Far from just being “More Doom,” Doom: The Dark Ages is a new flavor of the legendary shooter series that’s heavier and more grounded, but no less energetic and exhilarating.
Doom: The Dark Ages review by Mitchell Saltzman. Reviewed on PC. Also available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
#IGN #Gaming #Doom
Doom: The Dark Ages review by Mitchell Saltzman. Reviewed on PC. Also available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
#IGN #Gaming #Doom
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00:00If there's one thing that's kept the name Doom up near the top of the list of first-person
00:06shooters, it's how it's always boldly reinventing being a badass, super-powered,
00:11one-man army against the armies of hell. Three decades ago, we got the original old-school
00:19running guns, then a jump-scare-laden horror shooter, then a modern reimagining of that
00:24old-school running gun, and then a mobility-focused action shooter in 2020's Doom Eternal. The
00:29form that Doom The Dark Ages takes on is actually one that is very different from Eternal, a game
00:35that I rank as one of my favorite shooters of all time. In fact, it's so different that initially I
00:41was turned off by the heavier feel of the movement, the lack of a double jump or air dash, and the
00:45sheer chaos of having wide-open feels with seemingly hundreds of enemies closing in on me from all
00:50sides. But a few hours into the 20-plus hour campaign, my arsenal had expanded. The ways in
00:58which I could dispatch enemies had diversified, and I'd started to better understand and appreciate
01:03what Doom The Dark Ages was, and what it wasn't. By the end of it, I was left grinning like a Doom
01:08guy that just picked up a super shotgun, as I ripped and tore until it was done.
01:19Doom The Dark Ages campaign is all about setting up the dark sci-fi fantasy vibes.
01:23It follows our strong, mostly silent Doom Slayer before he was awoken in a sarcophagus in a UAC
01:30space station back in Doom 2016. Of course, the Slayer himself isn't much more than just a vehicle
01:35for badassery, so it's not like we're seeing a new side of him or getting any sort of deeper look at
01:40this character's origins or motivations. Instead, The Dark Ages' story is more about filling in the
01:45blanks in the Doom universe, diving into the history of the conflict between humans and demons,
01:49and further fleshing out both the faction of humanity-defending Sentinels and the deity-like
01:54Makers.
01:55Launch the Slayer.
01:58And in that way, it's not only serviceable, but it also does a good job of taking us to both a wide
02:04variety of hellish landscapes that include sci-fi-themed medieval castles, and a very welcome
02:09trip to the Lovecraftian-inspired cosmic realm, which features a ton of really cool mind-bending
02:13puzzles and creepy settings that are different from what we've seen before.
02:19Perhaps the best thing about the story is that it no longer feels like it's just the Slayer
02:23against the nameless forces of hell. There are human companions that are central to the
02:28plot.
02:28Maybe he didn't survive.
02:30It regularly feels like you're fighting alongside humanity in this giant all-out war against
02:34the demons. And there's actual intrigue involving the Mysterious Makers and their role in this
02:39whole conflict. This is the strongest a Doom story has ever been, even if that's not a bar you'd have to
02:44double-jump over.
02:48Besides the setting, the big thing that separates Doom the Dark Ages from previous entries in the series
02:53is the addition of the Slayer's shield, and all the abilities that come with it.
02:58Now, rather than being forced to avoid taking damage by constantly staying on the move and jumping
03:02around like a madman, you're often encouraged to charge straight forward into danger with your
03:07shield at the ready to either block or deflect enemy attacks. Any attack that is red can be
03:12blocked until your shield is depleted. And anything that's green can be reflected with a well-timed guard
03:18to not only deal substantial damage, but also stun most monsters it hits.
03:24Even on Nightmare difficulty, which is what I did my playthrough on, the parry timing is very
03:29generous. But fortunately, you can fine-tune it however you like in the menus, along with a ton of
03:34other handy difficulty modifiers. The other key shield technique is a charging bash attack that
03:39can be used to quickly close the distance between you and your enemy. Think the Super Shotgun's
03:43Grapple in Doom Eternal, only faster, you can use it with any weapon, and it's on a relatively quick cooldown.
03:51I know, fun, right?
03:53This combination of being able to use the shield both defensively to block and stun,
03:57and then offensively to quickly zip in and out, is what really elevates the Dark Ages' combat to the
04:02stratosphere by making it still feel very fast and exciting, even with the removal of things like
04:07double jumps, quick dashes, and fast weapon swamps. We get the best of both worlds, in that this layer
04:12is still extremely mobile, but also feels like a heavily armored tank, thanks to loud footsteps,
04:17and a devastating shockwave when you land from a high jump.
04:22The shield's utility doesn't end there either. Eventually, you'll also get the ability to toss the
04:27shield out, Captain America style, to instantly decapitate tons of fodder enemies all at once.
04:35Or, if you use it against larger enemies, it will continuously buzzsaw into them,
04:39keeping them incapacitated for a short while. This is an extremely useful skill, but I found it to be
04:44especially potent against the Arachnotron enemies that like to pepper me with a constant stream of
04:48non-reflectable bullets. If they're unarmored, I can just toss my shield to stop them from shooting,
04:54dash in, and all it takes is a single super shotgun blast to ready them for an execution.
05:00Those abilities are key to surviving tough fights because almost every enemy in Doom the Dark Ages
05:05has some sort of weakness like this, and unlike Doom Eternal, they are rarely weapon-specific.
05:12There's no more switching to the combat shotgun specifically to pop a grenade into a cacodemon's
05:17mouth, then swapping to the rifle to snipe the guns off of a revenant, then swapping between shots of
05:22your super shotgun and ballista to quickly burst down a marauder or other big beefy enemy, etc.
05:27That's fun in its own way, and I'm sure there will be those out there, like myself,
05:32who still prefer it overall, but the Dark Ages still manages to find a way to be an absolute blast
05:37without requiring a StarCraft Pro's level of APM on the harder difficulties.
05:42The enemies are largely the same usual suspects that have been in most of the other Dooms. You've got
05:47your imps, Hell Knights, Mancubi, and the aforementioned Arachnetron, and even the Cyberdemon,
05:53all of whom behave as you'd expect. Others have gotten new facelifts to better match with the new
05:58setting, like the Pinky, who's now a mount with a demon archer riding him, and the new cacodemon
06:03that hails from the cosmic realm. The Dark Ages even brings back the vagary as a mini-boss who hasn't
06:07been seen since Doom 3. Overall, there's a nice variety in the enemies, and even those you've fought a
06:14million times before, have a few new tricks to make them fit better in the Dark Ages combat.
06:18Speaking of enemies, it's worth mentioning as well that id has exponentially jacked up the number of
06:23on-screen nasties relative to Doom or Eternal. When you get a bird's-eye view of the battlefield,
06:28it truly looks like an all-out war against the minions of Hell. This did lead to a bit of
06:32frustration for me early on, as I was often getting attacked from behind by enemies that
06:36would spawn in without warning, but all it took was some adjustment in how I approached certain combat
06:40encounters. I had to make sure that I was using my shield bash to disengage in addition to engaging
06:46to keep them off my back. One noteworthy omission from the Dark Ages is the iconic chainsaw that has
06:51been used since Doom 2016 as a way to instantly kill a single enemy and regain ammo in the process.
06:57That has been replaced by an all-new melee system that lets you get up close and personal and engage
07:02in melee brawls that also restore your ammo. I do miss the satisfaction of sawing an imp or other small
07:08enemy in half, but this system works better for what Doom the Dark Ages is trying to achieve
07:12by again making you rush towards the fight rather than away from it. The ammo pickups for your melee
07:17attack are also much more plentiful than the gas for the chainsaw on either Doom 2016 or Eternal,
07:23making me run out of ammo far less, which was something that I very much appreciate.
07:33As far as the actual weapons go, the Dark Ages plays around a lot with the look of each
07:38weapon to give it an old-timey flavor, but the functions are generally all the same as what
07:42we've come to know and love from the series. All of the satisfyingly punchy stalwarts are accounted for,
07:46the combat and super shotguns, an assault rifle that shoots out rail spikes instead of bullets,
07:53a plasma rifle, and a long-range single-shot weapon in the form of a satisfying steel
07:57ball launcher called the Steel Shot, just to name a handful. The only really unique weapon of the
08:03bunch is the Skullcrusher Pulverizer, which sort of behaves like the chain gun, but has a
08:07ridiculous spread that can just absolutely shred a football-spiel worth of fodder enemies.
08:12It's a fun weapon that goes great with the Dark Ages' absolutely insane amount of on-screen
08:16enemies at once, even though I typically opted to use the shield throw to mow down the hordes of fodder,
08:21since there's an upgrade that powers up the shield charge when you do.
08:26One interesting twist for how the Dark Ages handles its arsenal is that just about every gun
08:30has a sister weapon that uses the same ammo type and can be hot-swapped between with the press of a
08:35button. So, for example, along with a rocket launcher, there's a grenade launcher.
08:40In addition to the aforementioned Pulverizer that does a little bit of damage spread out
08:44over a wide area, there's a Ravager that concentrates the fire to hit single enemies.
08:51It all adds up to a ton of variety in the gunplay, and while I was never forced to swap between my
08:56weapons in the same way that I was in Doom Eternal, I still found myself jumping from gun to gun,
09:00simply because it's fun. But the absolute best part about the toolbox in the Dark Ages is,
09:07and this is a credit to the weapon designers at id because this is true for just about every Doom
09:11game, that every gun retains its usefulness throughout the entire game. Sure, I might have
09:16my favorites and gravitate more towards the Super Shotgun, Rocket Launcher, and Steel Shot,
09:21but even the early weapons stay relevant once you get some upgrades into them. If I'm low on armor,
09:25I can swap to the combat shotgun that I upgraded to ignite enemies and make them drop armor shards.
09:31If I need health, I can swap to the Ravager to make them bleed health pickups.
09:35And if I need to incapacitate an enemy while also dealing damage to others nearby,
09:39I can throw my shield into a baddie, shoot the shield, and watch as my bullets ricochet and hit
09:44everyone else around. To sweeten the pot, all of these abilities and weapons are sprinkled at a
09:49measured pace throughout the campaign. There was never even a chance for the gunplay to get stale,
09:53because every level would give me a new gun, or a new ability for my shield, or a new melee weapon,
09:58or I'd find enough gold to afford a new upgrade at the shop that would alter something I already had
10:03in a way that made me want to use it more. And it's this need to upgrade that fed into my desire to
10:08explore and find both upgrade currencies and the more traditional Doom collectibles like figurines,
10:13weapon skins, and lore pickups. Appropriately, the levels of the Dark Ages welcome that exploration
10:20with open arms. While they all vary in size, the smaller stages are still big by the series standards,
10:26and the big levels are gigantic. They're huge, open battlefields with tons of secrets,
10:32challenging enemy encounters, and more than a few breathtaking vistas.
10:40Breaking up all the running and gunning are giant mecha battles and flying sections where you pilot the
10:44Slayer's dragon. Yes, the Doom Slayer has a dragon, because why not? These sections are shallow compared
10:52to the rest of the Dark Ages, with the mecha sections amounting to little more than a simple game of dodge,
10:57punch, punch, dodge, punch, punch, and the dragon bits are little more than dodge, shoot, shoot, dodge, shoot, shoot.
11:09That said, they're kind of like a turret sequence in that they're infrequent and brief enough to never
11:13drag the pacing down. And they at least provide cool moments in the cutscenes that proceed and follow them.
11:23And then there's the soundtrack. Holy hell.
11:28If you've played the Doom game before, you probably know what to expect going in. But even so,
11:32I was gleefully into it. It's another banger of a heavy metal soundtrack that had me coming back to
11:37certain levels after beating the campaign and just turning down all the volume except for the music
11:42so I could listen without it being overpowered by the sounds of shotgun blasts, explosions, and dying demons.
11:57Far from just being more Doom, Doom the Dark Ages is a new flavor of the legendary shooter series
12:02that's heavier and more grounded, but no less energetic and exhilarating. The new shield is an
12:07outstanding addition that adds a ton of both offensive and defensive options, and when combined
12:12with the extensive arsenal of traditional Doom guns, provides a ton of fun and exciting ways to
12:17dispatch the hundreds upon thousands of demons that stand in your way. Add on top of that another pumped
12:24up heavy metal soundtrack backing the excellent weapon, level, and enemy design, and id has once again
12:30proven that, like a super shotgun blast from point-blank range, they don't miss.
12:39Executive Reviews Editor Tom Marks here with Mitchell Saltzman to talk a little bit more about his
12:43review of Doom the Dark Ages. Mitchell, most folk I think know you at IGN as an action and fighting game
12:50reviewer. You know, why did you want to review Doom the Dark Ages specifically? Which is, you know, not a departure from what you usually play, the games you're into, but a departure from what you usually review.
12:58Well, I would say there's two reasons. First reason, uh, Doom has been a big part of my, my childhood. I remember, like, going to my friend's house, whose dad had it installed on their computer, and like, you know, we would, we would go, and it was, it was, it was like the first time I was ever blown away by a game's graphics. Um, it also was like, just kind of like a conversation piece that you'd have at, like, at school, where you're like, oh my god, have you played Doom? You could chainsaw people in half in that game. It's crazy. And then the second reason, uh,
13:28I would say is, you know, here's the secret. The way that Doom has evolved, especially recently, ever since 2016, it's kind of become an action game. It really scratches those, those same itches that a game like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta does. You know, it, when I'm playing Doom the Dark Ages,
13:46my brain is going, like, a hundred miles an hour, I'm, I'm, I'm, like, thinking to myself, okay, I'm gonna zip over here, I'm gonna super shotgun this guy, execute him, oh no, I'm taking damage, I'm gonna, you know, go to these fodder guys over here, you know, get a bunch of health, then I'm gonna, oh, that guy has a, a, a, a explosive barrel next to him, I'm gonna shoot that, zip over here, et cetera, et cetera.
14:04It's the same kind of, like, you know, thing as Devil May Cry, where I'm, like, I'm gonna uppercut this guy, jump in the air, attack, jump, cancel, attack, jump, cancel, knock him away, pull him back, slam him down.
14:15It's that feeling of having your brain just constantly go.
14:19And, uh, that's, that's what I've always really loved about the action game genre.
14:23And Doom really scratches those same kind of itches, especially Doom Dark Ages.
14:28This is a thing that I think comes up when people are talking about Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal, which are both well-loved games, right?
14:36But they also sometimes feel like there's a little bit of a schism between them.
14:39They're, they're kind of different in, in subtle ways that become important.
14:44Why do you think that is?
14:45Where do you land in that conversation between those two past Doom games?
14:49And then also, where do you think the Dark Ages fits between them?
14:53Yeah, well, like I said, I'm, I'm a big action guy.
14:55So, so Doom Eternal is, you know, the pinnacle, I would say of, of shooters for me.
15:01Like it's, it's probably my, my favorite shooter of all time, but it is interesting.
15:05Cause you know, you look at the Metacritic of Doom Eternal and you would, you would think that is universally beloved, but everyone that I've personally talked to has a divisive opinion on that.
15:17They either really, really love it or they're like, oh man, it's just not Doom 2016, man.
15:22And the, the reality is, is that, you know, Doom has changed.
15:26Every, every iteration of Doom has been kind of the same core, but it's been kind of a different flavor.
15:33And some people just don't like the flavor of Doom Eternal.
15:36They don't like, you know, having to constantly be low on, on ammo on certain weapons that they like using.
15:42They don't like, you know, having to quickly swap between two weapons to burst down really tough enemies.
15:51And, you know, they might not like just the, the fact that you have to constantly be double jumping, constantly dashing, constantly, you know, on the move to avoid dying in that game.
16:02Doom Eternal is also very hard.
16:03I would say Doom the Dark Ages brings down the difficulty substantially compared to, uh, Doom Eternal.
16:10And that might be something that people might not really appreciate about it.
16:13But I, I kind of look at it as, you know, this is doing something different that I can still appreciate.
16:20And Doom Eternal still exists.
16:21I can still go back to Doom Eternal and play that anytime I want.
16:24But this is fun in a different way, a different but similar way.
16:28In your review, you do talk about this idea that, you know, there's this huge arsenal, all the weapons are fun, all the weapons stay relevant late into the game, are used in, in these sort of specialized scenarios where they're better or worse, or you might prefer one or the other.
16:45But I, I do want to know, because this is going to be a, a question, right?
16:49You got to have a favorite.
16:50You got to have something that just made you smile to use it.
16:53What, what weapon do you just want to gush about?
16:55I mean, I mentioned it so many times in the review, but the Super Shotgun, man, there's just something about it's shotguns that is just so satisfying.
17:07It's hard to beat, man.
17:09Uh, it's hard to beat just getting up in someone's face, blasting 50 pellets into their, into their giant bloated chest, and then just watching them explode.
17:17Well, I guess the only question I'm left with is, you know, Final Fantasy XVI kind of morphed from an RPG into an action game, and Doom has morphed from a shooter to an action game.
17:31So, is Devil May Cry just the end point of all video games, is the real thing we have to be wondering at this point.
17:37You know what, if we're moving towards a perfect world, I would say, I, I would like to see that.
17:43Well, Mitchell, thank you so much for chatting with me a little bit more about your review, your tastes.
17:48Uh, if you want more from Mitchell, his last review was Fatal Fury City of the Wolves.
17:52You can check out that.
17:53We have another conversation about that game at the end there.
17:56If you want more action shootery type games, we recently reviewed, uh, reviewed La Kimera and Shotgun Cop Man.
18:03Check both of those out as well.
18:04Shotgun Cop Man, also a game where you're shooting shotguns in hell.
18:08That game is so cool, man.
18:11I want to play that so bad.
18:12I just haven't had time.
18:13Well, maybe.
18:14Now that the review's done.
18:15No, probably not.
18:17I've got another one coming up.
18:19Yeah, I guess that's true.
18:21Well, uh, keep an eye out for that one and any other games on IGN.