Doom: The Dark Ages is not a continuation of the blood-ritual carnage of Doom Eternal, it is a return to the past – literally and spiritually. Developer id Software releases a prequel to its modern Doom series of games, taking us back to a time when the Slayer was used as the ultimate super weapon of gods and kings. It sounds metal as hell and is the perfect setting for a series that was running out of hell for destruction.
The thing is, id Software landed in this medieval war against Hell not out of convenience, but out of a need to change the fundamentals of the game. To return to where Doom became a legend two decades ago. “At the beginning of every development cycle, I replay the original Doom and get the team to play it. I realized we hadn’t hit the target yet,” says creative director Hugo Martin. And that is where Doom: The Dark Ages was born.
Back to basics
The reason for this epiphany? The projectiles. The nightmare gauntlet of floating, homing hazards. “I immediately noticed how slow these projectiles were moving – it just dawned on me that is the maze. Movement is more horizontal as you make your way between projectiles and everyone the projectile mattered in the original Doom.”
Doom Eternal invests heavily in verticality, making constant movement across multiple planes of wider battle arenas a central component of the main rhythm of encounters. Martin says that returning to the ethos that underpinned the series in the beginning became a “main pillar” of what the team wanted to achieve with Doom: The Dark Ages. “We couldn’t go higher than Doom Eternal. It’s been a great experience, but we want each game to stand on its own,” says Martin.
“If you were an F22 fighter in Doom Eternal, this time we wanted you to feel like an Abrams tank,” he adds, and it’s an analogy that’s indicative of where id is driving Doom: The Dark Ages. “It means you’re more powerful and more grounded. The combat system for new players – those who only got into Doom with the reboot – I think with The Dark Ages they’re going to feel like a reimagined combat system. But for long-time fans of the series, people who played the original Doom, you’ll see that this really is a return to form.”
What does this mean in real terms? Martin says that the spirit of the original game comes alive in many ways, but perhaps the most notable is in terms of how you move. “You’re heavier, stronger and more grounded,” he says. “We’re making the pursuit of a goal a thing again. You’ll be moving between projectiles just like you did in the original Doom to get that Super Shotgun shot in the chest… It almost creates this 3D ‘shoot em up’ puzzle that you work your way through.”
Power trip
Doom: The Dark Ages features flatter, denser battle arenas – set in more ecologically diverse environments than anything we’ve seen in the series to date. Powered by idTech’s latest engine, id Software has achieved phenomenal results from its first release on the Xbox Series X. But amidst all the devastation and gutting, you might not have noticed just how many demons are pouring into your purview.
“We have more demons than ever before. There’s a shot where the Slayer turns a corner and he kills so many of them. Using that scattergun and doing all that damage, with all the bits of blood that come out, and the feedback that we can get now in games is just amazing. It’s so exciting to be able to bring this to the players,” continues Martin. “The technology really allows us to do some of the biggest spaces and the biggest AI, and the weapons feel like the most powerful you’ve ever held in a Doom game.”
That’s a bold statement. But one that Martin is sure id Software can pull off well, and one that’s directly reflected by an outrageous narrative framework. “You are a weapon of mass destruction in this game. We like to say it’s this medieval war against the forces of hell and everything goes haywire. The good guys lose, and you’re the nuclear option — and we’re putting you in that driver’s seat.”
This, Martin says, means you’ll be “killing more demons than you’ve ever killed.” He continues: “I think the amount of AI on screen is… I don’t even think there’s a limit at this point, it’s crazy. I keep waiting to hear “no” from the developers, and they haven’t said that From a technical point of view, it looks like we’re empowered to make our best game yet. The last two rebooted Doom games have been built around that – we’ve certainly had limitations in the past, and these just aren’t. I feel they are there at the moment, but with each game we try to build on the success of the previous one and learn the right lessons.”
“You exploit weaknesses with the shield in your left hand and then hurt things with the weapons in your right:
Hugo Martin
Martin is convinced that the weapons in The Dark Ages are “the most powerful you’ll ever hold in a Doom game,” but it’s worth digging a little deeper here, because id Software has introduced a surprising amount of nuance to the basic combat rhythm of the rebooted series this time. The biggest change is the introduction of the Shield Saw – which earned its name because, as Martin puts it, “it’s a chainsaw and a shield”. It looks nice in our first look at Doom: The Dark Ages, but it’s impossible to overstate how key this tool will be across the board.
“You’ll have that shield in your hand at all times—you’re effectively dual wielding. I want players to feel like Aragorn or Leonidas at the hot gates of 300. You are the hero of a massive FPS battle, in a Doom game no less. I think it’s going to be a really fun challenge for the team, and I think we nailed it.” I certainly want to see more, especially with Martin teasing some of the ways the Saw Shield plays a role. “There’s a lot you can do with the shield. You can block attacks, you can parry projectiles, there are melee weapons that you can combo attacks with – you use it to I solve problems. Basically, you take advantage of weaknesses with the shield in your left hand, then hurt things with the weapons in your right. It’s pretty simple.”
It all sounds great and is a huge change from what we’ve come to expect from modern Doom games – which are a relentless display of violence. But I’m absolutely ready to take Slayer to hell and back in 2025, when the FPS is expected to land on PC, PS5, Game Pass, and Xbox Series X. Oh, and we’re not even getting into the Mecha Dragon and Atlan Mech that they’ll let us shred titanic demons to pulp… that’s a story for next time, for the ages.
here it is all announced at the Xbox Games Showcaseincluding Doom: The Dark Ages of course.
