Doom: The Dark Ages may be the most expensive game I’ve ever purchased. Now that may sound silly, considering I got this game on the Xbox Game Pass and as such didn’t actually have to pay for it, but this was the first game I’ve ever played that required your graphics card to be RTX capable, meaning in order to play this game I had to do a full system upgrade with a new GPU and PSU alongside additional components to get it all running smoothly. I jest of course, as this is going to be the new standard going forward, so might as well prep myself now. However, it did start me off on a bit of a sour note with this game. So, how does the new DOOM hold up as both a follow-up to the excellent DOOM 2016 and DOOM: Eternal, time to find out!
Story-wise this is the most narrative-focused DOOM game released thus far, which is an odd choice, as DOOM 2016 pretty much established that the whole point of the Doom Slayer’s journey is that he couldn’t care less about narrative or reasoning and just wanted to focus on his sole love, killing demons. Regardless, we are where we are now, and apparently that’s in a high-fantasy sci-fi setting ala Warhammer 40K. The game is set during a war between the Sentinels, space vikings who worship their angel equivalents known as the ‘Maykrs’, and Hell which is… well, Hell. You, as the Slayer (no idea why you aren’t called the Doom Slayer, maybe it just flows better) are a weapon currently being wielded by the Maykrs who is sent down to assist the Sentinels in their war. This takes you on a wild ride through different dimensions, meeting different characters all in an attempt to show you what the Doom Slayer was like before the events of the Doom reboot. As such, there’s a lot of medieval influence combined with the sci-fi elements and all in all it makes the setting a lot more power-metal and fantastical than it was even before. However, I can say that if DOOM wants to be taken more seriously for its story, then it is making an unfortunate stumble as I found the actual plot of this game to be a bit of a mess. There were of course plenty of cool setpieces and events, the latter half of the game in particular goes absolutely wild, but the events all seem very… separate. None of the characters you meet are particular interesting, none of the events that take place seem to happen in an easily followable linear fashion, and all in all it just seems like the story and narrative designers had a bunch of cool ideas they wanted to throw into a more fantasy-inspired DOOM game, but didn’t actually account for how these elements would get thrown together. I like the ideas, but the execution was rather poor.
Presentation is a funny one for me here. For being the first game for me that required a mandatory PC systems update to even begin playing, it didn’t quite blow me away in terms of the visual design. Now don’t get me wrong, the game does look gorgeous, and on the highest settings it runs like a treat while still remaining excellent to see in motion, but it didn’t really raise the bar or anything for me. The game looked really good, but it looked as good as other games, and for the requirements it seems like a bit of a waste of such power. I will say, the latter half of the game shows some incredible visuals, with some of the locations really providing the exact amount of awe I would expect for playing a game such as this. Sound design too has had a huge improvement and with the Doom Slayer being a much slower and tankier character in this game they matched the sound to really emphasise this. Steps feel weighty, jumps land with incredible reverb and destructive potential, guns feel explosive and powerful, all of this really helps to emphasise the power fantasy, which is excellent news. However, one thing that was a real shame was the soundtrack. With Mick Gordon’s departure I expected the soundtrack to feel and sound quite different, and it does, but it also doesn’t really feel as powerful or epic as I would hope. Only in a couple of areas did the music really kick in and made for a much more enjoyable experience, but otherwise for general combat encounters or other such more common moments it all felt a bit, passive? Not bad, just nothing I would look up online later to jam out to. For a game series with such a legendary style of music behind it, this is a big letdown.
Now to gameplay. As stated before, you’re a much slower and beefier Doom Slayer in this title and this is also reflected in the gameplay style. The biggest new addition is the shield, the weapon that’s always present on your character, with it giving you the ability to block enemy shots, shield bash to zip across the battlefield, throw it into enemies to stun them and use it to parry certain attacks. The game is obviously built around the shield, and for what it does, it’s a lovely addition. With the elements of parrying and more melee combat it can almost at times feel like a rhythm game, waiting for the perfect opportunity to parry attacks, hit back, and flow with the combat to give you openings and resources. I also enjoyed some of the new weapons they introduced, including the skull launchers and spike launchers. This title also comes with entirely new gameplay styles in the form of mech combat and dragon-riding gameplay. The mech combat was some of the most fun I had in the game, turning the giant fights into actual boxing matches which worked well with the slower gameplay and the scale you felt was absolutely spectacular. The dragon-gameplay however was a bit of a letdown as while it looked cool, a lot of it turned into, weirdly, simon-says type gameplay with dodging in certain patterns while circling around turrets with only the occasional optional chase sequence to make the flying combat actually feel fun and thrilling. I do like them trying to implement some variety into the campaign, so you aren’t just doing the same shooting over and over, but it can lead to some misses. In particular, the turret sections felt straight out of a modern warfare shooter from the mid 2010’s, something I do not want for a game series such as DOOM.
The biggest pitfall I think this game suffers from however is the main change I mentioned earlier, it’s slower. Now, I’m all for wanting to make some variety in your games between titles, you don’t want to just release the same game over and over again but just looking prettier, but when I come to DOOM I come for pulse-pounding, high twitchy trigger shooter combat where I fly around the map, shoot dudes, then stomp on their faces. DOOM: The Dark Ages instead wants you to feel like an immovable object, encouraging you to stay still, block damage with your shield, then counter with cooldown-based abilities like throwing your shield or engaging in melee. The shooter gameplay is how it always is, but with the lessened mobility you don’t feel that sense of power-fantasy and high-octane action, you just feel like a tank. While that in itself can also feel fun, it also doesn’t feel like the type of gameplay you want in a DOOM game. Ironically, it almost feels like the giant mech sections had this in mind, as just the inclusion of a dodge would have worked well to make the combat feel more fast paced and encouraged you to actually dodge projectiles rather than just hiding behind your shield. If the general gameplay styles between the mech and the main combat got swapped around, I actually think this may have led to a more enjoyable and sensible experience. Combine this, with the fact that this full priced game comes with an (admittedly beefy) campaign, a few secrets to find in the game, and not much else is a bit of a shame. Previous titles had multiplayer modes, and while they were never popular and thus understandable as to why they were dropped, it does feel as though a game like this that doesn’t have as much content shouldn’t have been full price, especially as the added elements either don’t add up to a new, enjoyable experience or just don’t work.
Overall then, is DOOM: The Dark Ages worth your time? Personally, I did have a fun experience with the game, and while it isn’t as good as 2016 or Eternal in my opinion it was still a fun romp. However, this is because I played it on the Xbox Game Pass, if I had paid full price for this game, I think I may have felt a bit worse for wear. As the game that required me to spend multiple hundreds of pounds to actually upgrade my PC enough to play it, I wouldn’t say it was fully worth it. Play it, and enjoy the spectacles of the game on the Game Pass, but then don’t think too much about it afterwards. Good game, could be better, can’t believe this was my most expensive game.