I’ve always known Doom to be a respected video game series. Yet until now, I’ve only watched it from afar—watching a mix of violent fight scenes back when I was in college, watching people play it on funky computers, and blasting composer Mick Gordon’s heavy metal soundtrack in my spare time without really understanding why its raucous songs are so heavily influenced by Doom (2016). Now, with id Software and Bethesda Softworks’ latest entry in the 32-year-old first-person shooter series, Doom: The Dark Ages, serving as a prequel to its new trilogy—combining two of my favorite action genres, science fiction and fantasy—I’ve finally dived into the franchise with its new game on PlayStation 5.
I started Doom: The Dark Ages expecting the chaos of a first-person shooter, mixed with the ever-changing demonic combat I love from Devil May Cry, a series I use as a benchmark for action games. I got something even bolder: a Doom game that somehow mimics other greats like Halo and Gears of War, while remaining pure Doom, full of non-stop action and demonic madness, unlike anything I’ve played before.
After being away from the series for so long, I’ve now fully awakened: Doom is a fantastic game in every sense of the word.
A wonderful blend of science fiction and dark fantasy.
As a prequel, Doom: The Dark Ages plunges players into chaos, setting the stage for an all-out war between space lords, medieval warriors, and the demons of Hell. In the game, we see the mind-controlled Doom Slayer caught in a battle where Tonka doll knights (equipped with high-tech communication devices like the Avengers) face off against hordes led by a warlord wearing Dracula’s muscle armor. Initially, Doom Slayer is treated with the same importance as a Final Fantasy summon, with a simple order: annihilate everything in his path with the efficiency of a mobile nuclear bomb.
A medieval story? It exists. Granted, it’s first and foremost an epic backdrop, blending dark fantasy with a touch of science fiction, while transporting players from one crazy moment in WatchMojo’s “Top 10 Insane Doomslayer Kills” video to the next. Among the standout scenes that kept me on the edge of my seat were the Doom Slayer piloting a giant robot that resembled a veteran warrior from Pacific Rim, and riding on the back of a cybernetic dragon armed with a similar gun that looked like it was ripped straight from a metal album cover.
Even with Dark Age’s impressively impressive graphics, the gameplay is a classic video game delight. Throughout the game’s 22 levels, eager players run and gun their way through demon ambushes, collecting armor, ammo, and health potions scattered across the battlefield or offered as incentive to tear demons apart with their bare hands.
Combat and platforming that fires every neuron in your brain.
Despite the absolute chaos of the medieval setting, it’s the combat that truly stands out, offering a wealth of strategy amidst the madness. As its terrifying cover suggests, Doom Slayer fights demons with firearms that fall from the sky like orbital supply pods, making each battle an escalating arms race where Hell is on the defensive. New weapons are added to your arsenal with each level, allowing for seamless customization and switching via the weapon wheel. After adapting to the speed and ferocity required to survive as a Doomslayer, I found myself preferring the following weapons:
- Grenade Launcher: Ideal for starting and ending fights, offering quick and effective crowd control, similar to Overwatch 2’s Junkrat.
- Impaler: A Gatling gun ideal for ranged enemies, dealing stacking damage before exploding with a shield saw.
- Accelerator: An energy weapon similar to Halo’s Plasma Pistol, offering superior accuracy and stopping power.
One of the most surprising and enjoyable aspects of Dark Age’s combat, which I found as fun to solve as it was to fight, was the use of environmental puzzle platforms. I found Dark Age’s emphasis on pausing and uncovering the game’s secrets by strongly encouraging exploration as surprising as its demo of combat decks. Exploration is a big deal, and Dark Age’s continued implementation of the series’ map-based approach to cleverly separating challenging progression from side content, with icons and markers indicating the location of hidden items like gold and gems to upgrade gear, is a boon, making it easy to go back and find upgrades, codex entries, or skins without losing momentum. I found it to be the perfect blend of action and curiosity-driven exploration in a game about slaying demons.
Then there’s the shield saw—a new weapon introduced in Dark Ages, and I doubted it would fit into Doom’s first-person combat. But once I mastered it, it became my favorite weapon in the game’s inventory.
The shield saw is my new friend.
While I was initially worried that using a shield in the game would hinder fast-paced combat, it quickly became my weapon of choice. Not only because it’s saved me many times in tight situations, but also because it adds a special touch to my gameplay. The shield saw not only deflects sword strikes and fireballs, it also serves as a Mjolnir-like tool, allowing you to engage secret areas to uncover treasure, execute enemies with a shield bash, or bounce into a line of enemy shields protected by a barrage of Death Eater fire for crowd control. Without a doubt, my favorite use of the shield saw was its perfect parry.
As in Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Dark Ages’ Shield Saw turns blocking into a high-stakes rhythm game, rewarding players who seek out incoming green fireballs and sword swings and deflect them back at enemies. Even if I’m a lower-level player in a brutal boss fight, or fighting my way through a battle with a handicapped level, a well-timed parry can tip the scales in my favor and deliver a satisfying, all-important victory in an otherwise unwinnable battle. I loved the sheer power of the Royal Guard that the Shield Saw gave me, allowing me to stun enemies in the most brazen of ways.
While in some games, melee combat is the focus, here it’s all about style, not just survival. By brutally striking (or striking with a mace) the Doom Slayer’s face, spheres of health, armor, and ammo regenerate like a vacuum. The game rewards ruthless aggression, encouraging players to embrace the chaos, string together rewarding kills whenever possible, and dominate the battlefield rather than hiding behind the curtain and playing it safe.
The music isn’t to my taste.
Oddly enough, my biggest complaint about this game is its soundtrack. It didn’t resonate with me as strongly as I would have liked. While it does a good job of showcasing the game’s chaos, it doesn’t amplify the gunplay, shield-throwing, and surprising boss reveals as I expected. On the contrary, the more I played, the less people noticed; Even for a beginner, this seemed like a reprehensible conclusion to the game.
After a few hours, I barely noticed the music ramping up before fights, as if it were struggling to match its own insanity (more so than I was during boss fights) to match the absolute insanity on screen. Finishing Move (known for composing for Borderlands 3, Halo Wars 2, and The Callisto Protocol) composed the soundtrack, but in a game like Dark Ages, music had to be a major driving force, not just background noise. In the end, I turned down the volume of Dark Ages’ music and listened to Gordon’s old songs at full volume to make up for what the game lacked in terms of audio.
Overall, Doom: The Dark Ages is an exciting blend of genres, a great entry point into the series, and a game that lives up to the hype it’s received over the past 30 years. I’m glad I stopped thinking about it.
Doom: The Dark Ages is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
