Doom: The Dark Ages review – Bigger doesn’t always mean better

Doom: The Dark Ages has an exceptional combat loop that is among the best in series history. However, in a desire to expand on a winning formula, id Software has fallen short of the high bar it set with Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal.

Although id may have changed up the formula, they’ve struck gold for a third time running. They’ve managed this by slowing down the pace and forcing players to stand their ground in what often becomes a bullet hell shooter. During its best moments, it’s one of the most satisfying FPS games I’ve played in some time.

However, monotonous level design fails to keep up the momentum in broader open areas, the story struggles greatly from pacing issues, and new dragon-riding and mech-piloting sections leave a lot to be desired.

I enjoyed much of my 19 hours with Doom: The Dark Ages, but having just replayed Doom 2016 and Eternal, this isn’t a step forward for the franchise.

Doom: The Dark Ages screenshots

What is Doom: The Dark Ages about?

Set well before the events of Doom 2016, this prequel sheds new light on the origins of the iconic Doom Slayer.

You’re still fending off demons, but this time, the action takes place in a medieval-like period. There are new characters, plenty of new hellacious sights to see and ultimately liberate, and, of course, hordes of otherworldy monsters to tear through.

A Hell of a time

Doom’s gameplay doesn’t stay stagnant. Where 2016 was a mostly grounded experience with a little movement tech thrown in, Eternal innovated greatly, pushing the pace so that you rarely ever stayed on the ground.

Now, id Software has overhauled its FPS systems again to make for another addictive combat loop. There’s a bigger emphasis on getting up close and personal, and while there are a number of long-range options like the Ravager and the Rocket Launcher, it really shines when you’re close enough to get your fists a little bloody.

The Dark Ages puts melee combat in the spotlight, giving you one-handed weapons to use alongside your surprisingly versatile shield. But rather than just being new options in a gun-heavy shooter, the game feels built from the ground up with these new mechanics at the heart of it all.

You’ll be navigating a bullet-hell-esque battlefield, dodging and weaving through multi-colored projectiles flying out from all directions. You also need to be wary of melee attacks from nearby targets, dodging or parrying them at just the right moment to open a window for a lethal counterpunch.

Your shield is your most valuable tool as it counters both types of attacks. Of course, it can block incoming damage, but when parries are timed just right, you can leave enemies reeling.

It’s the closest thing I’ve experienced to a first-person Soulslike. Timing and positioning are crucial. You can’t just go in guns blazing and expect to come out on top.

Combat is intoxicating from start to finish and never gets tiring given the wealth of variables in play. Dozens of weapon and shield upgrades keep you engaged, and much like in previous games, there are pinnacle challenges waiting to max out every weapon too.

You enter a sort of flow-state before long, knowing exactly what’s required in any given situation. It’s a flow-state I didn’t want to come to an end, making sure I took the time to see and do everything. I tracked down every collectible, completed every mission challenge, and plenty more in between on the way to the Platinum. I loved every moment of the combat in the midst of its chaos.

However, I did encounter a few performance issues playing on the base PS5, especially in the back half of the game. With hordes of enemies on screen at any given moment, frame drops weren’t uncommon. Oddly enough, there are no visual settings options on the base PS5. You can’t opt for a version with lesser graphical fidelity in order to help boost frame rate like in Doom Eternal.

Level design takes two steps back

Unfortunately, the rest of Doom: The Dark Ages can’t match the quality of its exceptional combat. Both 2016 and Eternal featured their fair share of vast open maps to explore, all jam-packed with secret areas to find, resources to gather, optional fights, and collectibles to nab. That’s still the case in The Dark Ages, though the scope has been dialed up.

There are some massive plots of land packed into this game’s 22 levels, many with winding paths, multiple levels of elevation, and out-of-reach zones that you have to return to later on. While they can be fun to navigate at first, there’s a degree of similarity between them that, at times, can make it feel like you’re replaying the same thing over and over.

Almost every level is identical in how it’s framed. You load into a map with one core objective such as activating a portal or unlocking a door. In order to do so, you must first interact with 2-4 other ‘things’ to trigger the main task. You get a cutscene for your efforts, and then it’s off to the next level to repeat those steps.

There is one particularly inventive section near the end of the game that shakes things up in a clever way. Your map is disabled at various points, forcing you to figure out environmental puzzles in order to progress. This was the standout level of the entire game, and proves there can be some creativity to the level design. However, it was ultimately the exception to the rule.

It grows incredibly tiresome before long, and it’s not helped by the fact The Dark Ages is the biggest of the modern Doom games, a few hours longer than the others.

Pacing issues are impossible to avoid with the more open-ended structure. After being dropped into a level, it might take you 45 minutes to trigger the requirements before getting back to the task at hand. In the interim, there’s little in the way of storytelling.

You may get a line or two of generic ‘enemies dispatched’ dialogue as you clear a path, but the story rarely progresses in the game itself. It almost exclusively plods forward in cutscenes, a new addition to the franchise.

On multiple occasions, especially after lengthy runs tracking down collectibles before coming back to the main objective, I had completely forgotten what was happening. I found myself lost more than once due to the expanded levels and their split focus.

The soundtrack isn’t helped by the open level design either. Typically a highlight of Doom games thanks to Mick Gordon (Doom 2016 being one of the best video game soundtracks of all time), there are now considerable chunks of silence as you roam the less linear levels, fights blend into one another in a way that they haven’t before, and you lose that punch from when a head-banging track kicks in. A shame, as new composers at Finishing Move have created some bangers for the Dark Ages.

The Dark Ages also reverted one of Eternal’s best changes – the ability to backtrack upon reaching the end of a level. Fast-travel allowed you to seek out any remaining collectibles or hidden resources in a jiffy. Now, if you missed something, tough luck – you have to replay the level if you want to track it down, which can become a chore given how big some of the areas are. It can also hinder the narrative’s pacing as a result.

Mechs and Dragons aren’t all that

One of the big new features touted before the game’s release is the arrival of the Atlan Mech and your own friendly dragon to ride. They’re not very impressive, certainly not as fleshed-out as on-foot mechanics, and their dedicated levels distract you from what makes Doom great. They add little value apart from breaking up the repetitive levels, but thankfully, they’re not a huge component, accounting for roughly 10-15% of total game time.

In particular, the mech sections feel peculiar as, rather than piloting a 100-meter-tall Pacific Rim-style mech, it comes across like you’re a normal-sized human, and just everything else around you has been shrunk down to miniature scale, almost comedically so. A hellscape for ants, if you will.

Verdict

Despite its flaws, Doom: The Dark Ages features some of the best FPS combat the genre has ever seen. Through all my pain points, it was this combat that kept me moving forward, wanting to seek out every extra bit of content tucked away in the darkest corners. I couldn’t leave a stone unturned, as it might’ve resulted in me missing another awesome onslaught.

However, thanks to repetitive level design, it never quite lives up to the caliber of Doom 2016 or Doom Eternal, while the new mech and dragon features add little to the mix. It makes for the weakest of the three contemporary entries, but it’s worth checking out just for the combat.