Last Updated on 19 May, 2025
When you say Doom, I see running through wasteland littered with dead bodies, shoving shotguns into demons’ heads, and finding some nifty toy trinkets among all the bloodshed.
It’s dirty, gory, and entertaining if you go in with that frame of mind and continue to be shocked by how prolific it is.
I went in with expectations for more of the same entering Doom: The Dark Ages understanding that it is a prequel to Doom 2016 and Eternal.
While I am not very familiar with the series and played 2016’s game but briefly before jumping into The Dark Ages straight away, I was nevertheless ready to visit Hell and play as an overpowered war machine once more.
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Hell is Where it All Started
Doom: The Dark Ages is a prequel to Doom 2016 and Eternal and takes us back to medieval times when demons started infesting Argent D’Nur in droves.
Right into The Dark Ages‘ opening, you’re already greeted with gore as demons in Hell tear flesh apart, Argent D’Nur burns with fire, and Maykr wait for Doom Slayer’s arrival at any moment now.
No beating around the bush about depicting the violence and turmoil surrounding the world. I did not take an entire minute to be absorbed in what I was watching as I sat on the edge of my seat waiting for our hero to enter into action.
The Dark Ages are dark and grubby and smeared with entrails wherever you look. You don’t even get a chance to catch a breath as you set foot on the battlefield with shotgun and buckler at hand and see the world go up in flames about you. It‘s already common knowledge that you‘re the only one who can stop all of these pillaging demons and you‘ll do nothing but cement that as you hold guns to their heads and paint the world red.
We’re punching and sawing through enemies now
If you‘ve played any of the other Doom titles, you‘ll be more than familiar with how ruthless they are as you tear enemies apart, rip their arms off, and blast them into a million bits with guns. For all my limited play of Doom 2016, I was used to doing that without batting an eyelid. Fear not—there is still plenty enough of that to go around in this game.
Seeing it in The Dark Ages‘ new appearance somehow makes it all even more graphical in an eye-opening yet satisfying type of way.
With mechanics such as the Shield Saw and epic mech combat thrown into the mix, it’s an even more compelling experience that I found myself having more fun playing than I thought I would. So don’t you worry if you‘re afraid of guns you‘ve played with in the past, because some of those will be making their comeback as well.
The Super Shotgun remains my top gun, but good Lord are some of the others just as enjoyable.
For a game that asks you to kill enemies with whatever and whatever weapons you happen to have on hand to you, including the strongest fists and legs a human being might ever hope to have access to, combat is actually very simple and easy to learn.
Rather than concern yourself with whether or not they’ve included a system by which you might grow an extra arm in an attempt to get better at switching between each set of weapons, it’s all on a few keys so you’re able to switch guns and parry and dash about without encumbrance.
What’s the fun in seeing a Shield Saw rip apart a dozen demons, after all, if you’re too concerned about keeping track of controls from chapters ago?
Where The Dark Ages diverges from the rest of the series is in its less frenetic feel.
While you do get to move around a lot, you’ll certainly feel as if you were more a hard-hitting, armored tank-type figure rather than a speed killer. If you enjoy being quick and fast, you might view it as a drawback, but I was a big fan of this change.
Making Doom Slayer a hulking muscleman who punches his way through whatever stands in his path and who possesses some of the gorettiest glory killings in video game history rather than a guy who zooms all over the map with his speed is one thing that I‘ve fallen in love with about the game. While I understand where you’re going if a level is linear that you’d want boots of speed, The Dark Ages takes a far more open-world design to its chapters so that you can explore and learn more about the world you’re in.
The number of enemies that appear in each level is a story in itself. Too many and too much for some. And too many and too much for me at first as well. With practice being made perfect after becoming accustomed to h*ll that is actually Hell, it soon became an adrenaline-packed experience that pushed my survival and shooting skills to their limits.
These feelings of being overwhelmed were soon replaced with satisfaction and awe as I progressed to mastering each and every strength and weakness of my guns and their upgrade trees to take an already overpowered hero and turn him even more overpowered.
Doom: The Dark Ages is among the first in years to have my heart pumping with its action-packed gunplay and complex graphics. That intensified with each subsequent chapter as I completed various gameplay exercises ranging from soaring through space in a massive mech to soaring through space on a dragon. Having metal music blasting as you blast foes into space makes you that much more invincible, especially if you play as Doomguy himself.
Much demon variety is in each mission but even more so in each subsequent chapter as common enemies and bosses, making challenge so often and so more fun.
There’s more to this than shooting guns
I‘ll say it out loud now: one of my favorite things about any game is secrets. I love taking up a double-barrel shotgun and blasting a demon‘s face into kingdom come, but every now and then I love taking a departure from the tried and true method to see what else is out in the world apart from gore and slaughter.
In the first mission alone, you‘ll discover shortly enough that more than just monsters are conquering the world out here.
The Dark Ages is rife with mysteries. From tiny hidden rooms filled with treasure to toy figurines appearing in the midst of missions, there‘s more to do in this hellscape than gunning down demons day and night. Sure, gunning down hordes of monsters constitutes most of your playthrough in classic Doom fashion, but you‘ll have a chance to unwind and go off on a tangent in every level if you want.
And if you‘re a run-and-gun player, then at least you have that to fall back on as well. Otherwise, The Dark Ages will reward you with lore and other treats for your trouble.
My second favorite part about games is strategy. I wasn’t planning on using a lot of strategy for The Dark Ages and was more hoping to shotgun through it enough to get through my playthrough and see how much strategy is possible at higher levels. Each kind of gun has strengths and weaknesses and is effective in certain situations and knowing all their subtleties is how you achieve victory.
While you can certainly get by with a preference towards one kind of gun over another if you don’t die well enough yourself, you‘ll need to master them all if you want to master this game.
This kind of strategy wasn‘t expected by me but is one that I‘ve been enjoying since I received my first few guns.
Doom: The Dark Ages reminded me completely how great it is to be running about, shooting things and trying out guns that you never ever get to use in another game.
Creating havoc out of bullet hell is truer now as you get to unleash and the demons get an opportunity to do their best and at best survive while you keep on shooting.
Having been the worst Slayer to ever set foot on planet earth never made me feel so wonderful.
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