I played Doom (2016) when it was on free trial a while ago.
I didn't like it at all, as a Doom game. [As an arena-shooter, it's fine].
For me, Doom is a haunted moonbase aesthetic, going into a 'hell' aesthethic. The level designs were what made the game. It was deceptively simple that keys advanced the level progression. But the levels themselves were amazing and ambitious.
Unlike in Wolfenstein 3D and clones, you could see other areas across courtyards and through windows. It was Romero's principle (I think) that if the player could see an area, he should be able to visit it. And you could go 'outside,' which was amazing.
You can do all of this in Doom (2016), but that isn't the same. The problem is that Doom (2016) is an arena shooter, so you go from one room (arena) to another, the exits seal sometimes, and you have to kill a bunch of monsters. Then, when all the monsters are dead, you move on. To the next arena. It feels artificial.
Classic Doom's levels were more contiguous, in the sense that you might rush through one area to find a better way to take on the monsters there. There were tons of secrets, often in out-of-the-way places, and you want to keep your eyes open. You feel like a tourist/explorer in Classic Doom, and not a bunch of staged arena fights like today.
And as much as Classic Doom had a 'metal' attitude, I find that Doom (2016) was just too over-the-top and in-your-face with its references, from the marine suit to the corpses and graves, it just felt clownish and immature. The tone is different in 2016, less "Alien" and more "Brutal Doom" and the ridiculous comic book.
Modding is what made Doom evergreen, and kept it going for 25 years. If you're looking for a good, "canonical" Doom experience today, try playing the "No Rest for the Living" expansion, which is a worthy successor to the base game. And the levels and ports that are available today are incredible. Bonus, Doom works perfectly with mechanical keyboards.
One of Romero's more recent levels
