It’s been years of waiting, but finally the next installment of Doom is here, and I’ll say it early doors, Doom: The Dark Ages is one of the best, if not the quintessential Doom experience throughout the ages. See what I did there? There’s no denying that Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal (2020) are two fundamentally different experiences, and it’s important to note that Doom: The Dark Ages follows that trend, but goes ahead and breaks every rule the franchise has made in the modern era.
When it was first announced, I, along with a lot of other people, worried about the new look of the franchise. Doom in the Middle Ages? A shield? A mace? Okay, that Skull gun looks cool. Slower gameplay? How would this work? I’m glad to report that it does work, and iD Software has smashed it out of the park again.
Doom: The Dark Ages is a Damn Good Time
Doom: The Dark Ages has a lot of franchise firsts, from a shield to a deeper story and narrative, and takes a lot of big swings, most of which are well-received. During my time cutting a path through the hordes of Hell, there were some teething problems, largely due to me trying to play it as I had the last two modern entries. Once I stopped that and approached it like the new experience it deserved, it all changed. Instead of sprinting through everything, trying to fly and so on, I began using the environment to my benefit, making extra use of the shield, and demolishing enemies with the mace, and suddenly, I was back to being the Doomguy again. I was a badass. The power fantasy may be different, but it was still here.
The shield may be Doom: The Dark Ages’ biggest contribution to the franchise, beyond everything else. If they remove it for the next entry, I think a considerable portion of the fanbase may have an issue. Beyond just parrying incoming projectiles (all land-based in a nod to the original experience), the shield is a weapon in and of itself. If you’re some distance away, lock on to an enemy and rush towards them, hitting them with the shield like something out of a Marvel film, and you’ll be rewarded with a shower of blood and guts not just from that enemy, but also any surrounding fodder enemies.
Jumping from a cliff onto the floor below and falling onto an enemy is a treat to some of the most unique, yet traditional Doom experiences, and it never gets boring. Throw in the serrated upgrade that literally cuts those it hits in half (or stuns the stronger enemies you encounter, giving a brief respite to plan), and you’ll wonder why it took 30 years to give it to us.
Style and Flow
Once I picked up the new playstyle of Doom: The Dark Ages, I couldn’t help but notice the flow the game allowed me to get into. Throw the shield at a Hell Knight, stunning him, use the Accelerator to sweep across a group of fodder demons, hit a riding demo with my mace before pulling the shield back to myself and using it to bash in another demon’s head, all before switching to my Shotgun (upgraded with triple shot with burning) and dispatching that same Hell Knight from the beginning. That’d take about three seconds, and I’d have massacred a large group of demons. This is where the franchise’s speed comes into play, and even in its slowest moments, it’s still an utterly riveting and immersive experience.
The other major change to the Doom formula is the levels. Traditionally, Doom is linear. A to B, no room for C. Doom: The Dark Ages isn’t that. In fact, it couldn’t be more different than that. Nearly every of the 22 levels is a huge sprawling space for you to explore and destroy, with some semi-destroyable environments (I destroyed so many statues with my shield), randomly spawning enemies, and a plethora of areas that are deemed secret, when in reality opening the map will show you exactly where they are. Being overwhelmed with enemies is no new thing in Doom, but in Doom: The Dark Ages, it’s a whole other ordeal. Run too far from the current crowd of enemies protecting a gold deposit, and straight into a Mancubus striving to destroy you. There’s a reason ‘Stand and Fight’ has been pushed in all the marketing. It. Is. Carnage.
As mentioned already, Doom: The Dark Ages pulls very few punches, and that’s especially true with the plethora of weapons on offer for you to dispatch the demons of Hell with. From the Skullcrusher – the ammo is literally the bones of those you’ve murdered – to the classic Super Shotgun, there’s something for everyone here, and yes, you may end up having your favorite, but make sure you try them all out, and in the case of a few of them, definitely try out their alternate settings for some raucous good fun.
Beyond the first-person shooting, Doom: The Dark Ages ventures into two new territories. You’ll get to ride a dragon and pilot a Titan, a thousand-foot-tall Mech that’ll constantly have me wondering why I couldn’t fight more ridiculously tall demons. Both the dragon and Titan are fixed levels, so don’t expect to summon a Kaiju to help you with a small group of fodder demons, but they’re both regular enough and short enough that they don’t overstay their welcome, and you’re always happy to get back into/onto the Titan/dragon.
With so many big swings, it’s understandable that everything that iD tried didn’t work, and the one drawback for Doom: The Dark Ages is the attempt at giving a deeper meaning and story to our favorite silent protagonist. It was hard for me to ever really relate or care about the events on screen, as it always seemed to be getting in the way of my next massacre, and as surface-level narratives go, this was pretty thin, even despite some lengthy cutscenes.
Doom: The Dark Ages is a prequel to Doom (2016) that follows the rise of the series’ protagonist, the Doom Slayer, as he becomes the last hope of a kingdom fighting against the forces of Hell in a techno-medieval setting.
Summary
Doom: The Dark Ages may be my favorite Doom experience throughout the years. Whilst it may be ‘slower’ than previous Doom’s. feeling the weight of Doomguy as I cut my way through waves of demons, using the shield as a weapon as much, if not more than a defense, and some glorious level design that never got boring, I just can’t wait to get back into the fight and really give it my all on all the difficulty levels. It’s a blast, and any FPS fan should be looking at this. The only drawback is the thin and at times boring story getting in the way of more slaughter, but you can’t blame iD for trying something new.
HOURS PLAYED: 28
PLAYED ON: PS5
- Combat blends smoothly together, and you'll quickly become a master of shield and shoot.
- The gore and guts has never looked better.
- The gigantic, open map is a new twist on an old formula, and it works so well.
- The story can break up the pacing and ends up detracting from the fun at times.
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Luke Addison is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Thumb Wars. Having previously been a part of multiple outlets over the years, including building an entire gaming team from nothing to something, he thought it best to forge his own path and answer only to himself. As likely to be found playing the latest game as he is in the kitchen relaxing (by cooking), he always brings the same bold and brash attitude to everything he does, with a heavy leaning on sarcasm and dry wit!
