DOOM: The Dark Ages Review

Sometimes, all you want to do in a video game is rip and tear. For as enjoyable as narrative-driven RPGs, mystery-filled puzzlers and adaptations of beloved movie franchises are, there’s a certain something about titles where the extent of your interactions with its worlds involve a shotgun. That’s what made the original DOOM  great, and what has kept the series relevant for over 30 years. With the exception of DOOM 3, your one and only real goal in any of its many entries has been to kill monsters. DOOM: The Dark Ages doesn’t change that. Although it does have an in-depth narrative, as well as a couple of new gimmicks, it’s effectively the same game you’ve played in 1993 and 2016 and 2020. Just like those games, it won’t be winning any awards for gameplay innovation, but it will for being unabashedly fun.

Like with any good sequel, DOOM: The Dark Ages’ changes to the formula its series created 30-odd years ago are small but noticeable. The biggest one is the ability to parry enemy attacks with a shield that doubles as a throwable melee weapon. On paper (or, in this case, screen), that may seem like a pretty radical design deformation. In-game, however, it functions in much the same way that everything else DOOM: The Dark Ages does differently to its predecessors. It gives you a new way to approach encounters that works in the same way as other iterations of it did in the past. Instead of double-jumping away from incoming damage, you instead can block or riposte them depending on your reflexes. Instead of throwing grenades, you lob a Captain America shield. Instead of doing those things in literal Hell, you do them in levels ripped straight out of Warhammer 40k. ‍

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But its that lack of real innovation that makes the game so endearing. DOOM: The Dark Ages retains the gore-iffically satisfying combat of the two previous entries into its reboot. Each one of its 22 levels tasks you with some sort of arbitrary objective that ultimately boils down to you needing to kill a lot of the un-un-dead with a standard set of weapons that have Gothic skins on them. You will occasionally have to solve a platforming puzzle, and can scour its huge maps for secrets, too. But your main job is to send bad guys back to the underworld, and it feels amazing to do so. The game’s 8-to-15-hour-long runtime is filled with well-designed arenas, unlockable upgrades, and a solid variety of enemies. There’s also a handful of encounters that let you fly a dragon around, some set pieces involving turrets, and you can even pilot a mech during some sequences. DOOM: The Dark Ages, at least gameplay-wise, has everything it needs and very little it doesn’t. It makes you feel like an absolute badass without making you feel overpowered in a way that’s never overwhelming or annoying.

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The same can’t necessarily be said for its narrative, however. Unlike in previous entries into the franchise, DOOM: The Dark Ages has a full-fledged story. But, well, it’s not exactly a good one. It’s relatively standard gothic sci-fi slop that focuses on its world and a bunch of regally titled characters who try to stop Satan’s legions from conquering the universe. It isn’t bad, but it also isn’t very interesting. Most of its events don’t happen in the presence of its protagonist, and its dialogue is filled with an encyclopedia’s worth of people who don’t matter outside of cutscenes. Occasionally you’ll encounter an NPC who you don’t have to shoot while playing, or a friendly soldier who takes pop shots at your foes in combat, but neither type is very consequential. Instead, the game’s story is just sort of there. If you skip it, you won’t be missing out on much, and if you sit through it, you won’t be gaining much, either.

For any other game, that would be a pretty major problem. It isn’t for DOOM: The Dark Ages because of its other non-gameplay aspects, though. The title’s music and graphics, and its technical performance, are more than good enough to make you not care about its narrative. If you’ve played either of the two previous DOOM-boots, you know why. The game’s soundtrack isn’t quite as strong as DOOM 2016’s, for as high of a bar as that is, but the title looks and runs substantially better. Smacking enemies with your Captain Hell shield, or any of its other weapons, sounds satisfying and is a lot more visually detailed. The background music that perpetually plays in the background will get your blood pumping, and you won’t have to worry about its framerate slowing down too much or any bugs or problems.

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That can be said for most of id Software’s lineup. And, ultimately, so can almost everything about DOOM: The Dark Ages. It doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from its predecessors or competitors. It isn’t a bad title, though, or even a mediocre one. It’s a remarkably satisfying shooter with some interesting set dressing and iterations on well-established mechanics. Even though its story is forgettable, and even though its one new weapon functions similarly to a double jump, it’s still satisfying to relax by shooting demons with a shotgun. There’s plenty of secrets for you to uncover during, or after, you complete its main campaign, too. So, in an industry filled with titles that either want to tax your brain or your wallet, it’s refreshing to play one that only demands some amount of your attention and lets you throw a shield at your foes.