If you're an FPS lover like myself, it's almost impossible not to get excited about a new Doom game. With Doom The Dark Ages, I've had my fingers crossed for something truly special. While I enjoyed Doom Eternal, iD Software has billed The Dark Ages as a departure from its fast-paced predecessor, featuring movement and gunplay more in line with traditional Doom. Throw in promises of more on-screen storytelling with high-quality cutscenes, a gnarly medieval aesthetic, some wild set pieces featuring mechs and dragons, and a freaking chainsaw shield, and you've got yourself an epic-sounding experience. After playing two and a half hours of Doom The Dark Ages at a preview event in , I can say that iD has delivered on most of these promises to create a meaty, satisfying, stunning shooter, even if some of its new ideas didn't quite live up to my expectations.
The most important thing for any Doom game (aside from a face-scrunchingly good metal soundtrack) is to deliver exquisite and brutal combat. In Doom The Dark Ages, you've got little to worry about in that department. While it wasn't quite as slow and 'like old Doom' as pre-launch materials had led me to believe, it equally wasn't as zippy and vertical as Eternal. Movement is much heavier (in a good way), but you can still achieve flashes of dynamism by using one of The Dark Ages' new core features: the shield.
Even in its most basic form, the shield allows you to lock on to enemies and rush towards them to perform a slam attack, creating a small shockwave that damages anything nearby. You'll also get access to the delightful saw mod, which lets you throw it Captain America-style at enemies and impale them. The shield can also parry incoming attacks and, if timed perfectly on a green-tinged attack from an enemy, will send it right back at them to cause huge damage and stun.
I was surprised at just how integral the shield is to combat, and in battles with tougher enemies and bosses, the requirement for regular, well-timed parries makes The Dark Ages feel a bit soulslike in nature. Initially, that was a point of concern – in the opening missions, I found myself using my shield just as much as my guns, which felt sacrilegious in a Doom game. However, this evened out in later levels where I had more guns unlocked and, therefore, more tools at my disposal.
There's a solid lineup of weaponry here to get excited about, and at close ranges, everything feels gratifying and unique. My personal favorite was the Reaver Chainshot, which fires a deadly retractable ball and chain, and staple weapons like the Super Shotgun are as great as ever. While Doom is founded on close-quarters gunplay and isn't exactly a sniping simulator, I found that every weapon lacked accuracy at even medium distances – a bit of a frustration in more open areas, especially when so many enemy types have ranged attacks in their arsenals.
Beyond your guns and your shield, you also have access to a powerful melee weapon that works on a three-charge system. These deal huge damage and must be used sparingly, but you can recharge them by finding specific power-ups that replenish one of your three notches. You'll also use these melee weapons for your finisher moves once you've got enemies stunned on low health. The flail was particularly brutal.
Given you have various shield mechanics, guns, and a melee weapon to deal with, I was worried that Doom The Dark Ages may suffer from a complicated and fiddly control scheme like Eternal. However, I'm pleased to report that everything feels intuitive and streamlined.
Speaking of streamlined, Eternal's overly bloated upgrade system – which juggled multiple currencies at once – is, thankfully, a thing of the past. With Doom The Dark Ages, iD has found a sweet spot. There are separate upgrade sections for your guns, your shield, and your melee weapon, but they contain simple paths that still offer a good amount of progression. All upgrades are purchased with the same two currencies, which is far more straightforward. Another Eternal weakness – its storytelling, which was largely communicated using the collectible Codex entries stashed in a menu tab – has been rectified too, with some gorgeous cutscenes. I only got to see a couple, but they were high-quality, well-shot, and well-voiced.
So, Doom The Dark Ages fixes a lot of Eternal's issues while simultaneously offering up a different kind of FPS experience that still nails the fundamentals of the series. Mission accomplished, then? Not quite.
One of the big draws of Doom The Dark Ages is the promise of huge setpiece missions that offer up something different from the typical FPS fare. The two iD has paraded so far involve clambering into a gigantic mech and riding a weaponized dragon.
Let's start with the mech level. Taking on several enormous Titans on the same scale as the Slayer's new toy, all while crushing entire structures under your feet, feels great. There are some fun combat mechanics at your disposal, but I did find the decision to put a dash mechanic on a giant, lumbering mech a bit odd – blocking and parrying seems to me like it would've made more sense here, especially given its prominence while playing as the Doom Slayer himself. Even though it was a brief, awesome power trip, on reflection it wasn't the jaw-dropping or grin-inducing moment I'd hoped it would be.
There's a similar theme to the dragon level. Flying the beast is satisfying, and the towering environment you soar around in is a true spectacle. The mission also sees you take down enemy ships with your dragon's weaponry, before landing on them to clear out the interior on foot as the Slayer. This variety worked well and the transitions between them were action-movie-esque. However, I didn't enjoy the dragon combat.
Although you can shoot your mounted turret while flying, the core mechanic involves locking onto a target, hovering, and perfectly dodging green attacks to unlock a high-damage burst. The dodging is janky (something I've been assured is being polished before the Doom The Dark Ages release date arrives) but even if it was buttery smooth, it's still counterintuitive to the fact you're piloting a fast, agile dragon. You enter this lock-on mode, become pretty much stationary, and just perform a couple of dodges and hold down the trigger to fire your turret. The slick movement of the dragon is ripe for some dogfight-style gameplay, but instead it was a bit underwhelming.
I was also disappointed by the more open Siege level. I have no qualms with mixing things up and differentiating from linear levels, and I enjoyed having the freedom to choose which objectives to tackle first, but I felt like the medieval aesthetic was lost and abandoned a bit in this outside space. Or, rather, it was hard to notice and appreciate when spread so thinly. On the more positive side, it did create a couple of challenging and brutal boss arenas – I even had to dip into the new difficulty sliders (which I think are an excellent addition) to clear the final boss encounter before they kicked me out of the venue…
When the Slayer's feet are planted firmly on the ground, Doom The Dark Ages does pretty much everything you want from a Doom game, and does it well. Combat is heavy and crunchy, while still allowing for moments of dynamism with its shield dash mechanic. Even if its medieval aesthetic is occasionally lost, The Dark Ages looks brilliant too. However, I'm disappointed the new set pieces didn't quite hit the mark. Maybe there are some more, better-realized moments to come in the full campaign, but even if there aren't, I think I'll be more than satisfied wreaking havoc the old-fashioned way – as good old Doom Slayer himself.