Doom : The Dark Ages Review

The Hordes of Hell in a Medieval Coat

There are no secrets about the Doom franchise and ongoing expectations about its gameplay. The series is built on an armoured killing machine called the Doom Slayer that rips through demon hordes in the first-person without a break. Through an assortment of guns and add-ons, players roam across Hell and other Hell-ish landscapes ridding desecrated fields of mangled beasts in the most violent way imaginable. Doom: The Dark Ages continues tradition with the most bells and whistles seen in a Doom game. Whether it’s driving a giant mech like a Power Ranger, riding a laser-winged dragon or utilising an ever-evolving roster of brutal guns, the Doom Slayer navigates 20+ mostly linear levels as a revered Predator-like army of one. While the setting is unique in its medieval coat of paint and the Metroidvania elements are more prominent than past titles, the essence of Doom remains the same. Seek and destroy. Is there enough here to shake up the formula, or is this familiarity the key to success?

Doom had somewhat of a refresh in 2016, which then continued into Doom Eternal. The FPS, fast-paced madness remained, but the enhanced graphics allowed for greater immersion into the mayhem as heads are torn from bodies. In Dark Ages, the gore remains excessive and the heavy metal music shakes the room. The game aims for an assault on the senses and achieves this in every way. There is a story here, and it attempts to dive deeper than previous titles due to its core focus on the lengthy single-player campaign. Overall, the narrative is used mostly to navigate layered levels using mechanics that make the repetition feel new and exciting on every turn. As the old ‘send him in to kill everything’ trope is clear, the best point of analysis is gameplay.

The game opens with a tutorial to ensure you’re using all the right offensive and defensive moves to mow down the hordes. While the gun and the gauntlet are your main attacks, the addition of a shield with chainsaw edges (Captain America with an R rating) gives the parrying system a buff alongside a wider assortment of attacks to slow the foes. The Doom Slayer can move across the battlefield in a split second thanks to this shield, grappling enemies that are fifty metres away and smashing them into bits. The guns work best on the smaller minions, with the hulking brutes leading the charge requiring the dodge, parry and bash approach to send them into shock. The button layout is excellent and ensures all the required fast-paced manoeuvres are natural. When The Dark Ages hits its groove, the annihilation feels chaotic yet full of satisfaction. This is best in the earlier levels as the repetition does start to kick in later on. But thanks to every level providing new guns, variations, moves or other surprises, the game does well in always having an unopened shiny toy to wipe out the next gruesome boss. There is clearly more available in defence than Eternal, as the screen fills with coloured projectiles (Returnal?) and enemies all too happily sacrifice themselves to deplete your health. The brightly lit power-ups are peppered across the levels, and unless you’re on the higher difficulties the combat does have balance for most players. Is there enough to keep us enthralled beyond credits?

Each level on completion has a percentage applied based on the amount of secrets uncovered. Did you collect every piece of gold to upgrade your skills? Find all the skins and codex entries? Discover the toys in hidden places? Trophy hunters will want that 100% across all 20+ levels. While nothing is overtly hard to find, the process does extend runtimes and feels rewarding considering gold adds perks to your guns, shield and gauntlet. The skins are not as varied as they could be, especially as the game is generally shrouded in such darkness that the finer detail of guns is hard to see. In terms of enemy variety, this slowly builds across the game. Initially, you’re fighting the same hordes with the same leaders (armoured beasts on bigger beasts, bulkier versions of the minions, spider-like giants). Each level introduces a few new enemies, which then appear in the next levels. Beating up the same faces over and over in arena-like set pieces is the essence of Doom – this may not quite transfer to 2025 when there is so much competition, but links in with games like Warhammer: Space Marine 2 in knowing that the attraction is the tight, responsive movement and gunplay. Where The Dark Ages really shows off is when it’s reaching for something new.

Riding a dragon into battle has been marketed well by the Doom team. This is a feature that excites most people following the likes of Game of Thrones in our power fantasies. The first introduction to boarding a winged force is an early level, which acts as a tutorial to the process. The design of the dragon is a highlight, likewise the small cinematics of it breathing fire down the throats of giant enemies. It took some time to acclimatise to the 360-degree flying in the open skies level, chasing enemies with multiple buttons pressed down for speed and accuracy. All of this looks great and graphically is a highlight. The dodging in air can take time to master, and the actual level itself was very repetitive to ensure you complete the mission with competence in flight. Afterwards, I was thankful to return to the ground – but the change in mechanics is refreshing and required. This is also seen in the Megazord-style missions where everything is blown up 1000 times. Crashing through the map and breaking bridges, stomping on buildings and wiping everything out with a punch played into our God-like needs in such a violent game. Much like the dragon levels, these are best enjoyed when on the shorter side. But this shows that the game is reaching into different areas to align with its medieval theme.

Graphically, the game is on par with most current-gen shooters. The darkness, as mentioned, does make it difficult to analyse the terrain’s depth. With most enemies identical and the medieval setting more of a coat than a full outfit, nothing is groundbreaking in style. The most impressive element is that the game never feels impacted by the absolute onslaught on screen. Dozens of enemies at once does not slow down the feed and seems to flex muscles when other games would stutter. Looking out into the distance to see a giant creature fighting a ship or weather wreaking havoc on a town adds to the atmospheric vibe. More impressive is the sound. Doom is renowned for heavy-metal tracks, blasting gunfire and the screams of the manic. When dialled up to 100, the immersion is hard to match as all is loud and proud. At times, I did need to take a small break between levels with ears ringing and senses overloaded. Time can fly by thanks to the audio/visual experience, which is a testament to the developers and their understanding of their franchise.

While much of Doom: The Dark Ages is an on-rails shooter that plays into the nostalgic process of wiping out maps of demons, there is clear effort to bring in new options in anarchy. This is a game for Doom lovers that crave the repetition in movement, slaughter and upgrades. The story is there to assist the progression – all games need a story – but playing this game is all about the impressive gunplay, ever-increasing perks and on-screen madness. Often the fights are so manic that the details don’t matter. If you’re a fan of the series, this will delight for years to come thanks to a lengthy campaign and many secrets to find. Those new may be asking for a little more, but that would be missing the point of Doom. If in doubt, send in the Doom Slayer and focus on the action.

Pros

• Lengthy campaign 
• Great range of guns and perks
• Heavy metal soundtrack is perfectly aligned

Cons

• Repetition does set in across most features
• Setting is more paint than focus
• Story is written to build gameplay