I will be honest with you: the moment I saw the first pre-launch trailer for Doom: The Dark Ages, after being incredibly hyped for yet another Doom (I’m only human, I can’t help it), I was also a tiny little bit worried. Due to some admittedly poor marketing by Bethesda, the game was being touted as a radical departure from 2016’s Doom and Doom Eternal (also known as WayTooManyGames’ 2020 Game of the Year), with some moments of the trailer even labeling it as “open world”. Open world Doom? A departure from a winning formula? What the hell was going on?

Guys, don’t worry. I think iD Software and Bethesda overhyped and oversold a game that is essentially an improvement upon the existing Doom formula, not a departure from it. It’s not open world, it’s not a reinvention of a formula, it’s not fixing what isn’t broken. Just like, well, basically every other Doom ever made, Doom: The Dark Ages is violent, over-the-top, fast-paced, and above all, MAGNIFICENT.

For those demons, this was the scariest and last day in their lifes. For Doomguy, it was a Tuesday.

Doom: The Dark Ages is actually a prequel of sorts to the two previously released Doom games (I won’t call it a reboot trilogy because all Doom titles are one continuous timeline), and therein lies what’s basically my only main gripe with the game as a whole (I wanted to get this out of the way soon so I can feel happier writing about it below): for some reason, the developers focused way too much on storytelling, as if anyone had ever bothered playing a Doom game for its plot. That one statement from John Carmack comes to mind at this point.

With tons of cutscenes, characters, dialogue sections and whatnot, Doom: The Dark Ages wants to enrich the franchise’s lore and make it epic and somewhat bloated. I don’t want to call the story bad per se, and there are some cutscenes that are just insane, but Doom has always been seen as a celebration of gameplay and our most primal gamer instincts. Remember that scene from the 2016 game, in which Samuel Hayden tries to dump lore onto us, only for Doomguy to shove the monitor aside and start blasting everything in sight? THIS is what Doom is all about, in my opinion: fast-paced, gory action, a violent celebration of the caveman rooted inside our subconscious. When the game isn’t trying to make me pay attention to its wider lore, however, The Dark Ages shines oh so brightly.

Holy crap was this moment epic. And tense. But mostly epic.

Let’s talk about the gameplay. I used to think there was no way iD Software would ever be able to improve upon the combat featured in Doom Eternal. That game, to me, felt like old-school first-person shooting perfected. Welp, those freaking Texan wizards proved me wrong. Again. I had thought the same about the 2016 Doom, after all. They have decided to add some completely unusual elements to an old-school shooter, and dear lord, they actually work incredibly well. Sure, the core aspect of what makes Doom, well, Doom, is still intact: rip, tear, shoot, mutilate every demon in sight with extreme prejudice and caveman instincts. But these brand new gameplay elements actually add up to the experience, they don’t detract the gameplay at all.

The main addition to the core gameplay is that you have a shield. A shield that just so happens to function not only as a means to defend yourself from attacks, but also as a ranged weapon (think of it as an ultraviolent Captain America shield), or even a… grappling hook? Like, in a few instances, you can actually throw your shield onto specified places on walls, and, somehow, draw yourself towards it. I have no idea how that works, but hey, I ain’t going to complain. Given how Doom: The Dark Ages is less focused on platforming (you don’t even have a double jump), I guess this was iD’s decision to make the game look cool and be fast-paced as all hell, without the need for platforming puzzles.

Think of these dragon sections as “what Lair should have been”. With more metal, of course.

But again, this is NOT what the shield is all about. Its main function is to still act as, well, a shield. If demons want to attack you, or shoot at you, a right click on the mouse raises your shield up (therefore, guns have no secondary functionalities). But here’s the thing: if an enemy shoots any kind of GREEN projectile at you, and if you parry it at the right time… you can deflect it. They basically added Nier Automata-esque bullet hell elements to Doom, told you that you should parry attacks whenever possible, and damn, it does work surprisingly well.

It actually adds a layer of strategy and fast-paced combat that, somehow, feels natural within the “don’t think, just shoot” mentality of Doom. We are here to be aggressive and ultraviolent as hell, but giving you a shield doesn’t make you less aggressive; if anything, it made the combat even MORE visceral. It made fly towards enemies face-to-face. I stopped running around the map, looking for scraps or powerups. With my shield, I can parry attacks, deflect bullets, stun melee-based enemies (their parriable attacks also shine in green), and with the addition of a locked-on shield bash technique, available right from the getgo, I can dash towards an enemy with EXTREME violence, like a rhinocerous with a vengeance.

Weapons don’t have secondary functions but you can still upgrade them.

It’s amazing how none of these additions compromise the game’s insane pacing. Not even its brand new level design, which, despite not being open world (thank the Maykr), is larger than most Doom levels. Well, let me clarify: it depends on the level. Most levels in Doom: The Dark Ages follow the same straightforward premise: linear, maze-like, with keys, full of enemies, tons of secrets to unfold. That being said, a handful of levels are more open, where you are given an objective of, say, destroying four portals or bases in a wider field. At the same time, you are given optional objectives, and there are way more secrets and hidden loot to find, loot that can be used to purchase weapon upgrades. These objectives are almost always combat-centric, and there will always be enemies to defeat on your way to a goalpost.

Not even the mech or dragon flight levels compromise Doom: The Dark Ages‘ pacing. I loved both of them, but I’m glad that they are few and far between, acting more as palate cleansers and set pieces. When riding a mech, you are stupidly slow, but you compensate that by being able to destroy the entire map, and demolish enemies in just a few punches. And by enemies, I mean literal ginormous kaiju from hell itself. It’s an insane thing to see, and it reminded me of the nearly ten year old Titanfall 2 in more than one occasion. But once more, I’m glad those sections were somewhat short and infrequent.

Dragon flight sections were a bit longer and more open. You are free to explore an area with your dragon in order to look for an additional ship to blow up or a place where you can land and look for secrets. Whilst riding the dragon, the controls are very arcadey, with nonsensical physics… and that’s a good thing. Your dragon feels light, insanely fast, and it can stop in mid-air if you feel like it. In essence, it’s the closest to the gameplay from Rogue Squadron I’ve seen in decades. In this case, I loved that iD Software ditched realism in favor of pure, unadulterated, juicy game feel. Who cares if the dragon doesn’t feel weighty? This is what that PS3 game, Lair, should have been back in the day. Dug that one up from the grave, right?

Every single section is accompanied by what you should be expecting from a modern Doom game: some heavy-as-f*** metal music. We all know that the Mick Gordon situation ended up on a very sour note, and we’re not here to discuss that. To this day, I’m livid that the Doom Eternal soundtrack isn’t available on streaming platforms, so let’s not dive into this debacle. All you need to know is that, in the Ancient Gods DLC, Doom had already experimented with a new composer, Andrew Hulshult, and boy, did he deliver. In Doom: The Dark Ages, the soundtrack was handled by the production team Finishing Move Inc., known for their work in The Callisto Protocol, Microsoft Flight Simulator and Crackdown 3. So… what are the results?

Levels still feature tons of secrets and collectibles.

In one word: excellent. Even though the team hadn’t been known for metal music prior to Doom: The Dark Ages, I’m pretty sure they were given a very specific briefing as to what the game should sound. Even if there isn’t an auteur-driven feel this time around, the team did deliver. It’s not a soundtrack as good as Mick Gordon’s, but let’s face it, no one does videogame metal like that beautiful Aussie madman. The soundtrack is still outstanding; it’s heavy, punchy, epic, and catchy. Another incredible addition to Doom‘s discography. Just make sure to crank the volume up in the Settings menu before starting the game.

The same can be said about the sound effects, which are punchy, heavy, and oh so impactful. A shotgun sounds like a god damn cannon, a plasma rifle doesn’t sound like a mere pew-pew machine from a cheap sci-fi. The only somewhat underwhelming sound effect comes from the Shredder, that one rifle that shoots pulverized skulls. It’s an overall disappointing weapon in terms of sound and power, but when the rest of the game’s arsenal is this good, who the hell cares? It’s just one weapon I won’t bother using.

Nothing calms me more than a plasma rifle against a Mancubus.

Finally, let’s talk about the visuals and the engine powering this whole insanity. Gone is iD Tech 7, the engine that powered both Doom Eternal and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Welcome, iD Tech 8. This more modern engine allowed for some insanely realistic environments, much larger spaces, a truckload of particles and shots flying around, but most importantly, PERFORMANCE STABILITY. I am aware of the issues that might be plaguing the console versions, but on a PC, I was averaging 90fps with ease on an RTX 3060, on pretty good settings. There were some graphical glitches here and there, however, namely excessively dark shadows or character eye textures not loading properly, but nothing that felt completely immersion-breaking. When it came to delivering excellent visuals at a blistering fast framerate, this game delivered.

Using the shield is pretty simple: if the bullet is red, you can block it. If it’s green, you can parry it.

And there we have it. If it wasn’t for the excessive emphasis on a story I simply couldn’t care about, Doom: The Dark Ages would have easily, without a shadow of a Cacodemon-shredding doubt, been my favorite title in the modern Doom games. It perfected combat and exploration in ways I never thought would ever be able. By ditching platforming puzzles in favor of just letting you rip like a madman onto dozens of demons at a time, iD Software managed to create something truly spectacular. I won’t even say there’s no way they can follow up and improve upon this masterpiece, as I’ve been proven wrong already. Twice, in fact. I’ll just be enjoying myself up until that day arrives, as I won’t stop playing this wholesome demon murder simulator in the foreseeable future.

Doom: The Dark Ages is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X and PC

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB.