id Software’s Doom Eternal is one of the best-looking shooters ever made. Powered by the id Tech 7 engine, the game delivers even higher resolution textures, more complex environments and a tight lock on its target 60 frames per second. It’s also built from the ground up for the Vulkan low-level graphics API, meaning that in theory, it’s a match made in heaven for Google’s Stadia – a system that focuses on Linux and Vulkan for its technological backbone. However, after putting some time into the game, it’s disappointing overall – at the most basic level, lag makes the Doom Eternal experience a good deal worse than any other platform.
There are advantages though, of course. Taking Xbox One X as an example, you have a 41GB download to get through before you can pick up your controllers. Stadia’s cloud-based set-up means that the process of getting your hands on the game is instantaneous. But in the case of Doom Eternal, that’s where the plus points for gaming at Stadia come to an end.
In assessing this port, we’re pursuing our usual strategy of running the game with the best quality set-up. That means we’re using the Stadia controller connected directly to Google’s servers via WiFi, with imagery delivered via Chromecast Ultra to an LG OLED B8, rated for 22ms of lag under Game Mode. A 300mbps Virgin Media fibre connection, with the Chromecast attached via Ethernet removes any home WiFi-related latency that might occur, while our lag measurements were carried out with no other devices sharing the line. Pulling up the Stadia connection tab, our set-up is rated as excellent with 4K enabled. Despite this, there are still some minor, very infrequent stutters in performance.
With all that in place, let’s see what we’ve got. Delivering such a rapid, supremely detailed game at 60 frames per second is no easy feat – especially avoiding detail loss through compression. I’ve got to say from a purely visual slant, Doom Eternal looks stunning on Stadia. Image quality holds up and every shotgun blast, every squelch of an instant kill takedown, and every skull lining the dungeon walls comes across clearly. Slow the footage down and zoom in and of course, we can highlight some macro-blocking, notably on darker elements of the screen. You can also expect banding artefacts in the shadows, but otherwise it’s absolutely as good as you can realistically expect from a dynamic streaming platform.
The high pixel count we’re getting plays a big part in that. Stadia runs in a majority of samples at 3200×1800 – which matches Xbox One X for maximum resolution. I haven’t spotted anything under this yet, but it’s a likelihood given the dynamic resolution setup on other consoles. However, curiously there is more to it than just running at 1800p. Stadia has all HUD elements present at 4K, but at the same time, parts of the gameplay also seem to resolve at 1080p. Pixel testing any objects in front of the skybox – the distant background detail, gives results at 1920×1080. A potential theory is it’s a lower resolution depth of field buffer, a different effect with a different resolution – that causes a less clear outline for objects occluding it. In the main though, you’re getting a comparable 1800p image to Xbox One X, which is a level up from all the other consoles. Meanwhile, for those on 1080p displays you’re getting a straight native 1080p picture from Stadia all round.