboration experiences, Project Ghost would lay the groundwork for Steelcase and Logitech “to create a more realistic experience that would help combat digital fatigue.” Over several iterations Project Ghost would integrate elements such as the Steelcase® Everwall® enclosure to give users acoustic and visual privacy – both vital in work environments – before eventually evolving into Ocular View. A comfortable and natural atmosphere is paramount to fostering natural conversations in the workplace, Steelcase’s bread and butter. With seating accommodating for up to two participants, users interact using a high-resolution video camera within a comfortable miniature lounge. Furnished with a small table and soft lighting to help participants look and feel their best, Ocular View was intentionally designed to eliminate distractions, placing the technology secondary to the physical environment. Participants simply tap to join to start the realistic conversation. Equally important is Logitech’s expertise in webcam technology; Ocular View automatically removes the remote participant from their background and displays them in life-size rendering, allowing conversations to unfold with an eye-to-eye perspective. By connecting sight lines at a direct level, Ocular View is able to create the simulated effect of the natural gaze we share when speaking to others in-person. “Our vision for this project was that people would walk in and the technology is supposed to fade away,” says Logitech’s Alex Mooney. “We emphatically didn’t want people to focus on the experience of the technology, but rather on the experience of talking to each other in a comfortable, human-to-human way.” Ocular View, co-developed by Steelcase and Logitech, is available to order in North America and select European countries. For more information, visit steelcase.com. Imagery courtesy of Steelcase.

Fortnite was removed from the App Store in 2020 after Epic entered a legal battle over Apple's fees.

With its unapologetically violent gameplay and hellfire aesthetics, Doom not only popularized first-person shooters when the franchise launched in 1993 but changed the gaming industry forever with its countless influences still felt today far beyond its genre. And despite its success, there are surprisingly few games in the core series once you discount the seemingly endless platforms the classic games have been ported to throughout the years. Fortunately, most of these games are clear winners that towered above contemporaries and have stood the test of time. With that in mind, not all Doom games are created equal, even if the gameplay and core premise has remained consistently intact for decades. Eschewing spinoffs like Ultimate Doom, Mighty Doom, or Doom RPG, here are all the mainline Doom games ranked from worst to best. 8. Final Doom (1996) This entry was very nearly left off this list entirely since some fans saw 1996’s Final Doom as a glorified spinoff—or little more than a standalone expansion of Doom II. But with its own PC and PlayStation release, along with a vocal fan base accumulated over the years, Final Doom does indeed count as its own installment in the franchise’s main line. The game also features a story that takes place after the events of Doom II, with the Doom Slayer repelling a hellish invasion of a colony on one of Jupiter’s moons before taking the fight to Hell itself. That said, Final Doom is easily the weakest game from the series’ classic era, recycling old assets instead of introducing new elements while presenting largely uninspired levels. The PS version is worse than the PC version, providing players with less than half of the original PC release and an overall weaker visual fidelity and presentation. Final Doom is best enjoyed by hardcore Doom II fans looking for something a bit different than the base game they know and love. 7. Doom 3 (2004) After a lengthy hiatus and high-profile personnel changes at developer id Software, Doom returned a decade after Doom II with 2004’s Doom 3. The game is more or less a rehash of the original game’s story where a research facility on Mars accidentally opens a portal to Hell, allowing demons to pour into our world. The game was ported to Xbox eight months after the initial PC release, received the Resurrection of Evil expansion in 2005, and was remastered with new content in 2012. Taking advantage of the advances of technical capabilities since the franchise’s heyday in the early to mid ‘90s, Doom 3 is a slower, moodier experience, favoring suspense and scares over wall-to-wall action, at least for the first half of the game. This makes Doom 3 something of an outlier in its overall gameplay and presentation, which is the most strikingly different in the wider franchise. However, the pacing for those earlier portions of the game really drags, especially for players used to the series’ penchant for just diving headfirst into the usual carnage. 6. Doom 64 (1997) When the Doom franchise made its way to the Nintendo 64 in 1997, it didn’t do so as a port of the existing games but rather as its own standalone title. Doom 64 is very much its own game, complete with an original story of the Doom Slayer being lured back into Hell by an elaborate trap set by the Mother Demon. A remaster of the game was released in 2020 for modern platforms, including original content that linked this game’s story to the revival trilogy that began in 2016. At the time of its release, players may have been experiencing franchise fatigue, not giving the game the credit it was due as more popular successors to Doom, like Quake and Unreal, took shape. To be fair, Doom 64 doesn’t reinvent the wheel, not adding much distinctly new. But it does refine the established formula with heightened atmosphere and engaging level design. Years later, fans are finally starting to recognize Doom 64 for what it really is—the last game released in the franchise’s classic era and the culmination of that initial cycle. 5. Doom: The Dark Ages (2025) People are going to look at this ranking and invariably think that a fifth place position means that Doom: The Dark Ages is a bad game. To be clear, it isn’t, The Dark Ages is a solid entry in the franchise; the series just has a list of absolute bangers that outrank it. True to its title, The Dark Ages blends the franchise’s penchant for sci-fi horror with dark fantasy as the Doom Slayer uses more medieval-inspired weapons to battle invading armies of demons across the cosmos. For sure, The Dark Ages is the biggest tonal departure within the revival trilogy, including more strategic combat and even vehicle-based levels to navigate. The gory sensibilities of Doom are still very much intact, fortunately, though the game’s insistence on having players rely on the Doom Slayer’s new shield may throw established fans off who are just looking to rip and tear. An expansion of what Doom can be without discarding the franchise’s core ethos entirely, The Dark Ages is a welcome big swing from the series that mostly connects. 4. Doom (1993) Obviously the entire franchise we’re talking about here wouldn’t exist without the original Doom released in 1993, not only serving as the series’ foundation, but a title that changed gaming forever. With all that said, when doing our best to remove nostalgia out of the equation and look at the game on its own standalone merits, that first Doom game still stands in the top half of the franchise but is narrowly edged out of the top three. The game’s premise is simple: when a dimensional portal on the moons of Mars accidentally serves as a bridge to Hell, the Doom Slayer stands alone in purging the invading demons from the research facilities with whatever weapons he can find. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! From its chugging heavy metal-inspired soundtrack to its over-the-top arsenal reducing hellish enemies to bloody pulp, Doom set the template for the franchise that has only been built upon to this day. The game spawned countless copycat titles while being ported to virtually every major gaming platform, a distinction that it continues to hold over 30 years since its initial release. Despite now having the roughest of edges, Doom holds up as one of the most straightforward and enjoyable first-person shooters of its era, both for nostalgia-minded gamers and those curious of the franchise’s roots. 3. Doom (2016) Though commercially successful, the middling response to Doom 3 and changes in the developer’s ownership had left the franchise languishing in limbo for over a decade, confined to the occasional port and remaster as id Software returned its focus to Wolfenstein. After undergoing years of various stages of development, it was 2016’s Doom that completely reinvigorated the flagship franchise, getting back to the fast-paced gameplay that the series was known for while also enjoying extensive updates for modern sensibilities. The game itself is more or less a rehash of the original story, with a human research facility on Mars descending into madness and being overrun after opening a portal to Hell. The 2016 Doom is also exactly what fans wanted after the more deliberately paced Doom 3, something that ditched the emphasis on tutorials and narrative and instead got back to gory gunplay in all its glory. Though the multiplayer aspect left some players wanting, the single-player campaign is among the franchise’s best, powered by a hard-rocking soundtrack composed by Mick Gordon. The kick in the pants that the series needed, the Doom revival lived up to the franchise’s example while bringing it deeper into the 21st century, guns blazing. 2. Doom II: Hell on Earth (1994) The original Doom set a high bar for first-person shooters moving forward. But it’s a bar that the direct sequel Doom II: Hell on Earth vaulted over when it was released in 1994. Picking up from its predecessor with the Doom Slayer fighting for the fate of Earth after it is invaded by the forces of Hell, Doom II would receive a number of expansions and ports after its launch, with the latest released as recently as 2024, adding an original episode with brand-new weapons and enemies to the venerable title. Everything that the original Doom did, Doom II does noticeably better, all while expanding on the premise with new enemies, fresh weapons, and even more inventive level design. From a technical standpoint, there is no huge leap in the graphical department or sound design, but rather in the complexity and size of the levels coupled with a larger number of enemies onscreen. Indeed, Doom II almost makes the original game feel like a first draft at times given how much it refines the overall experience despite only coming out a year after the franchise began. 1. Doom Eternal (2020) After successfully relaunching the franchise for modern audiences in 2016, the Doom revival got a direct sequel in 2020 with Doom Eternal. Taking its cues from Doom II, Eternal has Earth invaded by the armies of Hell and facing near-annihilation from the all-powerful Icon of Sin with the Doom Slayer as humanity’s last, best hope for survival. The two-part DLC epilogue The Ancient Gods has the Doom Slayer travel deep into Hell to confront the Dark Lord and vanquish the demon hordes for good. Though Doom Eternal may have divided hardcore purists about its inclusion of prominent narrative elements, platforming gameplay sequences, and tutorials, it is a clear refinement of what the 2016 revival began. The combat is as frenetic and engaging as it has ever been in the franchise, the arsenal is upgraded and expanded, and the hellish aesthetics the series is known for are in excelsis here. Simply put, Doom Eternal is the apex of the franchise, leaning into what the series does best while incorporating bold flourishes to build the mythology and subtly redefine what Doom can be.

Announced back at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019, Havok Physics for Unity was initially distributed as an experimental package on the Unity Asset Store. Now, with the availability of ECS for Unity (Entity Component System) in the Unity 2022.2 Tech Stream, Havok Physics for Unity is officially supported for production. In fact, we’ve made this package available to all Unity Pro, Enterprise, and Industrial Collection subscribers for free.Havok Physics for Unity is built on the same foundation of technology that powers many of the world’s leading game franchises like Destiny and Assassin’s Creed, among others. When we first set out to define what the future of physics could look like with our Data-Oriented Technology Stack (DOTS), we sought a partner that shared the same core concepts and values as us. Through our partnership with Havok, we were able to leverage DOTS to deliver the highly optimized, stateless, entirely C#, and performant Unity Physics we know today.We also prepared for more complex simulation requirements for users who might need a stateful physics system. We knew that Havok would be the perfect solution to integrate into Unity for those high-end simulation needs.The Havok Physics for Unity package is written using the same C# ECS framework as Unity Physics, and is backed by the closed-source, proprietary Havok Physics engine, written in native C++. Havok Physics for Unity is heavily optimized for many typical gaming use cases. For example, core algorithms have been refined over many years with various automatic caching strategies (including the sleeping of inactive objects), meaning that CPU resources are spent only as needed.Since the experimental package, Unity and Havok have been working together with early users of the plug-in to drive improvements and add new features.Here’s a breakdown of what’s new:Havok Physics for Unity is now available for free for all Unity Pro, Enterprise, and Unity Industrial Collection subscribers.Havok Physics for Unity is based on the 2021.2 version of the original Havok SDK, and brings more stability and performance to the Unity plug-in.As part of the full release, we’ve incorporated support for motorized joints (motors), such as linear position, as well as linear, rotational, and angular velocity.We’ve also added new methods to the HavokSimulation API, which enables granular stepping for your simulations, plus methods for accessing Havok simulations more efficiently with singletons.Check out the complete changelog of updates to Havok Physics for Unity.Havok Physics is a robust physics engine designed to handle the performance demands of the most dynamic games, often involving complex scenes with lots of physical interaction. By working with partners across the industry for over 20 years, Havok has encountered, solved, and continued to iterate on some of the toughest problems facing real-time physics simulation. This investment has led to the stable stacking of physics bodies, minimal artifacts for fast-moving bodies, and generally more controlled behavior, especially when it comes to non-optimized collision geometry.Of course, physics means action, so let’s see how these two creators are currently taking action with Havok Physics for Unity.Title:Hostile Mars Studio:Big Rook Games Studio size:Individual Platforms: Windows PC, console Genre: Open-world, base-building automation tower defense Players: Single playerFirst presented at PAX – East in 2022, Hostile Mars drew in quite an audience with its dedicated use of physics and unique blend of genres. The vast Martian landscape is brought to life in an open-world factory base-building and automation game. Players confront each other at the ground level in close combat to defend their factories through both third-person shooting and programmable defenses.Jake Jameson, founder of Big Rook Games, began by blending genres across multiplayer and single-player games – adding elements from puzzlers along with first-person shooters (FPS) and wave-based shooters. The more he evolved this idea, the more he narrowed his focus on creating a single-player base builder. He soon discovered the ideal balance between building, strategy, and combat, finally leading up to the one and only Hostile Mars.When completing that final iteration of Hostile Mars, it was clear the game needed to use some sort of data-oriented programming model. Jake wanted to have large enemy waves while still achieving high-end visuals. In order to provide the players with the best possible experience, the game had to run performantly on a massive scale, supporting thousands of enemies simultaneously onscreen.To meet these demands, Jake turned to Unity’s Data-Oriented Technology Stack. In leveraging ECS for Unity, every enemy in Hostile Mars could run real-time Mesh Physics/Collisions, A* Pathfinding, and Local Avoidance, in addition to robust state systems, animations, weapon and projectile systems, high-quality VFX, particle systems, and more.“Without DOTS, I wouldn’t have been able to provide the experience that I imagined in my original design. It just wouldn’t have been possible without implementing my own ECS framework, and as a solo dev, this isn’t viable given my timeline and budget.” – Jake Jameson, founder of Big Rook GamesAlthough Jake is not a game developer by trade, he is an avid gamer and was already familiar with the original Havok Physics engine. Knowing how trusted Havok’s technology has been among AAA studios, Jake felt confident implementing it as soon as it became available in Unity via the experimental package.Hostile Mars is a physics-intensive experience. The player uses physics-based traps and turrets to manipulate the physics properties of enemies. By applying different physical properties to enemies, the goal is to stop them in their tracks or drive them toward more dangerous traps.Not to mention that Hostile Mars involves an incredible number of enemies. More specifically, there are up to 5,000 individual physics-based enemies that can flood the player’s Martian factories, which leads to hundreds of collisions and projectiles onscreen at once.All of the physics in Hostile Mars utilizes Havok Physics for Unity; from the collisions between projectiles and enemies, players and enemies, even enemies and other enemies, to enemies and the landscape itself, and hovering enemies who require a constant state of force to stay afloat. These distinct physics interactions take place in real-time, with physical simulation that allows for believable hovering, gravity, and mesh point collisions. So when players strike their enemies at a particular point, they will see them spin away just as Havok Physics for Unity intended them to.Not only are the enemies entirely physics-based, but the traps that are necessary for gameplay are physics-based too. There are gravity traps that push and pull enemies, which in turn, slow down or speed up traps that smash enemies. There are even traps that spring spikes up into an enemy’s path, not just pushing them aside, but realistically simulating the force and velocity of the spikes so that the enemy reaction appears authentic.Once the players advance, the enemy waves become varied and increasingly complex, which requires players to build traps more strategically, combining their different physics-based interactions to herd enemies with different weaknesses toward stronger traps and turrets that can impact them most. For example, while a frost trap might slow some enemies down, an explosive trap can deal the most damage possible against a highly concentrated wave.Plans for releasing Hostile Mars on consoles are still in the works, but in the meantime, you can add Hostile Mars for Windows PC to your Wishlist on Steam today.Title: Robocraft 2 Studio:Freejam Games Studio size:25 Platforms:Windows PC, console Genre: Online vehicular combat Players: 5v5 online multiplayerRobocraft 2 is the free-to-play sequel to 2017’s award-winning Robocraft, where players build customizable robot battle vehicles that drive, hover, walk, and fly in an open-world multiplayer environment. Since this initial success, the team at Freejam Games has refined a fully customizable experience for Robocraft 2, so that players can bring their own creations to competitive multiplayer gameplay.As Freejam Games experimented with projects following the success of Robocraft, they focused on providing exciting new building tools. This way, players could enjoy more freedom to design complex, physics-simulated creations.The team evaluated how moving the physics from the client side to dedicated multiplayer game servers could enhance the physical interactions between the vehicles and robots created by the players. They discovered that relegating the physics to the server created a range of fun gameplay moments, wherein weight, inertia, momentum, friction, mass, and bounciness were all accurately simulated. In other words, the heavy vehicles could easily push lighter ones, or be combined with joints like pistons, servos, and rotating platforms. Even weapons and explosions applied realistic kickback and force when they hit. All of these experiments, alongside community testing and feedback, culminated in Robocraft 2.In Robocraft 2, players now get to create complex vehicles, take them into battle, and destroy them in 5v5 team battles online. From their experience with the first Robocraft game, the Freejam team knew how competitive and creative their players could be, finding new ways to optimize the provided building tools in order to win battles.This meant that the team had to rely on three key features from their physics engine in order to provide a fair experience for all:Fast performanceRobust, non-glitchy physics simulationAccess to low-level areas of the physics engine to make modifications in the gamePrior to the 2017 announcement of DOTS and ECS for Unity, Freejam Games explored the possibility of building their ECS framework in-house. They then quickly adopted ECS for Unity in its experimental release, starting with Unity Physics. For experiments with server-side tech, they used determinism as a solution for keeping the player clients and simulation on the server in sync, while Unity Physics (which is deterministic) provided the performance.As the game evolved, they moved away from a stateless approach and became early adopters of Havok Physics for Unity. As a stateful system, Havok Physics for Unity ultimately powered the performance of the simulation within the gameplay requirements for Robocraft 2.“The high performance of Havok [Physics for Unity] allows us to have accurate server-side physics in our online game. In turn, that provides several significant benefits including giving all clients an equal representation of the physics for a better quality experience. The fact that the server is authoritative over the simulation also has the added benefit of reducing the opportunity for cheaters.” – Ed Fowler, principal programmer and cofounder of FreejamHavok Physics for Unity helped Freejam Games solve complicated issues. For example, as players defeat opponents, the robots and vehicles fall apart block by block, which can create hundreds of Rigidbodies in the environment. To free up CPU and maintain high frame rates, those inactive Rigidbodies can be put to sleep via Deactivation, a feature that effectively removes the physics from broken pieces temporarily.Player creations in Robocraft 2 consist of many Rigidbodies with Compound Colliders constrained together by joints, which can be smashed or stacked on top of one another. Further improvements to overall performance of the physics simulation can be gained with Collision Caching, which additionally allows for refined simulation of joints/constraints, such as in those stacking situations.Lastly, the Havok Visual Debugger was used to visualize the collision in the game world in real-time. It enabled Freejam Games to identify glitches, snags, and efficiently spot instances where rogue contacts arise. This accelerated their workflow and prompted fast fixes.Want to see Robocraft 2 in action? Add it to your Wishlist on Steam.To help you get started, check out the ECS Physics Samples on GitHub.If you need more guidance, we created a tutorial to help you learn more about Unity’s physics options, including Havok Physics for Unity.By the end of the tutorial, you will be able to do the following:Describe the key benefits of Havok Physics for Unity and Unity PhysicsExplain the relationship between Unity Physics and Havok Physics for UnityIdentify situations where physics solutions for ECS are the right fit for a projectThis tutorial is an introduction to physics solutions in ECS for Unity, tailored to users with an intermediate or advanced level of experience with the Unity Editor. As mentioned earlier, DOTS is Unity’s Data-Oriented Technology Stack, a suite of data-oriented technologies for users looking to make complex projects with highly optimized performance. If you want to learn more about DOTS, we recommend the newly-released DOTS Guide on GitHub.We are also actively engaging with many of you on the DOTS channel, part of the Unity Discord, and in the forums. We look forward to learning more about the projects you’re building with Havok Physics for Unity.