Doom: The Dark Ages

INTRO
I first encountered ID Software’s games in 1998. One evening after school, I decided to visit a new internet café that all my friends were talking about because the computers there had video games installed. I paid the fee, sat at the computer, clicked on the Quake II icon, and the rest is history. When I first landed on the Strogg planet and immersed myself in the world created by ID Software, I started to enjoy an incredible game for its time. The fantastic level design, addictive gameplay, and powerful, original weapons—in a word, I knew I’d be a fan for life.

WHO ARE ID
ID Software was founded in 1991 in Shreveport, Louisiana, by John Carmack, John Romero, Adrian Carmack, and Tom Hall. The duo of Romero and Carmack revolutionized the gaming industry with innovative titles and technologies. Their first major success was Commander Keen (1990), but their true breakthrough came with Wolfenstein 3D (1992), which popularized the first-person shooter (FPS) genre. John Carmack, a genius programmer, developed revolutionary graphics engines, while John Romero, a talented designer, created captivating levels and atmosphere. The graphics engines written by Carmack have enabled many other developers to create some great games. Their next hit, Doom (1993), cemented their reputation, offering dynamic gameplay and a multiplayer mode. Quake (1996) introduced fully 3D environments and became a pioneer in online gaming. Despite their successes, tensions between Carmack and Romero led to Romero’s departure in 1996. ID Software continued to create influential games like Doom 3 and Rage, and in 2009, it was acquired by Bethesda Softworks. Carmack left in 2013, but the legacy he left at ID Software and in the gaming industry remains immense.

STORY
“Story in video games is like the story in porn—it’s optional,” said John Carmack. ID Software has always prioritized fantastic gameplay and graphics over story, and this holds true here as well. Doom: The Dark Ages is a prequel to Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal. Set in a techno-medieval world on Argent D’Nur, the game follows the Doom Slayer as he battles demonic hordes from Hell. The game reveals the Slayer’s origins, portraying him as an elite warrior of the Night Sentinels, defending their world from a hellish invasion. Unlike previous entries, the focus is on slower, tactical combat, with new weapons like a shield-saw and mechanics such as controlling a cyber-dragon and a giant mech, Atlan. The medieval atmosphere, blended with sci-fi technology, creates a unique vision. Powered by the ID Tech 8 engine, the game offers expansive levels, epic battles, and a deeper narrative about the Slayer’s rage, while retaining the series’ signature intense action.

The Slayer is the ultimate badass, the quintessential alpha male. He’s what every red-blooded, heterosexual man aspires to be: strong, confident, and a fearless ass-kicker. The higher demons are cardboard cutouts serving as bosses. They exist to give you a headache and to be killed in spectacular, merciless ways. Prince Ahzrak, the main villain, wants the Heart of Argent to gain godlike power from the soul of the Wraith so he can rule over Hell as the head of the High Council of Hell, but as you can guess, he fails because the Slayer gives him a permanent headache. Heh-heh.

Gina Gershon voices the Witch, Ahzrak’s ally. Her goal is to open the path for her own hellish god to return from the cosmic realm to Argent D’Nur. The Kreed Maykr is the newly appointed Bishop of the Ministry and holds the critical responsibility of overseeing the steady flow of Sentinel Energy to Urdak. He attempts to betray the Slayer and the Sentinels and pays a hefty price for it. King Novik and his daughter Thira provide support to the Slayer and are serviceable characters.

GRAPHICS
The new ID Tech 8 engine delivers true eye candy for gamers. The lighting and weather effects are stunning. Weapon effects and the graphical detail of the damage on enemies make you feel like you’re truly obliterating and tearing demons into thousands of pieces, sending them back to the hellish abyss. Slowing down the Slayer’s speed by introducing the parry mechanic and the shield as a weapon definitely changes the game’s dynamics compared to Eternal, but it doesn’t make it worse. Throwing dozens or hundreds of enemies into combat arenas brings the game closer to the Serious Sam series, which itself is an homage to Doom and Quake. The engine doesn’t choke even for a moment if your screen is full of enemies. The game is polished to a very high level, typical for ID.

GAMEPLAY
ID Software has transformed the Slayer from the fast and agile demon killer he was in Eternal into a tank-like badass. In his shoes, you feel like a freight train with a shotgun, and it’s awesome! The shield’s hook mechanic lets you move from one end of the arena to the other, striking the hellspawn with terrifying force, killing weaker enemies with a single blow. When you gain the ability to throw the shield and embed it into demons to deal damage until they die or you recall it, a tactical element emerges. You can pin larger demons in place, allowing you to keep moving and crushing other unfortunate fiends while partially exposed to damage, or keep the shield close for defense and the hook mechanic. Variety is the spice of death. If you parry a melee attack at the right moment, the enemy staggers, and a shockwave from the clash hits nearby demons. The shield jump verticalizes gameplay, adding even more variety. The Slayer’s speed may be reduced, but his mobility is not. With these innovations, the Slayer is more mobile than in Eternal, and platforming is more precise and accurate compared to the previous game. To gain armor, health, ammo, and melee attack charge, you need to fight, creating a fun and addictive gameplay loop: fight, gather resources, fight. The parry mechanic makes the game slower and more tactical. First, you need to parry the enemy’s green attack with armor and send it back to heat it up, and when it heats up to white, you shoot the shield to break it. After that the bastard is exposed to your weapons. You have to judge which of the green attacks to parry and accordingly send them back to the foes and in what order. You also have to find the precise moment to shoot your shield to pin them in place or kill some of them. But it gets even better. In Doom The Dark Ages, the battle moves into the air.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON SLAYER STYLE
Is there anything more metal than The Doom Slayer riding a dragon with two mounted Gatling Guns on its back? I don’t think so. Using vehicles is common in FPS games, but in The Dark Ages it comes with a unique twist typical of ID Software’s games. In the fifth chapter of the game, you get the opportunity to ride a combat dragon. The gameplay with it is fun and makes you feel like you are controlling a flying tank. While flying you can shoot with the machine guns to destroy obstacles that block your path forward in the level. When you face a demonic cannon tower or a huge demon protected by an energy barrier, you need to press L2 and enter a mini-game. The tower starts firing green energy waves or projectiles if it is a demon, and the better you dodge them successfully, the more charge you accumulate, which you can fire back at the target with R2. If you are facing a demon, you can finish it with an execution with R3 the moment it acquires purple outlines. The dragon bites its neck artery and a fountain of blood shoots out and in the next second the creature falls dead. BRUTAL. These sections are relatively rare and some gamers find them repetitive, but for me they are fun. The action continues in MECHSLAYER

Oh yes. The Slayer in a Mech. In the third chapter, the Slayer acquires a mech suit inspired by the Jaegers from Pacific Rim and to make it even more metal, there are two horns on the head of the mech. In the suit, you feel like an all-powerful god of destruction and wrath. When a building-sized demon stands in front of you in the level and you start a boxing match. If you are fast enough you knock it out and crush it. With R1 you deliver a Rocket Punch, which is a heavy right hook. If you hit the ground with it you create an explosion in which if an enemy is caught it takes damage. With R2 you dodge the demons’ attacks. A bit further in the level you get a double huge Gatling Gun. Double the barrels, double the fun. This is as badass as it sounds. The more you shoot with the gatling the more it heats up, so at some moments you will have to wait for it to cool down.

At the end of the chapter with the suit, there’s a cool moment where you shove an energy core into the mouth of a giant demon, which you need to carry far from the city before it destroys it, and in true Doom fashion, you hurl it into an abyss to explode, killing two birds with one stone. The mech suit sections are also rare and although some find them simpler compared to the ground combat for me that is their strength – simple (in the good sense of the word) and brutal moments in which you go 100 percent into the power fantasy.

Depending on your choice of difficulty the campaign will take you 15-20 hours. If you have played the previous games and have experience with FPS games I recommend Ultra-Violence or Nightmare, and if you are a game journalist better play on Aspiring Slayer. Heh-heh. In the settings you can change the parry window, auto-aim, the power of your attacks, the window for perfect dodge with Atlan. You can also adjust how good health and ammo pickups you will find throughout the levels, how much damage you will deal and receive, how aggressive the enemies will be and some others. This makes the difficulty quite balanced and justifies buying the game because of the different changes in gameplay you can make.

There is a new game mode in Doom The Dark Ages – Ripatorium. This is a Horde mode. You choose one of the offered arenas, the number and type of opponents, the rounds, the difficulty and start the fun. This extends the time you will spend with the game.

ATMOSPHERE AND LEVEL DESIGN
The game’s world blends medieval and modern technology. The architecture has clear medieval, Gothic inspirations. The demons teleported into the game’s world resemble Renaissance paintings, creating a simultaneously terrifying and beautiful canvas on which to paint your own picture of destruction. ID Software’s artists have done a perfect job in this aspect too. The devastation caused by the demonic invasion is depicted in detailed, grim beauty—half-destroyed buildings, bodies hanging from gallows, body parts strewn across village grounds, people impaled on stakes. These parts of the levels remind one of the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, a Dutch artist from the late Renaissance known for his depictions of the Apocalypse, particularly the torments demons inflict on sinners during the Last Judgment. Another testament to the demonic invasion is the totems erected in the human world by the hellspawn.

It’s typical for ID Software to have excellent level design, and they don’t deviate from their style this time. Most of the levels are huge arenas with enemy encounters, secrets, and collectibles scattered around. It’s a sandbox that you can play in. You can choose where to go to a certain extent and what to do in what order.

MUSIC AND SOUND
It is a matter of subjective taste, but for me the music is one of the game’s few weak points. Many people praise it, but for me Brian Trifon and Brian Lee White lack the talent of Trent Reznor, the frontman of Nine Inch Nails and composer of the Quake II soundtrack. Reznor didn’t compose for ID’s cult classic for the money. He was a huge fan of the first Quake. For the composers of Dark Ages, it feels like just another task. The music blends industrial metal with medieval motifs and typical orchestral music in more epic scenes. They mimic the soundtrack of older games in the new tracks, making them merely decent background noise for the action and destruction, but nothing more. The soundtrack lacks memorable tracks like “Rip and Tear” composed by BFG Division. Some of the compositions like for example Hebeth, which plays in the level with the same name, introduce a good horror atmosphere and suspense. There are pleasant guitar metal riffs and drum compositions reminiscent in style of Metallica’s Black Album. And it seems Finishing Move are also fans of Korn, because their influence is felt as well. It lacks passion. However, the sound effects of the weapons are highly satisfying. The Super Shotgun gives a powerful double-barreled sound blast in your headphones, which will make you say, “HELL, YEAH!” The Shredder sounds like an industrial jackhammer. Its brother, the Impaler, has a similar but slightly more powerful sound.

WEAPONS
Original and powerful weapons have always been a hallmark of ID Software’s games, and The Dark Ages is no exception. Almost all weapons have two variants, doubling the fun, and all the guns have a distinctive medieval design. You start with the combat shotgun, a Doom classic. Devastating at close range, each shot rips chunks of flesh from demonic fiends, which is incredibly satisfying. The light and sound effects when firing pump adrenaline into your veins, urging you to dive into the fray even more bloodthirstily, and eager to turn demons into bloody pulp.

The SHOTGUN is a Doom staple.
One upgrade for the combat shotgun allows you to fire three shells at once, making it even more destructive. Another applies burn damage to weaker demons, killing them faster, or causes them to drop armor with each shot—a true blessing in heated moments. The upgraded combat shotgun is the super shotgun, my favorite weapon in the game. Two barrels, two shots, devastating damage. The super shotgun kills weaker demons in one shot. Larger ones might require one or two reloads. It’s wise to fully upgrade this weapon, as it’s incredibly useful throughout the game.

The Shredder
is Quake’s nail gun on steroids. This cool toy fires nail projectiles at lightning speed, dealing decent damage. Two upgrades are tied to the shield. If you fill a demon with enough nails and then throw the shield at them, the nails explode, embedding into nearby demons and causing serious damage. With another upgrade, you throw the shield first, and the nails you fire into the demon ricochet, hitting nearby fiends.

The Shredder’s alternate variant, The Impaler, has a slower fire rate but higher damage and allows you to shoot nails from a greater distance.

The Pulverizer is one of my favorite weapons in this game and proof of why ID Software excels in game design. If you’ve ever wanted to blast demonic hordes with crushed skull fragments, the Pulverizer is the gun for you. You can upgrade it to make it even deadlier and more fun. The first upgrade speeds up your melee attack recharge the more you fire. The second makes the charge constant, so in heated moments when you need the special melee attack, you dive into the fray, kill a few demons, and voilà—you recharge it. The final upgrade lets you spray skull fragments over a wider area. It’s the game’s SMG.

The Ravager is the other variant of the Pulverizer. This bad boy has a few quite useful upgrades. With the first one, demons drop health pickups when you shoot them. With the second one, you can choose either for the weapon to take less time to reach max fire rate and remove the movement penalty or to have a higher fire rate, but it gets there a bit slower, and the movement penalty is more severe. With the final upgrade, killed enemies drop ammo.

The Accelerator is the Quake II’s plasma rifle with a new skin, available in two variants: the main one and The Cycler. It has a high fire rate and is effective at close to medium range.
One upgrade significantly boosts its fire rate or reduces recoil.
Another lets you fire a charged plasma shot that deals significant damage or extends the charge duration.
The final upgrade, Overload, supercharges the Accelerator, greatly increasing its damage.
The Cycler is the brother from another mother to the Accelerator.
The first upgrade, Shock, electrifies an enemy after enough damage, making them easier to take down and passing a deadly electric arc to nearby demons when the enemy perishes.
Amplify increases damage to demons.
Fulmination extends the shock duration.
Overload, the final upgrade, recharges your charge with each kill—the bigger the demon, the more charge you get.

Have you ever dreamed of wielding a portable ship cannon with a chain attached to the cannonball? Well, you can fulfill that dream when you get your hands on The Chainshot. That baby is one of the best weapons in the game. Not only does it rip everything in front of it when launched, but when it retracts back to you, it damages everything in its path too. It has three upgrades.
The first one, Eldritch Blessing, gives you the ability to charge your next shot when you parry a Hell Surge attack.
With the second one, you can deal more damage to armored enemies when at maximum charge.
With the final and best, the Chainshot cannonballs explode on impact with a demon.

The Grenade Launcher has an especially cool medieval design. The grenades are positioned outside of the weapon and are loaded in after every shot like artillery shells in the barrel. You have to be a pretty good shot to master this weapon because of the lobbing of the grenades, but it is pretty satisfying when you score a direct hit. The grenade launcher has three upgrades.
The first one, Fragment, is pretty straightforward: every direct hit on an enemy drops Cluster Grenades that hurt everything in the area.
The second one, Rupture, is simple but effective. First, you impale a demon with the shield saw, and then you fire a grenade at it, and again it drops Cluster Grenades.
The third one, Cataclysm, is a variation of the first two. Every second direct hit drops Cluster Grenades.

The Rocket Launcher has always been a trademark of ID Software’s games, and the new Doom is no exception. It has a similar medieval design to the Grenade Launcher. This baby also has three upgrades, but like some of the other weapons, the second has two variants.
With Cannibalism, after you parry a Hell Surge attack, the self-damage it causes heals you.
Successfully parrying a Hell Surge attack charges your next shot instantly, and this is the second upgrade, Cooked. Its other variant, Blood Sacrifice, makes Rocket Launcher projectiles deal increased splash damage at the cost of more self-damage.
When using the final upgrade, Bloodlust, Cannibalism has a prolonged effect.

The BFG is a constant in the Doom franchise, and The Dark Ages is no exception, and it’s completely logical for it to be redone in this game as a crossbow. The BFC or The Ballistic Force Crossbow is unlocked around the end of the game. This big boy doesn’t have any upgrades because it doesn’t need them. It’s powerful enough on its own, and the design is cool as hell.

MELEE WEAPONS
In previous entries the melee weapons in Doom were limited to the iconic chainsaw, but in The Dark Ages that is changed. In tune with its medieval setting ID has added three melee weapons for your demon killing pleasure.

The Power Gauntlet lets you deliver meaty punches to the hordes, some so powerful that their bodies fall apart.
Finisher - Buffs the final hit of your melee combo.
Duelist - Parrying attacks will speed up your melee regeneration.
Jolt - The first hit of your melee combo will shock demons and cause them to take more damage.
Encore - Add a fourth hit to your melee combo, but it is only possible to earn this fourth hit by executing parries.

The Flail is an excellent choice if you’re worried about armored enemies, as it can tear through a demon’s protection with ease.
Conditioning - Reduces melee recharge time by five seconds.
Ignite - Hitting demons sets them on fire and drops armor.
Resonant - Strikes do extra damage to shields and demon armor, while also dropping armor for you. Engulf - Strikes set nearby demons on fire as well.

The Dreadmace is by far the most powerful melee weapon, but also takes the longest time to recharge.
Reaper - Demons killed with the Dreadmace drop more health.
Obliterator - Strikes deal increased damage to nearby enemies.
Riposte - Parrying an attack when the Dreadmace is already charged will give you an additional swing.

Doom: The Dark Ages’ biggest combat innovation is the introduction of a shield. Not only can it be used to parry attacks, but you can also throw it and charge through demons. It comes with its own upgrade tree, as well as upgrades for Shield Runes, which allow it to perform special abilities.
Retaliation - Parrying attacks will trigger a more powerful shockwave.
Power Surge - Hitting energy shields with your shield will cause it to bounce off and hit other enemies.
Extended Edge - Shield throws will have an extended reach against fodder enemies. Steadfast - Your shield will recover faster from taking damage and breaking. Harvester - Killing enemies with a shield throw will buff your next shield charge. Blade Master - The stun duration of your shield saw is increased. Ground Fissure - creates an earthquake-like effect, causing demons to stumble after a parry. Aftershock - Ground Fissure travels further. Wavefront - Enemies affected by Ground Fissure are set on fire and drop armor. Megathrust - Ground Fissure’s size and damage are further increased. Holy Swarm - A swarm of daggers is shot into nearby enemies after a successful parry. Outbreak - There are more daggers included in the swarm, and they deal more damage. Upsurge - The number of daggers and damage increases again. Plague - The number of daggers and damage increases to the max. Auto Turret - After executing a parry, a turret will sprout from your shoulder, aiding in an immediate counterattack. Extended Magazine - Auto Turret’s duration is increased. Health Extractor - Demons hit by the turret drop health pickups. Rapid Fire - The turret’s damage and rate of fire are increased. Heaven Splitter - If you parry a projectile, a bolt of lightning will stun nearby demons, letting you attack freely. Induction - Stun duration is increased. Megaburst - Heaven Splitter’s area of effect is increased. Gigawatt - Enemies hit by Heaven Splitter are shocked and take more damage.

ENEMIES
There are several enemy types, and in this game, every enemy can kill you. Basic zombie demons move slowly but have a nasty ranged attack, firing energy balls. If several are close together, their attacks are hard to dodge, and with low health, you’re dead after one or two hits. Imp Stalkers attack with a sprint, relying on close-range attacks and won’t stop until you put them down for good. They have an “invisible” variant, the game’s attempt at a jump scare. If you spot them first and pin them with the shield, they’re easy to deal with. Hell Knights are a heavier version of Stalkers. Their melee attacks can kill you in seconds. I recommend the Super Shotgun for them. There are two types of shielded enemies. The weaker ones are easy to defeat, while Shield Soldiers are tougher. You have to use the parry tactic and then throw your shield to kill them. Pinky Riders are demons with bows riding a demonic mix of minotaur and dinosaur. They hit you with red and green energy blasts. Again, parrying a green attack staggers them, making them easy to kill. The Mancubus is Doom’s bloater. Slow and barely mobile, it waits for you to come to it, hitting with ranged attacks. Instead of arms, it has flamethrowers for close combat that can fry you quickly. Keep your distance and shoot from afar. If you stagger it, it dies in one hit. The Mancubus and Pinky Rider have armored mini-boss variants. You must overheat their armor with gunfire, blow it up with the shield, and then finish them off. Vagary is a spider-like boss, also armored, attacking with a mix of ranged and close attacks.

CONCLUSION
Doom: The Dark Ages is in a league of its own. In an era where CoD and Rainbow 6 have turned into parodies of FPS games, the new Doom is a refreshing addition in the spirit of the games that made me and millions of others fall in love with gaming. If you’ve played previous ID games, The Dark Ages will give you a fantastic dose of nostalgia, and if you haven’t, you’ll fall head over heels for this masterpiece. If you’re a fan of FPS games, this entry in the Doom series is a must-have addition to your collection. [Link for purchase]

Final verdict: 9/10
Godspeed and keep slaying!