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This might be blasphemy to some, but despite being around when the OG Doom came out, I wasn’t really interested in it. Hell, I wasn’t really interested in FPS games till Duke Nukem 3D hit. In fact, the first Doom game that I really enjoyed was DOOM 3, when it was ported to the OG Xbox. The DOOM reboot hooked me though, and DOOM Eternal was simply magnifique! *chef’s kiss* That’s why I’ve been really and I mean really, looking forward to DOOM: The Dark Ages.
To be honest though, I really wish that DOOM: The Dark Ages wasn’t a prequel.
It sucks that there’s a ton of time between the ending of DOOM and the start of DOOM Eternal that Bethesda is doing their best to ignore. Maybe filling in those years would’ve been a better way to continue the series?
I mean, it’s YEARS that are missing!
13 years worth to be exact.
Where did the Doom Slayer go after being sent away in the ending of DOOM? How did he acquire the Fortress of Doom? Is Daisy the rabbit really dead or just missing? How did the Doom Slayer get the VEGA AI back after destroying it in DOOM?
So many questions!
Questions that will remain unanswered in DOOM: The Dark Ages.
Does that mean it’s a waste of time playing?
What is DOOM: The Dark Ages?
DOOM: The Dark Ages is a FPS developed by id and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is available for the PC, Playstation and Xbox consoles.
Our review code was provided by Bethesda Softworks! Thanks so much!
As mentioned, DOOM: The Dark Ages is a prequel to the rebooted DOOM games. While it’s still not a story that details the full origins of the Doom Slayer (such as his history with the Night Sentinels), it is set in the distant past.
A past that was alluded to in DOOM and DOOM Eternal.
If you’ve been paying attention to the lore entries from both games, you know that the Doom Slayer was (among his loooooong history) originally fighting a war against the demons on an alien planet (in another dimension) called Argent D’Nur. At the end of the war, he was sealed in a casket in Hell, which was discovered years later by the UAC, which kicked off the events of DOOM.
In DOOM: The Dark Ages, you’re dropped right into the middle of the war. You’ll see familiar characters like King Novik (who appeared as a ghost in DOOM Eternal), as well as the Deags who will later become the Hell Priests in DOOM Eternal.
There’s a lot of game for you to wade through this time around too!
22 stages in fact…which is a lot when you compare this to the past two games. Sadly, there’s no other mode available apart from the Campaign. No Horde Mode, no Battle Mode, no SnapMap mode from DOOM…no multiplayer of any sort.
It’s also lacking in gameplay mechanics from the older games.
Due to this being a prequel, the Slayer suit lacks most of the upgrades found in the past games. That unfortunately means DOOM Eternal’s awesome double jump and dodge abilities are gone. That equals to a massive downgrade to the speed of battles you fight. I honestly found DOOM: The Dark Ages to be rather two dimensional compared to DOOM Eternal.
The plodding nature of the combat in DOOM: The Dark Ages feels like a massive step backwards from the frenetic engagements in DOOM Eternal. Instead of dodging incoming fire, you’re now meant to tank and spank.
Sorry, that means tank and counter if you’re unfamiliar with MMO games.
Instead of agility, the Doom Slayer’s now all about survivability. The game reinforces the notion that you’re an unstoppable juggernaut every time you fall from a height. The Slayer literally causes shockwaves in the ground that’ll kill any fodder demon!
You can also run in the game, and it’s accompanied by one of the best sounding boot stomps. The Slayer sounds like a machine, and I swear the sound effects of his footsteps say ‘DOOM!’ with every step. It’s probably wishful thinking on my part though.
With his stalwart shield, the Doom Slayer can now block, reflect and dash with it. He’s like a murderous, rampaging Captain America. The core combat loop’s still based around causing enough damage to enemies so that you can murder them with the Glory Kills (which causes health, ammo and armor drops), so it’s not too much of a departure.
It’s the execution (pun intended) that needs work.
That’s mainly due to the fact that the Glory Kills aspect is a massive disappointment now, compared to what it was in past games. All the unique and cool ways you could kill an enemy? All gone. 90% of the Glory Kill finishes are just the Doom Slayer kicking the demons away.
Seriously. It’s that nerfed.
Whatever happened to situational finishers from past games? I love seeing different animations trigger depending on where I target for the Glory Kills. Now it’s all the same unless you’re killing special enemies or bosses.
Coming right off DOOM Eternal (as in I was literally playing DOOM Eternal right up to the moment I got the code for DOOM: The Dark Ages), it’s a huge shock. I don’t know what was behind the logic in nerfing one of the best parts of the last two games.
To nerf what was essentially a major feature and convert it into an afterthought, it’s like an important somebody at id hated (with a passion), what the last two games were about.
The nerfs even extend to the customization.
Whereas in past games you could choose ways on how to upgrade the Doom Slayer’s stats (whether you want to focus on health, armor or ammo), now it’s force-fed down your throat. You no longer have any choice.
The game will automatically upgrade one of your stats when you beat a champion (powered up normal enemies) in the game.
Most of these champion fights aren’t optional too. Whether you like it or not, the Doom Slayer is going to get stronger.
I’m extremely against this, as the joy of getting stronger in past games was from finding the Argent energy to improve your suit’s stats. These were hidden to make it a reward for your hard work. You put in the time to look for them, you get buffed up as a reward. Now, you get stronger without needing to put in the work.
That’s a tremendous letdown but there’s still joy in exploring the levels for the secrets thankfully, as lore entries and the cute figures make a return.
Still, without being able to choose how to power up, it does take a bit of the customization aspect out of the game. Now you can’t prioritize having more ammo at the cost of a lower armor or health pool, or more health but with a lack of protection and ammo. It’s especially disastrous when you play on higher difficulties, as you can’t prioritize your favourite stat to improve first.
That goes double for the weapons.
You no longer get optional upgrades. Now you have to grab every weapon to progress.
To its credit, DOOM: The Dark Ages gives you a lot more weapons than ever. There are multiple weapon types for each class and some of them are incredibly cool.
I particularly like the Chainshot, which is a metal ball attached to a chain that’s fired out of a gun. Charge it up fully and it and destroy armor in just a few shots.
Of course, the main focus this time around is the shield.
Combat revolves around it, to the detriment of everything else. You need to learn all the parry timings of the various demons, because it’s the most effective way to kill them. Enemies now have two types of attacks; regular and green. Regular shots/ melee blows can’t be parried but green ones (whether they’re projectiles or melee) can.
Parries stun the demon whose attack you parried, so you’ll always want to be parrying before you move in for the kill. It gets even more important later on, when you unlock Shield Runes. These are special effects that trigger when you parry a green attack.
While the loss of the double jump and the dodge is missed, the shield lets you do a homing dash attack does add to your mobility. It also generates a shockwave that can destroy fodder demons on impact, which is great for clearing out area without wasting ammo.
Not that you should be running out of bullets though. Armor, health and ammo fall out of demons like candy. Shoot them and they pop out. Burn them and they pop out. Blow them out and they pop up.
Melee attacks (which can be comboed and replaces the chainsaw) also make them pop out! Melee needs to be charged though, so you can’t go all out with melee blows only. You can only melee thrice with the gauntlet and mace, once with the flail before needing to recharge the action.
Parrying attacks recharge your melee attack meter faster, so you’ll almost always have a single charge ready. That means no matter who you fight, where you fight, when you fight…you can rest assured that you’ll never run out of ammo if you play right.
That means you’ll almost always will be using the Super Shotgun.
It’s the weapon of choice in the last two games, and it’s even more powerful in DOOM: The Dark Ages, especially when it’s upgraded. It has range, it has insane stopping power and a fast rate of fire when fully upgraded.
There are other guns of course, but why use them when there’s the Super Shotgun with a limitless supply of shells? It can kill anything in a few hits. Faster than any other gun.
If that sounds amazing, there is a major drawback.
The downside here is none of those weapons have a secondary fire or alt mode. You don’t even get a scoped weapon this time. No meat hook for the Super Shotgun either. I really miss some of the weapons upgrades from past games in this one. No more shotgun grenades, no more detonating missiles in mid-air. *Sad panda noises*
Most of the combat’s on foot, but there are times in the campaign that the Doom Slayer hops on his battle dragon or a huge mech to deal out even more pain. Stages in the mech are straight up killer, with the Doom Slayer taking part super satisfying melee action.
No fancy shield techniques, just bare robot knuckle brawling. Punching demonic giants in the face feels so good, so satisfying. It’s so immensely gratifying that even though the game gives you weapons during those sections, I prefer to punch out the Titans to shooting them down.
I think id should seriously consider doing a boxing game.
Some sections also lets the Doom Slayer take to the skies.
These parts play a bit like Panzer Dragoon, except the game’s not on rails. Weirdly, the combat is mostly lock-on based, with you dodging green attacks to power up your dragon’s guns. Only then can you destroy the mission targets.
It’s a weird mechanic and rather constricting, because you’re basically hovering in place every time you’re locked on and firing your guns. Nothing like the fast paced (for this game anyways) ground combat.
Luckily, the flying sections aren’t that long to play through.
The stages in DOOM: The Dark Ages are all fun, with a nice mix of semi-open world action and close quarters, linear combat that made DOOM the icon it is. I do however, prefer DOOM Eternal’s stages and their visual design.
Argent D’Nur’s blend of tech and medieval fantasy doesn’t really gel well for my tastes. I honestly prefer the apocalyptic look of Earth. Now to mention, DOOM and DOOM Eternal clearly have the upper hand when it comes to monster design.
A lot of old school demons are back, but they mostly look like crap. Pinkies are the worst of the lot. They’re now relegated to being mounts and shaped like a giant panther instead of the chunky, squat masses of flesh we all know and love. Revenants get shafted too, with them now looking like a cheap ass World of Warcraft Lich reject.
Thankfully, DOOM: The Dark Ages does improve on one important aspect; the story. While DOOM Eternal had cutscenes here and there, DOOM: The Dark Ages goes further. Chapters in the game (22 in all) are now filled with them. Complemented with the lore entries, DOOM: The Dark Ages is one of the most fulfilling (lore-wise at least) in the series so far.
You finally find out more about the world of Argent D’Nur after revisiting its ruins multiple times in past games. You finally find out about the characters central to what happened. One thing to note though; this plot does not detail the final stand of the Night Sentinels and the fall of Argent D’Nur.
The Betrayer, Valen (who was in DOOM Eternal), does feature in a minor role, but at this point of time, he’s totally loyal to King Novik, with his son still alive. Perhaps that will come with the upcoming expansion, or maybe even in another game entirely.
Weirdly though, some of the stages have no transition between them.
There’s no lead-up to why you’re in the new location, just a line or two from the loading screen. No cutscene, no voice over or narrative joining where you were to where you are. It can sometimes feel very disjointed, as sometimes large parts of the plot are just glossed over.
For example, later in the story (don’t worry, no spoilers) somebody gets kidnapped and taken to the Cosmic Realm. The Doom Slayer wasn’t able to stop the kidnapping. You can see the scene in the trailers, where the Doom Slayer rushed on his dragon as a tentacle was dragging a building into a huge ass portal.
The stage ends right as the portal closes. You’d expect a cinematic after right? Telling of what the Night Sentinels did to find a way to the Cosmic Realm. Nope. The next stage you’re dropped into an ancient site, and told there’s a way to travel to the Cosmic Realm there.
How did you get to that point? How did the Night Sentinels know about that location? This should be a full-fledged cutscene filled with exposition!
Instead, you get nothing but a short summary telling the events that took place after the last stage, that lead up to the next stage. It’s like a writer creating a beautifully descriptive story, only to end it with a single sentence.
It is not enough.
Speaking of which, the much ballyhooed Cosmic Realm is one weird place.
It obviously draws from Lovecraft and Chthonic lore and the location is creepy yet strangely enthralling…but I don’t see a point.
Sure, the plot does try to shoehorn in some reasoning as to why the Cosmic Realm is important, but I can’t help but think it’s just added to the game because somebody thought it’d be cool to involve Cthulhu (there are multiple Cthulhus in-game!) and the Old Gods in DOOM.
I just find it weird, because DOOM is sci-fi horror, not Lovecraftian horror. I don’t want tales of the Old Gods, or R’lyeh or the Many Angled Ones or anything of the sort in it! I want Hell and its demons, UAC and its industrial bases and the Maykr with their advanced tech. Humans, angels (or aliens that are like angels) and demons!
Nothing else.
I do have to admit, the swimming sections in the dark depths of the Cosmic Realm were creepy (and I wish the game leaned more on this) but there’s not much payoff to it overall.
I enjoyed the sci-fi settings of the UAC, Hell and ruined Earth more than the Cosmic Realm to be honest. Even Hell was awesome with its grotesque imagery and whatnot. The only things that were cool in the Cosmic Realm were some of the backgrounds, where you can see the architecture and some of the other Old Gods floating around.
While the Cosmic Realm is of debatable quality, the one thing that’s undeniably awesome in DOOM: The Dark Ages is the music. It is rocking! It is a banger of a soundtrack and many times, I found myself headbanging without realizing it while I was killing demons.
Speaking of killing demons, it all went down without a hitch on the Playstation 5. I was afraid that the base Playstation would have an issue but those fears proved to be unfounded. From the moment I started to the time the credits rolled, there was no issue that I noticed with the framerate or loading.
Everything went off without a hitch. The framerate stayed blazing fast no matter how busy it got with enemies and the loads between levels were supremely fast! This is the way to play DOOM: The Dark Ages if you don’t have a beast of a PC to handle it.
The Bottom Line.
DOOM: The Dark Ages is a great game…however, it is inferior to DOOM Eternal. A lot of mechanics that made DOOM Eternal great (which were refined from DOOM), are conspicuously absent or nerfed in DOOM: The Dark Ages.
The melee system that replaced those features are fun but it also fundamentally changed combat, arguably for the worse. It’s now slower and more deliberate than any of the previous DOOM games. That’s not a good thing in case you were wondering.
While its performance on the Playstation 5 is exemplary, DOOM: The Dark Ages truly shines with its music. Ripping and tearing, till everything’s done.
Taken on its own, DOOM: The Dark Ages is a stellar game. It has solid combat, great gameplay mechanics and a decent story. Taken as the follow up to DOOM and DOOM Eternal, it falters due to the insanely high standards set by both.
TLDR:
Fun FPS with great action and gameplay but nowhere near as good as DOOM Eternal.
The Good:
- Slick graphics.
- Lots of weapons.
- Fun melee combat.
- Super fast loads.
- Awesome story with tons of cutscenes.
The Bad:
- Glory kills are repetitive and lack variety now.
- No double jump or dodge.
- No multiplayer or extra modes.
- Some plot points are glossed over.
- Cosmic Realm isn’t great.
- Flying sections are boring.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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