DOOM: The Dark Ages

First off, I want to address the barrier to entry to play this game. This game demands a graphics card capable of ray tracing and an NVME SSD for storage. My computer just barely meets the recommended specifications and it chugs quite a bit even when running at 1080p. I think it was a real shame that players who may have enjoyed the two previous games but were running older hardware were boxed out from trying this game. You might reason that five years had gone by between [i]Doom Eternal[/i] and this game’s launch, giving players ample time to upgrade their hardware. The issue with this rationale, however, is that the current state of the PC component market is utterly abysmal. Anyone that might want to upgrade their hardware right now will have to settle for exorbitant prices (thank you AI) just to afford decent RAM and storage, never mind a powerful enough graphics card. With all of this in mind, the timing of this game’s release and its demanding specifications couldn’t have been worse. Now, onto the game. This game strays considerably from the formula established in 2016’s [i]Doom[/i] and perfected in [i]Doom Eternal[/i]. While those games had you constantly on the move and making use of platforming and verticality to better position yourself against enemies, this game still has you constantly on the move but it cuts out the platforming and verticality (during combat, at least). If anything, this game actually plays a lot like the original [i]Doom[/i] games did, and I really appreciate that. Some of the levels in this game place you in vast, open arenas and battlefields, a lot like the “city” levels from [i]Doom II[/i]. As a result, enemy encounters also somewhat resemble those from the classic games, spread out over the arena and a bit slower paced compared to those in [i]Doom Eternal[/i]. Personally, I find the shield satisfying to use during combat, though I understand some people may feel differently about it, especially with the byproduct of parrying being a core part of the game’s combat loop. Prior to playing [i]Doom: The Dark Ages[/i], I had not played any games that had parrying as a key gameplay mechanic, so learning the system took some getting used to. I think the one moment in the game where the parry system feels tiresome and cheap is the final boss, and it just artificially makes said battle more difficult when you miss a single parry in a chain of attacks. This is the first [i]Doom[/i] game with intricate, customizable difficulty settings. Before starting a new game file, you are presented with a list of different gameplay parameters that you can modify via sliders and drop-down lists to make certain aspects of the game easier or harder. Examples of such parameters include damage dealt to the player, damage dealt to demons, and parry window duration, just to name a few. While I prefer the simplicity of just picking a preset difficulty level and jumping right into the game, the extra customizability can offer interesting options for challenge runs or to train specific skills (or to help game journalists rush through the game). I have some mixed opinions about the weapons in this game. There are six “classes” of weapons in the game: shotguns, plasma rifles, skull crushers, rail spikes, reaver, and launchers. Each class, with the exception of the reaver class, have two weapons to choose from. My main problem with this system is that there is usually one weapon of the two that outshines the other. In some classes, both weapons may have a specific use case like the shotguns or the rail spikes. For others, this is not the case. Of the plasma rifles, once I acquired the “Cycler” later on in the game, the previous “Accelerator” plasma rifle basically never got used again. The same thing happened with the launcher weapons when I got the rocket launcher after the grenade launcher. As cool as the skull crusher weapon designs are, their utility quickly faded after I got other weapons and upgrades, with the shield becoming a better crowd control device than the skull crusher. It’s not like [i]Doom Eternal[/i] where each weapon had a purpose, no matter what part of the game you were in. I think this game made a tradeoff of having more total levels at the expense of having less memorable levels. While the levels in the latter half of the game are more unique, I personally found the Cosmic Realm to be dull. The few really cool things to come out of its inclusion in the game are the designs for the baron of Hell and cacodemon. [i]Doom Eternal[/i] had about half the number of levels, but each level was very distinct and had their memorable moments. Also, on the subject of the levels, I need to talk about the mech and dragon levels. The mech levels were not awful when I first played the game on a lower difficulty with a more generous parry window. However, on nightmare and with the tightest parry window, the mech sections are frustrating because it is hard to tell when a titan’s attack is going to connect to the mech. The dragon sections didn’t add much to the game and simply consist of flying from point A to point B to progress the story. There are some secret landing zones in dragon levels, but not much else that makes flying around with the dragon feel any more special than running around in a normal level. I agree that the soundtrack as a whole is weaker than that of 2016’s [i]Doom[/i] and [i]Doom Eternal[/i], I think there are a few really standout tracks in this game’s OST that elevated the levels in which they played. At the time of release, I’m pretty sure there were audio mixing issues that made the music hard to hear during combat, but when I returned to the game after some of its patches it sounded good. I think it would have been interesting if Andrew Hulshult had been brought on to work on the main soundtrack considering his great work on [i]The Ancient Gods[/i], but alas, it never happened. Fortunately, Andrew would have at least some recognition in this game’s DLC for his work on remastering tracks from the classic [i]Doom[/i] games. Finally, the [i]Revelations[/i] DLC. It was a blast to play through, and the spear was overall a satisfying addition to the game with the many abilities you unlock. While the base game strayed from the hectic combat loop of [i]Doom Eternal[/i] where you flew around the arena, [i]Revelations[/i] is a perfect marriage of the two games’ different playstyles. After acquiring the spear, it took some time to adjust after becoming used to the shield, and I had to spend some time reconfiguring my binds to make sure everything played smoothly. One thing I noticed during my time playing with the spear is how little I ended up switching to the shield after getting the shield back towards the end of the DLC. Switching between the shield and spear is something I will have to try out in future runs of the game because they are probably very powerful when used in tandem. I enjoyed my time with this game despite how different it is from 2016’s [i]Doom[/i] and [i]Doom Eternal[/i]. I do believe it is the weakest of the three modern [i]Doom[/i] games, but that is simply a matter of personal preference for the old playstyle. I think id Software went above and beyond when they worked on [i]Doom Eternal[/i] and there was frankly no way they could have topped it, so they instead went for a much different gameplay loop when developing this game. [i]Revelations[/i] was a way of bringing back a hint of that crazy gameplay into [i]Doom: The Dark Ages[/i] and I think they did it masterfully. With the news of the layoffs that hit id Software just before the DLC released, the future of the [i]Doom[/i] franchise is uncertain, but supposedly there is already work being done on a new game. I wish the developers at id Software the best in these rough times that the video game industry is currently in.

I loved **DOOM (2016)** and really enjoyed **DOOM Eternal**, even if I didn't agree with every design choice. A friend of mine once described *Eternal* as "DOOM mixed with Tomb Raider and Super Mario." At the time I thought he was exaggerating, but looking back, he wasn't far off. While I'm glad *The Dark Ages* dials back some of the platforming, it swings too far in the opposite direction. The game feels clunky, the weapons lack impact, and too many mechanics feel forced rather than satisfying. The shield completely disrupts the rhythm of combat. Instead of making me feel like an unstoppable tank, it constantly slows the action down. The heavy focus on parrying feels out of place. Am I playing *Sekiro* now? The removal of secondary fire in favor of slow-motion shield mechanics also feels like a step backward. What is this, *Max Payne*? The story doesn't help either. It's constantly pushed to the forefront, yet it's bland and forgettable. Giant robots, dragons, and the medieval setting never clicked with me and feel like a strange fit for DOOM. Path tracing isn't mandatory, but enabling it tanks my frame rate by around 75%, and the performance simply doesn't justify the visual gains. What disappointed me most, though, is that in hindsight this game feels like it completely bastardizes the nature of DOOM. Instead of building on what made **DOOM (2016)** and even *Eternal* so exhilarating, it replaces that identity with mechanics that belong in entirely different games. More than anything, *DOOM: The Dark Ages* just made me want to reinstall *DOOM Eternal*.

I was cautiously optimistic for DOOM 2016 (I've finally made peace with that stupid name) and really satisfied with it. I was really hyped for DOOM Eternal and it delivered in spades, even thought the DLCs kind of lost me. I wasn't really sure what to make of DOOM The Dark Ages at first, but I think it's still a solid entry into the DOOM franchise. Let's talk presentation: idTech has always worked well and looked great, and this game is no exception. The artstyle is dripping with style and care, the environments are varied and amazingly done, and the models are crisp and detailed. But the move to a ray-tracing only engine I feel already alienates a LARGE part of the audience that are still on older or modest hardware purely on a technical level, without even discussing any of the game's content. And this would all be well and good if the game really did look way ahead of Eternal in terms of texture quality and lighting, and while the latter has arguably improved, this is a fast(ish) paced shooter where you're blazing left and right constantly, and I would wager a lot of people (myself included) would have preferred high framerates on modest hardware to pretty lighting. Don't even get me started on the lack of official FSR4 support (I got by with OptiScaler 0.9), but I'm not sure if that's an id problem or an AMD problem. Suffice to say that playing this game on 100 FPS with dips to the mid 70s felt a lot less satisfying that constantly sailing smoothly near my monitor's 180 Hz refresh rate in Eternal. The sound design is amazing as ever, however, so that remains a staple of id game design. The gun sounds are meaty, the shield parry CLONG is satisfying and never gets old. Even the music seems to have taken a step forward. It will never reach Mick Gordon heights, but at least it's not bad or forgettable. The devs really want you to care about the story in this game for some reason. What started as a half-joke in DOOM 2016 has now evolved into fully-fledged cutscenes and monologues, and I'm glad they're skippable (though I didn't skip on my first and only playthrough any because it's not how I roll). They're not long, they're well-made enough but IMO they are still ultimately completely unnecessary. Just let us at the demon hordes, will ya? Speaking of which, the gameplay itself is actually a lot better than people give it credit for. Yeah, it's not run and gun madness like DOOM 2016. It's not the crazy dash-jump-weaponswap carnage ballet like DOOM Eternal, and I can understand why dedicated fans of both those games would dislike the changes made here. Regardless, the gameplay loop is still well executed, highly tweakable, and most of all, instantly distinguishable from the previous two games, and this is where I think the Dark Ages should be given a lot more credit. People complain that the game is too easy now - you can make it harder on a very detailed level using the custom difficulties. People complain it relies too heavily on the parry mechanic - I tend to agree, but I think giving the player a shield 'just because' and not incorporating it into the shooting would've been a lot worse. What it aims to do, as Eternal did (and let's please remember how many haters that game had), is to encourage you play the game as DOOM The Dark Ages should be played, whatever that means to you. They could've easily made DOOM 2016 II, or DOOM Eternal II, but they made a game that has its own identity. The shooting still feels satisfying, the weapons are fun and plentiful, the enemies varied and interesting, the arenas are well-designed and while I expected the lack of classic Glory Kills to really irk me, I ended up not missing them half as much as I thought. You want to rip and tear, you most definitely can and will. Another rather key feature of this game is the larger, slightly more open-ended maps. I feared they would feel padded and drawn-out, and to my surprise, they didn't because the density of encounters and things to do and find felt just right. What [i]does[/i] feel padded and drawn-out, however, are the mech ("Atlan") and dragon sections. It's cool the first time, and there are some attempts at mixing the dragon in a little more smoothly later in the game, but I felt these two types of level were ultimately half-baked and, like the cutscenes, completely unnecessary. If the shield worked, unfortunately these additions, like the cutscenes, fell flat on their face for me. As far as length goes, this is a pretty hefty single-player campaign, clocking in at around 25 hours for me after 100% everything on Ultra-Violence. There's a lot of content. Not worth 80€, to be clear (I don't even want to open [i]that[/i] can of worms...), but I'd be lying if I said I didn't spend some quality time in this game. That said... maybe this will change as time goes on, but for some reason, while I dip into 2016 and Eternal every now and again, I feel a lot less inclined to go back to this game. I can't really put my finger on why, I just feel like I've "one and done" it. I haven't tried the Ripatorium yet, a canned arena challenge mode, but it doesn't interest me in the slightest. If you want more of this game, either get the DLC, or accept that this is the only replay value this campaign offers (outside the usual Ultra-Nightmare challenge runs). Ultimately, would the gaming world be a lesser place without DOOM The Dark Ages? I think so. Despite some choices that didn't really land in my book (the cutscenes, the boring Atlan and the tedious Dragon sections), it does ultimately set itself apart from the other two neo-DOOM games enough to have its own identity. If anything, it's a testament to id's consistency in making quality games. It looks good, it feels good to play, it offers a lot, so in the end, while it doesn't reach the heights of Eternal or the impact of 2016, it's definitely still worth playing.

rest in peace id

8/10. The game had a great start. A ton of action as they throw you into an interesting story and quickly get you to the fight. I actually was really interested in the lore of this one, and the action combat was just as good as the others. Couple of negatives: First, the game really slows down in the middle. There were several levels that felt like they were padding for time. A couple of levels start you in front of a door and your entire goal of the level is to find keys for said door, with 0 other prompts/communications from story characters. Second, the collectibles. I was originally taking my time with every level to find every secret and fully explore. Eventually though, it gets tiring, as the secrets only serve to upgrade your weaponry. Normally that would be good, except in this game you are given 15 or so different guns, but really find that 1-2 is all you ever need. I beat most of the entire game with the super shotgun and the spiker. After i fully upgraded those and my shield/flail, I had 0 interest in upgrading the other guns, so exploring lost its drive for me. It had a good ending though and was fun throughout it. It reminded me early Halo campaigns, just a lot more fast-paced.

Buenardo.

Oh man, nervt mich diese Khan Maker-Cyberspace-Kacke an. Too much einfach. Braucht ekiner.

I didn't buy this game for the longest time because Eternal wasn't my favorite, but honestly, this game is way more fun than Eternal was. Definitely it's own thing; parry heavy gameplay, which I enjoyed. You can tell the devs just wanted to make something fun.