Persephone's (Gothic) Insights

I'm Nicholas van der Waard, host of "Hell-blazers: Speedrunning  Doom Eternal ."  My blog is about horror, but also sex, metal and videogames ; this article explores some of those idea in  Doom Eternal . What follows is my interview with  DraQu , a Twitch streamer & FPS Speedrunner. "Hell-blazers" interviews Twitch streamers, speedrunners and Doom fans about  Doom Eternal  (2020); it asks them, based on their own experiences, to compare the game to the rest of the franchise, and what effect it will have on speedrunning and gaming at large. General information about "Hell-blazers" can be found,  here ; a compendium of the interviews as they are published can be found  here  (which also includes interesting videos, break-downs and other articles). Update, 1/4/2025: My focus has shifted to Metroidvania, which I've written multiple books on, since this post. To it, I've decided to release the entirety of my work on Metroidvania...

This compendium contains the interviews for "Hell-blazers," my Doom Eternal Speedrunning Q&A Project, and any salient links. Note: When new interviews go live, this compendium will also be updated. Update, 1/4/2025: My focus has shifted to Metroidvania, which I've written multiple books on, since this post. To it, I've decided to release the entirety of my work on Metroidvania in one single place: " From Master's to PhD (and Beyond): My Entire Work on Metroidvania " (2025). This includes my master's thesis and early postgraduate work (re: "Mazes and Labyrinths"), my PhD (released in 2023), further essays released after my postgraduate work in my larger book series,  Sex Positivity . You can also ask me questions about Metroidvania on the r/Metroidvania subreddit: " From Master's to PhD (and Beyond): My Entire Work on Metroidvania " (2025). Foreword Aimed largely at the Twitch crowd, but also speed...

Hi, this is Nick van der Waard. Starting next Friday, I will starting interviews for "Hell-blazers: Speedrunning Doom Eternal ," my new Q&A series on Doom Eternal (2020). My blog is about horror, but also sex, metal and videogames ; "Hell-blazers" explores some of those idea in  Doom Eternal .   For all the interviews, please refer to this compendium .  Update, 1/4/2025: My focus has shifted to Metroidvania, which I've written multiple books on, since this post. To it, I've decided to release the entirety of my work on Metroidvania in one single place: " From Master's to PhD (and Beyond): My Entire Work on Metroidvania " (2025). This includes my master's thesis and early postgraduate work (re: "Mazes and Labyrinths"), my PhD (released in 2023), further essays released after my postgraduate work in my larger book series,  Sex Positivity . You can also ask me questions about Metroidvania on the r/Metroidvania subreddit: "...

To a certain extent,  Doom  (1993) has always been about speed. And Quake   (1996). Players are timed and scored on how fast they can go. Now the technology and demand for a game that fits the practice has finally come about in the "widely marketable" Doom Eternal (2020). Videogames have never been developed for a larger speedrunning audience; Doom Eternal  was made for Twitch , and for speed, but was it made for speedrunning? Update, 1/4/2025: My focus has shifted to Metroidvania, which I've written multiple books on, since this post. To it, I've decided to release the entirety of my work on Metroidvania in one single place: " From Master's to PhD (and Beyond): My Entire Work on Metroidvania " (2025). This includes my master's thesis and early postgraduate work (re: "Mazes and Labyrinths"), my PhD (released in 2023), further essays released after my postgraduate work in my larger book series,  Sex Positivity . You can also ask me questions...