Doom: The Dark Ages Would Have Been Great with Thoughtful Cuts
- Antal Bokor
- May 15
- 4 min read
Doom is an iconic franchise. Though there is little resemblance between my childhood Doom and what is being published by Bethesda, I really can’t complain. The Doom franchise popularized first person shooters to the point where the entire shooter genre was known as “Doom clones” for years before it took on its current moniker. It’s no surprise, then, that there has been some change up to the formula over the years.
While I know Doom: Eternal has a loyal fanbase, I’m someone who much preferred Doom (2016). Doom: The Dark Ages doesn’t exactly return to the 2016 formula, but it gives back the freedom to use whatever weapon you prefer in any given situation. It also takes away the ability to double jump, instead planting the Doom Slayer firmly on the ground. To make up for his lack of mobility, he’s given a shield/chainsaw hybrid known as the Shield Saw and the ability to parry attacks.
The combat in The Dark Ages is definitely a return to form, in my opinion. The ability to choose the weapons I want in the situations I want to use them in is my preferred way to play any shooter. If I want to lean on the super shotgun and use that for most of my run, no problem. Or if I find a new pet weapon–like the Chainshot–I can experiment and find what its strengths and weaknesses are.
The biggest change to the Doom formula, and perhaps this game’s ‘gimmick’ is the Shield Saw. It changes Doom from a movement based shooter to a movement based shooter with the ability to parry certain attacks. It’s great. It also benefits from an upgrade system where you can choose between four runes that change the shield’s behavior when parrying.
Because your chainsaw-imbued shield takes up the secondary fire button, that removes the secondary fire function from the game. But that is made up for by a fun upgrade system that takes weapons you already love and turns them into better versions of themselves.
The Dark Ages doesn’t shy away from its medieval theme, especially when it comes to the weaponry. I think that’s why The Dark Ages keeps getting compared to games like Heretic, Hexen, and Quake. The original Doom is where the traditional first person weapon toolset originated, so to see the series take on a more fantasy approach to its weaponry is definitely a departure. All of the weapons feel fun to use–even if all of them don’t always sound as chunky or impactful as they should. I’d love to say that I used every weapon all the time, but I leaned on my four favorites and didn’t even touch the others once I got their replacement.
One of the best changes to the modern Doom trilogy is how many enemies are thrown at you at once now. I really appreciate the scale of the fights in The Dark Ages. We’re far removed from fighting four or five demons at a time. Expect to encounter entire fields of demonic forces to rip and tear through. Some of these encounters gave me classic Serious Sam vibes, and that’s never a bad thing.
Maps in The Dark Ages can feel a bit large. There are huge open arenas to accommodate the large fights you’ll find yourself in. Each level has a few secrets scattered about, some of which require a fair bit of backtracking.This is an element that ends up feeling old school in a way. But I was never a fan of collect-a-thons, and while The Dark Ages manages a few amusing puzzles, adding weapon upgrade materials to the list of collectibles makes searching these large maps mandatory if you want to unlock the full potential of your weaponry. I don’t hate the environments in The Dark Ages, but it made me miss fighting through cramped sci-fi corridors with flickering lights.
While Doom (2016) seemed to thumb its nose at the proclivity for developers to add too much exposition to their action games, Eternal ignored that, pulling back the curtain a tad too far in the process. The Dark Ages has a similar love for expository cutscenes, and they’re not great. The human character models look strange, and much of the time these cutscenes feature lingering shots on serious, silent faces and the occasional grunt.
The soundtrack tries to do its part, but it's The Dark Age’s weakest component. Nowhere near the greatness that was Mick Gordon’s run at the Doom soundtrack, the backing tracks for The Dark Ages come and go with hardly a standout. The soundtracks were such a huge part of modern Doom, The Dark Age’s substandard offering stands out–or rather doesn’t stand out.
The biggest blemish on The Dark Ages are the tedious mech and dragon sequences. While seeing the dragon spread its lazer wings the first time is cool, the gameplay does not match up. Dodging projectiles in flight is fine, I guess, but it feels like a chore more than an engaging part of gameplay. The mech sections are even worse, and I found myself wishing for a level skip. I know without these sections The Dark Ages would be hours shorter, but I think removing them would have made the whole experience better. But then Bethesda would have a harder time justifying its AAA price tag.
If you would have gone back and told kid me that Doom would turn into a series where you’re flying dragons with lazer wings while battling interdimensional demons on alien worlds, I would have thought it sounded awesome. And it is. But Doom: The Dark Ages is a great eight to ten hour game trapped in a fifteen hour package. Take away the excessive mech fights and flying sequences and you have a much better game. It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t type situation for id Software and Bethesda.
Doom: The Dark Ages is available now on Steam.