DOOM is known for two things: demon slaying and awesome heavy metal riffs! Mowing down Imps and Hell Knights has never been so satisfying since DOOM: Eternal. Ripping through their bodies, spilling their guts out, and tearing them into pieces has always been DOOM’s mantra. That never changed, and with the addition of Doom Slayer’s new arsenal of Hell killing weaponry, the game has never been this fun.
DOOM: The Dark Ages sets it apart from its predecessors with an actual story. As far as I remember, I only had to kill demons with Slayer’s awesome weapons in DOOM and DOOM: Eternal. While there was a bit of story through codexes and a few dialogues, it was mainly just gunning through the spawns of Hell. But it begs to be asked, how was the story?
To give you a bit of a summary about its plot, The Dark Ages is a prequel to 2016’s DOOM. Humanity, or the people of Argent D’Nur is in a war with Hell, with Maykrs, first introduced in Eternal, as a species with gold-like complex with advanced technology, supporting the humans. The agents of Hell are hellbent on conquering Argent D’Nur, and they need the Heart of Argent to accomplish that goal. Well, across 22 chapters of never-ending Imp and Hell Knight genocides, The Dark Ages story was alright. Forgettable, for the most part, but it wasn’t entirely bad. It’s a decent build-up towards the events of 2016’s DOOM. So if you’re wondering how and why Doom Slayer is buried in a sarcophagus, The Dark Ages tries to answer that question.
I play DOOM for its incredible shooting mechanics and not for its plot. While I’m okay with a bit of focus on narrative, The Dark Ages takes its mechanics into new territory. Fans of DOOM, such as myself, will still feel the tenacity, fluidness, and magnificent first-person shooter experience that DOOM and Eternal brought. However, it’s not as slow as DOOM, it’s also not as fast-paced as Eternal.
The Dark Ages refined its mechanics by adding some new gear that would redefine its rip and tear motto a little bit. The Shield Saw is the biggest change in The Dark Ages. You can parry and deflect Hell Surges (green attacks) back to enemies, throw the shield at an enemy, and rip through their bodies with its saw. It’s a nice change, and I’m loving every moment I get to parry their attacks with an instant slow motion effect before I do counter-attack move with a melee attack.
Enemies don’t have certain weapon weaknesses anymore. I’ve notice that it doesn’t tell us which weapon is good against which in the codex. This means, you’ll have more freedom of the kind of weapon you want to use in your playthrough. I actually like this change because I don’t want to constantly swap and think about what weapon is good against a particular demon. I want to use the guns I’m comfortable with, and switch to another when the situation calls for it. A great example is when I cycle between the Pulverizer and the all-new plasma gun, the Cycler. This new plasma weapon introduced in The Dark Ages launches powerful plasma strikes at enemies, especially when it’s fully upgraded where the enemies get stunned with electricity after dealing enough damage. It’s great dealing damage against single targets, then when the time comes I need to mow down hordes of zombies and imps, I’ll switch to the Pulverizer for its wider-range shots and acceptable firing rate.
Replinishing ammos, health, and armor still works similarly, even without the chainsaw. It’s more specific as to when you’ll get them. Doing melee attacks can instantly give ammo, while doing Glory kills can give you health. Other than that, when specific weapons are upgraded, enemies will drop armor pickups. Much like the chainsaw in Eternal, melee attacks now have charges since they’ve revamped the mechanics to make each melee attack more powerful than they were in the older games.
I love the changes. The Shield Saw doesn’t deviate away from what we all love in DOOM — pure shooting finesse! While you have the shield to deflect certain incoming attacks, that doesn’t eliminate the need to dodge incoming projectiles, attacks, and rushing through health and armor pickups to survive. It’s as chaotic as it’s always been since its 2016 reboot!
Upgrades and weapon mods have clearly been refined in The Dark Ages. Unlike Eternal, weapon mods are considered class weapons now. Modbots are gone, and here comes the arsenal drop pods. These drop pods will offer you a specific type of gun. If a specific gun falls into the same category of an existing gun, let’s say a plasma-based weapon, you can switch modes. It’s still similar to weapon mods, but not in a way that you need to choose which mod you get from a Modbot, if that makes sense.
Upgrading the weapons will still need in-game currencies that you’ll find in every chapter, and you will need to get to do the upgrades through the Sentinel Shrines scattered across the map. They also simplified the way you get those permanent health, armor, and ammo upgrades. Instead of trying to look for Sentinel Crystals in Eternal, you are now going to face a champion or a mini-boss in a chapter, beat them, and get the upgrade.
These changes may seem like a one step forward and two steps back kind of thing, but it’s actually not. By trying to understand the changes, it seems that the team at id Software wanted The Dark Ages to focus more on actual combat than thinking of ways to upgrade your arsenal. I don’t see it as a downgrade, but rather a simplified approach to progression where they want you to focus more on killing a bunch of demons over stressing out the next upgrade path you’ll need to take.
The addition of a huge mech like the Atlas and a mount like the Dragon gives some interesting gameplay loop. Note that these are tied to specific chapters and are not available any time in any chapters. The Atlas levels were my favorite. Doing an uppercut move at a huge demon Titan in Doom Slayer fashion is like no other. The Dragon, however, felt like it had potential but it was bogged down by mechanics that forces you to lock on to specific enemies or structures where you’re forced to do perfect dodges to amplify your attacks. There’s no doubt the flight mechanics and chasing enemies in the sky felt great, but in most cases, you’re basically just doing that.
One of the biggest changes in The Dark Ages is its level design. You’re no longer in tight spaces, nor linear areas. You’re now in somewhat we call like an open area, big enough to be explored, secrets to unravel, and some side bosses you to face. Now, this change is huge. You’ll see yourself running around the area, mowing down Imp chows and completing the story objectives. There are also clever puzzles you’ll have to solve to get collectibles (yes, the toys are still in the game!), weapon skins, codexes, and currencies like Gold, Rubies, and Wraithstones for your upgrades.
While this is not a full blown open-world like 343 Industries’ Halo Infinite, it’s big enough to still be fun. The open levels didn’t feel a chore to explore, it’s the right kind of size that every DOOM fan can still have fun.
In the age of modern tech, it’s hard to evaluate the visual aspect of video games now. Compared to the games in 2006 where we usually see a huge jump in graphics, now, in 2025, AAA games just looks amazing in every angle. The Dark Ages is beautiful, full of gore, and stays visually faithful and consistent.
However, it’s never the same without composer Mick Gordon’s touch in The Dark Ages‘ soundtrack. After the feud between Gordon and id Software, the relationship fell and the original DOOM composer decided that he’ll never work with the studio anymore. DOOM isn’t just about the gore and amazing first-person shooter experience, it’s also about its heavy metal riffs that everyone fell in love when Gordon made a revival of the franchise’s original theme.
The current soundtrack for The Dark Ages is composed by Finishing Move. They composed the score for games such as Halo 2: Anniversary Edition, Grounded, and The Callisto Protocol. While they do have the right heavy metal tune for an action-packed sci-fi game in a medieval setting, the grounded subtlety and impact of the tunes we hear from At Doom’s Gate and Rip and Tear where we really get to headbang along with the music aren’t there. Don’t get me wrong, Finishing Move is a decent group, but what they’ve composed for The Dark Ages just doesn’t give me the same adrenaline and thirst of demon slaying.
Despite my little gripes about the soundtrack, The Dark Ages is impressively well-optimized. I’ve been running the game at Ultra Nightmare graphical setting with DLSS and Frame-Generation off without issues and stutters in 1440p. It’s consistently sitting around 110-120 fps throughout on my beast of a rig: an Intel Core i9-12900KF, 64GB DDR5 RAM, and an Nvidia RTX 4090.
DOOM: The Dark Ages easily secures my top spot for this year’s best first-person shooter game. While the narrative is somewhat decent but a bit forgettable, the refined progression system and improved core mechanics just make The Dark Ages such an entertaining game to play. Rip and tear, everyone… rip and tear!
DOOM: The Dark Ages (PC)
DOOM: The Dark Ages easily secures my top spot for this year's best first-person shooter game. While the narrative is somewhat decent but a bit forgettable, the refined progression system, and improved core mechanics just makes The Dark Ages such an entertaining game to play. Rip and tear, everyone... rip and tear!
The Good
- Amazing core shooting mechanics
- Atlas gameplay! Huge mech!
- The Shield Saw and the Sword
- Graphically Beautiful
- Well-optimized
The Bad
- Soundtrack feels a bit of a downer
- Okay-ish, but forgettable story
