Doom: The Dark Ages Is Simple But A Helluva Good Time

Halfway through Doom: The Dark Ages, everything snapped into place for me, like the demon bones I had been barreling my way through for hours. I ran at breakneck speed, firing energy weapons at a group of shielded foes to blow the mob to smithereens. I switched to my railgun, setting up an explosion that led to a finishing blow, zooming me towards the unlucky enemy. Now deep in the mob of enemies, I parried a muscled demon’s jump attack with impeccable timing and crushed it with three meaty swings of my iron flail. A Spartan kick finished things off.

The non-stop rhythm of raining doom on my enemies continued for eight straight minutes, culminating in me ripping out the heart of the largest foe before me. With sweaty palms, I let out a sigh of relief and fist-pumped the air as if I just scored a touchdown in the playoffs. These are the awesome highs that this game dispenses at a steady clip.

Doom: The Dark Ages is a much more agreeable game than its predecessor Doom Eternal. It’s far less demanding on the normal difficulty. There are virtually no design decisions as divisive as Eternal’s dearth of ammo. Even its presentation has less bite than before despite the clear increase in budget. And while that does mean the game loses a bit of the mechanical depth and charm first-person shooter diehards have sworn by these last five years, what id Software has delivered makes for a very satisfying shooter in its own right.

To Hell And Back

The Dark Ages is the third game in id’s Software’s modern Doom trilogy. It bridges the gap between the original games from the ‘90s (taking place specifically after 1997’s Doom 64) and Doom (2016). At the start of The Dark Ages, the Doom Slayer is controlled by the angelic alien race known as the Makyrs and used as a “smash glass in case of emergency” type weapon against its enemies. He’s assisting a race of humans locked in battle with the forces of Hell that have taken over their planet, and luckily for them, the Doom Slayer seems ready to fight those forces forever.

I’m sure the story of The Dark Ages matters to someone, but that someone isn’t me.

I’m sure the story of The Dark Ages matters to someone, but that someone isn’t me. The cutscenes do their best to tell a coherent plot, but there are just enough weird factions and proper nouns full of apostrophes to lose me early on in the opening hours. What I can say is the cutscenes are well-directed, with fun, scenery-chewing voice acting. The designs of the various factions and characters you meet are top-notch and appropriately otherworldly.

The Doom Slayer has officially completed his transformation into a Master Chief-type Larry Sue here. His dialogue (if you can call it that) is extremely minimal, there only to emphasize just how badass he is. I found myself snickering at his over-the-top violent antics, and I’m pretty sure that’s the point. Even during its surprising amount of cutscenes, The Dark Ages never forgets it's a video game, and it's something I appreciated.

A Dance With The Devil

What has mattered most in Doom’s 32-year history is gameplay. True to form, this is where the newest entry in the series excels. Like Doom 2016 and Eternal, The Dark Ages moves at a near-erratic pace. The Doom Slayer doesn’t so much run as he does glide across the wide-open levels of The Dark Ages. The speed advantage you have over enemies sets the pace of the game. You are dodging and weaving incoming projectiles while calculating and executing decisions on how to attack. Defeating enemies heals you and replenishes armor, incentivizing players to stay relentless in their bloodletting, even as their backs are against the ropes.

The Dark Ages sets itself apart from its predecessor by adding a few new tools to the Doom Slayer’s arsenal. First is the Shield Saw, a Captain America-like weapon that can be used to block and parry enemy attacks, and thrown to eliminate demonic fodder and incapacitate larger threats. The shield looks and feels great to use, and gains more strategic use through the game’s upgrade tree.

The second new element is the melee system. The Dark Ages finds a happy medium between the powerful melee of Doom 2016 and the pitiful attack in Eternal by making physical attacks a resource. Players can store up to three melee hits that they can replenish in several ways, all of which involve playing more aggressively. What this new system doesn’t make up for is how often melee attacks will miss enemies, an issue that plagued the other games in the trilogy. It’s far from a game-breaking setback, but it is a persistent annoyance throughout its campaign.

The Slayer’s trio of attack and defense options, are extremely satisfying to piece them together against endless waves of enemies. The upgrade tree for each of these elements lets players lean into their favorite combat options. I loved the brutal impact of the automatic Rail Spike Shredder and the skull-crushing Pulverizer, and I was pleasantly surprised that the game let me max out both of their upgrades fairly early on in the campaign.

Even though firefights are straightforward, they’re still exhilarating. You’re typically tasked with finding a door-opening key card, told to activate or smash a certain number of MacGuffins located throughout a large level, or complete a simple environmental puzzle while enemies roam nearby. Exploring levels after defeating enemies is also fun, as secret passageways and optional collectibles keep you occupied in your downtime.

While The Dark Ages doesn’t have the most creative level and mission design, it remains fun, thanks to enemy variety and mini-bosses that add a twist to standard firefights. Morale encounters are the only bland miniboss-type in the bunch. An invincible enemy that can’t be destroyed until enough of their cronies are cleared from the battlefield isn’t all that interesting to fight when escaping the threat it poses is as simple as keeping a safe distance.

Unholy Distractions

When the Doom Slayer doesn’t have his boots planted firmly on the ground, he’s either taking to the skies on the back of his cybernetic dragon or getting into fistfights in the cockpit of the Atlan, a 30-story mech straight out of Pacific Rim. These sections usually last for an entire chapter and help break up the onslaught of regular combat.

These two additions to the Doom formula are an amusing novelty at first. But they are a fraction of a step removed from quick-time events. When faced with leviathans or storming enemy strongholds with your dragon, you’re essentially waiting around for enemies to signpost which way to dodge. Dodging successfully fills up a meter that activates a powerful attack to defeat them. The dragon sections fare better than the two, as getting into dogfights adds actual depth that the rest of these levels are missing.

The scale of it all does a lot to make these portions not feel as monotonous as they should. But the action here pails in comparison to the game’s core loop. Mercifully, these levels are typically over in a breeze or have players hopping out of these vehicles to engage foes on foot.

“Replacing the violent intimacy of tearing your enemies apart with a slow-motion shield bash is not an easy transition.”

Speaking of design choices that don’t quite hit the mark, the health-restoring glory eliminations from the last two games have been replaced with a much quicker melee attack. Replacing the violent intimacy of tearing your enemies apart with a slow-motion shield bash or punch is not an easy transition. Sure, it keeps the action moving at a brisker pace. But it’s not a change Doom needed as what’s replaced this signature feature is nowhere near as satisfying as getting handsy with the enemy and pulling out its innards.

The last nagging issue worth mentioning is one that longtime Doom fans should brace for. The pulse-pounding music the last two games were known for is noticeably more subdued here. Maybe my hip-hop-attuned ears aren’t deft enough to note catchy guitar riffs and drum fills tucked away in its soundscape, but the soundtrack here is straight-up forgettable compared to Doom 2016’s. It falls into the background against the constant churn of analog weaponry firing and the roars and screens of the demons you’re slaying. (It’s public knowledge that there was a pretty public falling out between id and the composer of Doom 2016, Mick Gordon. It’s a shame that not only has this not yet been resolved, but the developer still hasn’t managed to top Gordon’s award-winning score the third time around.)

Heck Of A Good Time

Id Software prided itself in making each entry in the modern series distinct, and The Dark Ages continues its philosophy in glorious fashion. It firmly lags behind its forerunners in deep mechanics and overall game-feel. The newest additions meant to add some variety aren't that fleshed out. And the removal of the series' most brutal elements feels like a needless change.

But these facts are a testament to id Software's work over the last decade rather than a dip in the series' quality. Doom: The Dark Ages' brand of heart-pounding frenetic action still makes for one of the most fun shooters you can play this year, and another spellbinding step in the series that revolutionized the first-person shooter.

8/10

Doom: The Dark Ages will be released May 15, 2025, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

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