Friday the 13th will be a very big day for Doom fans — along with all of us at id Software. Today we announced Doom will be available worldwide on May 13th, including our collector’s edition featuring one of my favorite Demons, the Revenant. Which had a few of you asking: why that Demon in particular?

While I love all the iconic hellspawn in our game, the Revenant is one of my favorites because he represents everything that Doom’s about. He’s got tons of personality. He’s fierce and relentless. He’s high-energy. And he’s just fun to look at. I mean, what’s not to love about a screaming, bloody, possessed corpse with two high-powered missile launchers strapped to his shoulders? Like I said: pure Doom.

That’s why the Revenant isn’t just featured on the game box but also comes to life in our collector’s edition as a 12-inch-tall statue made from high-quality PVC. As you can see in the photo, the statue looks amazing! While I can’t wait to display mine on my desk, I was even more excited by the team’s reaction to this real-life Revenant. So many people at id Software contributed to the final design of this character, including artists, designers, and animators. And everyone was thrilled with the results.

When designing all the demons in Doom, we took our time to make sure they captured the essence of the original, but still felt fresh and modern. That’s why we kept the core visual elements of the original character in place: the skeletal body, the bloody torso, the cyber vest with shoulder mounted rockets… and a bloody screaming head on top. The personality of these characters is what’s most important to us at id. We try to enhance whatever was already there, then bring it to life through the effort of our art, animation, and design teams.

We also developed a backstory for each demon in the game to help inform all our design choices. You can see elements of this lore all over the Revenant’s body — visual cues that help indicate he’s part of some mad UAC cult experiment gone wrong. We had to get the expression on his face just right to convey the “possessed maniac on the loose” look we were going for.

We ended up removing the eyelids and pupils completely, and turned up the corners of his mouth to give him a slight grin. He looks like he loves his work! We also used Harrier jets as inspiration for the design of the jet pack he wears. The slightly retro styling and bulkiness of the harness contrasts nicely with his skinned-alive emaciated body and head. Finally, we fully embraced the “heavy metal” nature of the Revenant. That’s why he looks like a lunatic, with his rocket vest doubling as straightjacket!

When you encounter a Revenant in Doom, you’ll need to stay on your toes. We like to think of each of our demons — especially a heavy like the Revenant — as a unique chess piece that, when introduced, adds a new dimension to the combat puzzle. For me he’s always a high-priority target. I like to get him to hold still with a well-placed stun shot from the Plasma Rifle. (You need to mod the Plasma Rifle to add a stun effect… so if you’re like me, you’ll invest in this mod early on.)

I take advantage of the small window the stun shot provides me and I switch to either the Gauss Rifle with the Siege Mode Mod or the Chaingun with the Mobile Turret Mod and take him out fast. To pull this off effectively, you need to have mastered the art of quick-switching to stagger an enemy with one weapon and finish them off with another. Weapon switching is a big part of our game — so the better you get at it, the faster you’ll play.

The Revenant is only one of the many Demons you encounter as you fight your way across the Martian landscape and into the fiery depths of Hell itself. Doom is a fast-paced, relentless shooter with a full single-player campaign, and soon we will be talking more about its competitive multiplayer, and our built-from-the-ground-up editor, SnapMap, which allows players to create, share, and play new content.

Prepare for this May when you step into the armor of the lone Doom Marine and fight like Hell to save the world from a demonic invasion.