Doom: The Dark Ages Review: Rip and Tear, Medieval Style

When id Software rebooted Doom in 2016, it not solely injected new life right into a dormant franchise but additionally hit the refresh button on the first-person shooter style. Annual Call of Duty releases, a faltering Battlefield sequence, and different COD clones had left capturing video games feeling stale. Doom, with its brutal, relentless fight and basic FPS mechanics, arrived as a palate cleanser. It shirked fashionable FPS tenets of canopy capturing and regenerating well being and as a substitute pushed gamers to be aggressive and punish enemies up shut.

Nearly a decade later, the brand new Doom is a trilogy of distinct first-person shooters that share a standard DNA. Doom (2016) was constructed on sequence’ roots, prioritising visceral and satisfying gunplay; the sequel, Doom Eternal, added kinetic motion and a tactical bend to its predecessor’s fight. With Doom: The Dark Ages, which launched May 15 on PC and consoles, id Software takes a medieval strategy to demon slaying. The latest Doom is extra grounded, crunchy and weighty, however that does not imply it is cumbersome. The motion continues to be fast and gunplay nonetheless chaotic.

You’re nonetheless whipping across the space, slicing by way of a deck of demons to heart-pounding heavy steel, however Doom: The Dark Ages switches issues up by weighing down the Doom Slayer and bringing melee weapons to the combination. The acquainted rotating forged of devastating weapons returns, however they’re all basically taking part in aspect fiddle to the brand new Shield Saw that lies on the red-hot core of sport. The versatile weapon, which persists on the Doom Slayer’s left hand, powers the core mechanics for defence, assault and traversal in The Dark Ages. It’s astonishing how a single piece of transformative gear turns into the fulcrum of all you do within the new Doom. There are a couple of missteps and missed alternatives, however none of them are egregious sufficient to make Doom: The Dark Ages something however a bloody good time.

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The weakest cog within the machine is the story, nevertheless it’s additionally the cog that is not essential to the sport’s functioning. You do not want context for carnage, however it could have helped if The Dark Ages punctuated its motion with narrative beats that lent weight to the violence. The sport serves as a prequel to Doom and Doom Eternal and takes place on the atmospheric and ominous world of Argent D’Nur, the house planet of Night Sentinals. There’s a battle in opposition to Hell raging on, with the Heart of Argent, an historic artefact that may grant godlike powers to its bearer, at stake.

The Night Sentinels are aided by the Maykrs, a sophisticated and historic race of beings who maintain the Doom Slayer of their management. As the Sentinals are overwhelmed by the forces of Hell led by Azhrak, the prince of Hell, the Maykrs drop the ferocious, mind-controlled Slayer into the center of the battlefield to guard the Heart of Argent and flip the tide of battle. The story takes you thru totally different frontiers of the battle as you cleave your means by way of the military of demons, earlier than some twists change the character of the battle itself. The Slayer resists the Maykr’s management, alliances are altered and a secret in regards to the Heart of Argent is revealed.

In Doom: The Dark Ages, you tackle the military of Hell
Photo Credit: Bethesda/ id Software

The story will probably be extra partaking to those that’ve performed Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal because it covers intriguing historical past between the Slayer, the Maykrs and the Night Sentinels, organising occasions that may comply with. But by itself, The Dark Ages stops in need of delivering a compelling narrative, opting to play it secure quite than taking a bolder strategy. But that is okay as a result of Doom: The Dark Ages tells a extra convincing story by way of its fantastical environments that mix medieval grandeur and science fiction. This is a world the place you discover historic, colossal cities on the again of a cybernetic dragon and stroll as much as the gates of the fortress in Hell — it is visible storytelling at its greatest.

Each degree brings one thing distinct to the desk and units the stage not just for the battle in opposition to Hell, but additionally for the narrative to discover a foothold within the places you go to. At Argent D’Nur, you discover compact however winding indoor areas like barracks and command stations, delving deeper into the stacked maze. And then you definately’re out within the open, gazing at a sprawling forest or making your means by way of the ruins of a village. In between sure ranges, cutscenes fill within the gaps at pivotal moments and drive the story ahead, however these solely act as curtains for the stage the place you play out every act.

Doom: The Dark Ages takes place on the traditional world of Argent D’Nur
Photo Credit: Bethesda/ Screeenshot – Manas Mitul

The meat, in fact, lies within the fight. The Doom franchise is constructed on the pillars of visceral and chaotic first-person shooter gameplay and Doom: The Dark Ages is not any totally different. But id Software has refreshed the formulation this time by turning the Doom Slayer right into a medieval, murderous tank. The Slayer has at all times been formidable — he is considered one of gaming’s biggest badasses. In The Dark Ages, nevertheless, he embodies one thing extra primordial. A cross between a silent, cybernetic Terminator and a bloodthirsty Viking lord, with a fur cape, a defend and a flail as well.

The Slayer continues to be agile, however he is a lot heavier and his melee assaults crunchier. And the Shield Saw basically acts as an extension of the Slayer himself. This just isn’t a chunk of substances you possibly can equip or put away, quite it kinds the mechanical foundation of the sport itself. You can in fact block incoming projectiles and melee assaults with the defend, nevertheless it additionally lets you parry each of these assaults with a well timed press of the left set off on the controller and go away the enemy surprised. All projectiles and melee assaults that may be parried are colour-coded inexperienced and they current a possibility to show defence into offense.

The Doom Slayer comes with a defend and a cape
Photo Credit: Bethesda/ id Software

The parry window is forgiving by default, even at larger difficulties, however the brand new mechanic presents distinctive situations the place Doom: The Dark Ages virtually turns into a bullet hell lite as you slip by way of the barrage of pink projectiles to parry the inexperienced ones. Later within the sport, you empower your defend parries with runic talents that deal devastating injury to a number of enemies in entrance of you. The Shield Saw can be utilized for a extra direct assault, too. With the press of the left bumper on the controller, you possibly can launch the defend at your enemies like a frisbee. The serrated edges of the Shield Saw slice proper by way of fodder demons, however with bigger enemies, the defend lodges itself into their our bodies, making them extra susceptible to your gunfire. And as soon as its job is finished, the defend flies proper again into your arms like Thor’s hammer.

And lastly, the versatile Shield Saw additionally acts as a device for traversal. Doom: The Dark Ages is slower, heavier and extra deliberate, however the defend permits the Slayer to zip throughout the sector and slam into enemies with concussive power. When you maintain the defend up, it locks onto a demon forward of you, and as you press the assault button, you are launched on the goal like a medieval missile, masking lots of floor in a cut up second. While, this assault obliterates columns of smaller demons in entrance of you and stuns bigger ones, it additionally serves as a strategic and fast strategy to traverse throughout the battlefield. The Shield Saw additionally acts as a kind of a grappling hook, embedding into particular anchor factors and pulling you to hidden, inaccesible areas.

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The defend is locked to your left hand, weapons on the best
Photo Credit: Bethesda/ Screeenshot – Manas Mitul

With the defend locked to the Slayer’s left hand, you cycle by way of the sport’s array of weapons on the best one. It would not be a Doom sport with no collection of ridiculously overpowered, cool as hell weapons. You begin, in fact, with the nice ol’ fight shotgun, however you rapidly assimilate an arsenal of firearms match for a battle on Hell. There’s the Pulveriser, that chews by way of demon skulls and shoots out bone fragments; the Chainshot is a chained iron ball that expenses up and smacks demons within the head with devastating energy; and the Impaler fires precision steel spikes that do further injury with headshots.

But the true ballistic enjoyable begins once you begin getting upgrades for various weapons. Doom: The Dark Ages has distinct improve paths for every weapon that unlock synergies with different actions, like parrying or defend throw or melee assaults. This means that you can concentrate on particular weapons and choose a playstyle to your liking. For instance, for those who spend money on upgrading the Chainshot, you possibly can unlock a perk that immediately expenses your subsequent shot once you parry an incoming assault together with your defend, thus making the Shield Saw and the Chainshot and glorious one-two combo. One of my favourites was the Richochet improve for the Shredder weapon, which deflects projectiles shot at a demon with the Shield Saw embedded in it to different close by enemies, in impact spreading your injury output.

Weapon upgrades convey significant fight synergies
Photo Credit: Bethesda/ id Software

To get these significant upgrades on your defend, weapons and melee weapons (there are three of them — a gauntlet, a flail and a mace), you will need to scour every degree to seek out hidden assets like gold, rubies and wraithstones. You’re probably going to overlook these for those who race to your goal marker and do not discover the map, as they’re often locked behind an environmental or platforming puzzle. But with weapon and defend upgrades affecting the way you play the sport, exploration is inspired. I discovered myself scanning the automap and looking down all collectibles to get one hundred pc completion in every degree.

The ranges themselves are designed to be distinct from each other. They will be open and sprawling, spilling out in all instructions with a number of targets tucked away in faraway corners. Or they are often tighter and compact, collapsing upon themselves and making a maze of linked corridors. The similar goes for arenas the place you encounter hordes of demons, too. Often, they’re an open subject you possibly can sprint about with a couple of buildings unfold out, however typically they entice you in a smaller area and the one means out is demonic carnage. Either means, the Slayer at all times looks like he is in command of the state of affairs — a ferocious Middle-Age clean-up man, despatched to wipe out all manners of hell spawn.

Indoor areas are detailed and provide a stark distinction to out of doors areas
Photo Credit: Bethesda/ Screeenshot – Manas Mitul

The sport means that you can turn into the true demon on the battlefield. If you retain upgrading your gear, utilise your weapons just a little extra tactically and grasp the Shield Saw, you possibly can really feel invincible. You can stroll right into a boss combat feeling just like the boss — that is an influence fantasy only a few video games can provide. And it is not simply the gameplay that contributes to that feeling, it is the sound design, too, that goes into establishing you as a medieval wrecking ball to be reckoned with. Your defend goes off like a gong once you parry assaults and lets out an explosive bang once you cost into demons. When you bounce, you are whooshing by way of the air as virtually each different sound quiets down, and then you definately land with the power of a tank being dropped on the battlefield with a thunderous crack that sends out shockwaves.

But on the flipside, the soundtrack is disappointing, particularly with Mick Gordon’s glorious work on the earlier two Doom video games within the rearview. It’s generic heavy steel that hardly will get the job performed. There’s no character to it, no signature aptitude that makes it really feel just like the soundtrack to a carnage. It’s additionally not very outstanding. The music goes off someplace within the distance as you are chopping down demons, however you are not overtly conscious of it. There are fewer glory kills, as effectively, which may really feel anti-climactic once you take down a much bigger demon.

Doom: The Dark Ages modifications up the tempo with dragon and mech ranges
Photo Credit: Bethesda/ Screeenshot – Manas Mitul

The sport additionally tries to interrupt up the pacing with two new sorts of ranges that contain the Slayer driving a cyberdragon and partaking in aerial fight and exploration, and controlling a colossal Atlan mech to get into fistfights with towering demons. These will be enjoyable and function neat little punctuations to the common run-and gun gameplay, however they’re additionally very fundamental. There’s not lots of mechanical depth to those sections and they’re largely making an attempt to promote you scale and scope of the motion. But at the least the underwhelming dragon and mech ranges are few and far between and by no means overstay their welcome.

Where Doom: The Dark Ages goes above and past what Doom and Doom Eternal achieved are the visuals. On a technical degree, id Software has actually knocked this one out of the park. The Dark Ages, constructed on the ID Tech 8 engine, is gorgeous to take a look at and runs with no single hiccup. There’s an unimaginable quantity of character element on demons, a wholesome number of environments and a pulpy exaggeration to the gore that feeds into the sport’s medieval sci-fi medley. Every out of doors degree additionally comes with these jaw-dropping vistas that make you cease and look. These are largely performed by way of superbly detailed, expansive skyboxes that depict the endless battle on Hell. Performance on PS5 was flawless, too, with sport operating at 60fps with no noticeable stutter.

Levels in Doom: The Dark Ages characteristic gorgeous vistas
Photo Credit: Bethesda/ Screeenshot – Manas Mitul

Where does Doom: The Dark Ages then sit within the Doom oeuvre? As the third sport within the new trilogy, folks may take a look at it because the lesser successor to groundbreaking video games. But by itself deserves, The Dark Ages is an outstanding entry in an iconic franchise that breaks its personal new floor. It follows the id Software custom of innovation to convey a brand new gameplay loop to the desk. And the combination of medieval fantasy and science fiction suits the Doom franchise like a gauntlet.

The Dark Ages has extra story and cutscenes than its predecessors, however the acquainted tropes and their lacklustre execution leaves quite a bit to be desired. The gameplay, nevertheless, greater than holds up its finish of the discount. The Shield Saw is a flexible addition that transforms actually each facet of the way you play a Doom sport, however the weapons and the gore hold it acquainted sufficient for sequence veterans. This is probably essentially the most accessible Doom sport, too, with open-ended ranges and extremely customisable problem choices that may tune the sport to your liking — you possibly can cakewalk by way of it, or you possibly can flip it right into a dance with the satan in hell. But what stands out most, particularly in instances the place video games constructed on grind begin feeling like a chore, is how enjoyable and fluid the Doom: The Dark Ages is. Wasn’t that that the entire level?