Doom as a franchise has evolved a lot over the decades since it first arrived in the ‘90s. But through all those changes, there remain a few things I need in a Doom game to feel satisfied with it. A Doom game checklist, if you will. It’s not long, but it does make up the core of Doom.
You need lots of monsters and demons to kill. Levels with secrets. A badass shotgun. And you gotta go to Hell at some point. That’s it. Those are the core pillars of Doom. As long as you have that, you can do anything you want. For example, you could make a Doom game set in a techno-medieval fantasy world filled with Game of Thrones-like factions facing off against a demon prince and old gods using guns, swords, and robots. And well, that’s exactly what Id Software has done with Doom: The Dark Ages. But if you were worried that this more open-world spin on the series wouldn’t feel like Doom, don’t be concerned. This is still a kickass and exciting Doom game through and through. It’s just that this time around, the Doomguy gets to punch, kick, and bash more of the demons than usual.
What is Doom: The Dark Ages?
Doom: The Dark Ages is a prequel set before the events of Doom 2016 and its sequel, Doom Eternal. In those two games, we learned a lot about the Doomguy, his history fighting Hell, and the great wars between demons, robot angels, and humans that happened across dimensions long ago. It was all a bit much in a franchise that usually has narratives that can be summed up in a single sentence. “Doomguy is on Mars and fights demons to save the day.” Done. But with the newer games and now Dark Ages, Id is trying to tell a bigger, more complicated story and sadly, it’s the weakest part of Dark Ages.
There are some cool moments sprinkled throughout the numerous (and sometimes lengthy) cutscenes. The Doomguy only says one word and does so in a very action-movie way that I liked. There’s also a great moment in which he’s asked to pay a toll in some underworld by a creepy figure, and just shoots him instead. Love that stuff. But most of the story in Doom: The Dark Ages concerns itself with people hunting for macguffins or for powerful artifacts to get the macguffins, and you’ll likely forget most of it by the time you reach the credits.
This is a Doom game! I should be killing stuff! Not watching people chat about power, war, and family. Thankfully, the gameplay in Dark Ages overcomes the floppy narrative and mostly forgettable characters.
Big battles and new toys
Because the story involves a big invasion of demons, combat in Dark Ages—unlike in the 2016 reboot and Eternal—often takes place in large, open battlefields and big rooms. The game fills these places with dozens and dozens of demons and lets you slaughter them all using a collection of mostly new and gnarly medieval-inspired weapons. All of them are powerful, loud, and a joy to use, like a cannon that shoots rusty nails and a gun that fires giant cannonballs attached to chains. One of my personal favorites is a machine gun that shreds up skulls and spits them out in a wide cone of death that can clear 100 weak demons in just a few seconds as you sprint around the 22 levels found in Dark Ages.
More familiar guns are here, too, like a plasma rifle and the BFG, which is now a giant crossbow that can clear an entire battlefield in one big green flash. And yes, there is also a shotgun. Two, actually. The standard semi-auto combat shotgun, which is a solid workhorse I used throughout my 18-hour playthrough, and the returning Super Shotgun, which might be the strongest shotgun ever in a Doom game. This two-barrel death-dealing shotty is able to rip mini-bosses apart in two shots or less. It’s wonderful. So, shotguns; that’s checked off the checklist.
The big new addition to Doom: The Dark Ages is Doomguy’s shield. You have this thing from the jump, and it stays with you for the entire game. And it rules. Being a shield, you can use it to block gunfire and fireballs, but you can also throw it at demons like a nightmarish Captain America. And because this is Doom, the shield is covered in saw blades, so it rips demons apart or sticks in the bigger ones. The shield can also be used to parry powerful demon attacks and energy blasts. This becomes a big part of combat as you get swarmed by massive demons during later fights.
Being able to counter their attacks and stun them opens them up for counterattacks with your melee weapon, also new to the franchise, and that loop never gets old in Dark Ages. I smiled every single time I blocked a big hell knight’s attack and then slammed him in the face three times with my spiked mace.
All of this isn’t just fun, but also important to the combat loop in Doom: The Dark Ages. Melee attacks against demons generate ammo, letting you use your guns on tougher foes or far-away targets. Shield tosses can stun bigger foes while you focus on fodder. And the shield charge ability lets you zip across the battlefield and close the distance on demons, letting you more easily punch them for more ammo. Or blast them away with a gun for health and armor. It all works together, and with an hour or so of playing Dark Ages, I found myself getting into a bloody ballet-like flow of blocking, dodging, shield tossing, punching, and shooting. And I was more aggressive than usual as the game rewarded me with health, armor, and bullets for doing so.
Unlike in Eternal, most enemies can be defeated with most weapons, so you are freer to kill how you want and not forced to use specific guns on specific demons all the time. That is, until one of the few super tough demons arrives and forces you to change things up a bit. But in those moments, I wasn’t annoyed as I was in Eternal when facing baddies like the Marauder, as these battles against minibosses with powerful shields and more health helped break up the pace of Dark Ages and they could still be defeated using most of my tools. I just had to focus a bit more and be careful.
A whole new world…filled with dragons and mechs
Beyond a new focus on melee combat and your shield, the other big change in Dark Ages is the size of levels. To be clear: Dark Ages isn’t an open-world game. It is still a series of levels you run through. But some of these levels are massive and filled with optional secrets and demon bosses to kill.
Most of the time, these secrets aren’t too involved. You might have to toss your shield at a hidden gear to open a door or break down a wall to find some hidden gold and armor. You aren’t doing side quests for random NPCs like in most open-world games. The Doomguy isn’t killing five rats for some leather or whatever. The open-world-ish levels are just filled with more optional opportunities to enjoy the excellent combat and movement in Dark Ages while earning some rewards. And these rewards will let you upgrade, improve, and modify your armor, health, guns, shield, and melee weapons. You can make the Super Shotgun even more powerful, carry more ammo, or add an augment to your shield that electrifies enemies around you every time you counter an attack. This upgrade system feels more streamlined than the one in Doom Eternal, which I’m thankful for, but I still feel that upgrade trees shouldn’t be a thing in Doom. It ain’t on my checklist, that’s for sure.
Speaking of things not on my checklist, let’s talk about big mechs and dragons. Doom: The Dark Ages sprinkles in a few moments throughout the campaign that see the Doom Slayer ride a cybernetic dragon or operate a giant kaiju-killing mech. These aren’t a massive part of the game and are instead used to help add some variety between bigger maps and boss fights. I’ll admit that I was nervous about the addition of vehicle segments to the franchise, but Id has done a fantastic job of incorporating both dragon flying and mech fighting into the world of Doom.
The two reasons these segments work are simple: they’re easy to understand and wonderful to play. In Dark Ages, flying a dragon or controlling a massive robot was straightforward enough that, within a few minutes, I completely understood the controls for each. And Id has made sure that swooping around on the back of a dragon feels just as smooth as running and killing as the Doom Slayer on foot. Likewise, the mech feels powerful but not slow and clunky. And I must say, getting to uppercut a skyscraper-sized demon lord with a mech is one of the coolest things I’ve done in a video game in some time.
Another great thing about these segments: they don’t last too long, so if you don’t like ‘em, don’t worry, you’ll be back to old-school running and gunning soon enough.
Endings are hard, huh?
Something that does last too long in Dark Ages is the ending. For some reason, Dark Ages basically ends twice. There’s a big boss finale that builds in difficulty and tension near the end of the game. There’s a moment which I won’t spoil that made me hate the bad guy so much and fired up the Doom Slayer even more. It was wonderful. I dug my fingers into my keyboard. I was ready to fucking kill this big bad final boss after what he did. And I had a blast fighting him and ripping him apart.
And then, instead of ending the game there, the devs at Id Software added one more very massive level and two more boss fights. It’s not that the level or the boss fights at the very end are bad; it just feels poorly paced. And cramming a lengthy cutscene in the midst of it all didn’t help.
For a game that built momentum so perfectly throughout its entire run, it’s unfortunate that it ends with a whimper. Note for the future: When you reach the finale, end the story. Don’t do a second finale. Considering the fact that this game will get some DLC in the future, it will one day have the equivalent of three climaxes. I need more shotguns in Doom, not more finales.
Regardless of that mistake, Doom: The Dark Ages is still a standout example of how to take an old franchise and do something with it that feels fresh while still being true to the lineage of the series. And while Dark Ages has one too many cutscenes and endings, none of that ruins the frenetic and ultra-smooth combat, not even some bits in which you ride a dragon and pilot a mech. Doom: The Dark Ages is a brilliant, bloody, and hyper-aggressive remix of the Doom formula that works in more ways than it doesn’t.
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