Doom: The Dark Ages Review
A new Doom game? You bet. Doom: The Dark Ages is here and it kicks ass. It reinvents the franchise in a bold new way that still feels so much like the original and pushes the franchise into areas it’s never gone before. Mechs, dragons, Lovecraftian beasts, flails…this game has it all, maybe too much. It’s Doom taken to its maximalist conclusion and then beyond. And yet, even as it does that, it never forgets what makes Doom work. Some people will argue that this is a divisive title. Maybe it is, but the division is a matter of taste and not a matter of fact in my opinion. Because Doom: The Dark Ages gets everything fundamentally right. And for it’s bold new design choices? Well I think it gets a lot of those right too.
When you drill down, past all the new space opera style lore and the cinematic cutscenes, what you end up with is a game that is build on weight. Where as Doom (2016) was steeped in realism, Doom Eternal emphasized speed, this game leans into the weight and heft of the Slayer’s fight. Your movement is different- heavier, more plodding and just big. You still have the burst like you once did, but there’s some real beef behind your movement. Your footsteps THUMP THUMP THUMP off the ground as you run around the arenas. Foes are bigger, stronger in this game, more melee centered. You need to not only gun down your foes, but bludgeon them also. The battle is much closer to you this time around and if you don’t deal with what’s right in front of you first, you won’t last long.
But this game adds so much more than just a great melee system. There’s all kinds of new mechanics, locations and enemies that pop up this time around. A 22 mission, 20+ hour campaign that takes you all over the Doom universe in ways you’ve never done it before. It makes the franchise feel much vaster and suggests a future for the franchise that I wasn’t sure they’d have the balls to step into. We can ruminate for a while on whether this game is “great” but there’s nothing else quite like it and it’s definitely a pivot point for Doom going forward.
STORY:
DOOM is not a game with a lot of story, in general. For most of the franchise, the “plot” was something presented over a handful of text boards. Even in Doom (2016), there’s a pretty modernized and rich story and it’s told in such a way that it’s like you’re fighting against it. But then Doom Eternal was much more story focused and lore-y, especially as it went on. Doom: The Dark Ages is more like Eternal, but turned up to 10. This time, there’s full blown cutscenes, often featuring characters who aren’t the Doom Slayer. There’s extra spooky hyped up McGuffins and tough talking villains and character drama. This game is much more cinematic and less grounded. Unlike previous games, we are seeing the world from beyond the Slayer’s eyes. Instead of defining this world, narratively, he’s simply a character, even if he’s still badass.
The cutscenes play out like movies now and there’s real drama and theater here. More dynamic tensions and more complex relationships unfold this time around (or at least we see them unfold this time). The camp awesomeness of the franchise remains, but it’s got a shiny Hollywood action movie veneer this time around. The world feels a lot bigger and the faces in it do too. The swashbuckling extends beyond just the Doom Slayer this time. King Novik, Commander Thira (his daughter) and Valen (who makes an appearance in Doom Eternal) all have their moments that drive the story forward. Our villains, Prince Azhrak and The Witch are both fleshed out characters with intentions, mannerisms and goals. It looks and feels a lot different, story wise, this time around.
Unfortunately, it may easily be said that the story here is not as good as the previous two games. Arguably, it’s not close. It has it’s moments and it’s not a complete loss, but the differences in presentation and quality are too much for it to hold up against those two titles. I mean, yes we have more fleshed out characters, but they still feel quite wooden overall and they aren’t engaging in most ways. The heroes are obviously heroes, the villains, obviously villains, and no real nuance to any of them. The Doom Slayer has an arc but as broad and dramatic as it might seem on the surface, it ultimately amounts to him either being sent a place he would go anyway or him choosing to go to that place himself. The actual flexibility alloted by this choice has zero impact on the gameplay or story though, even if it’s well plotted out.
In a way, this story falls victim to the same balancing act so many other cinematic story games do. To tell a rich, detailed story, there’s not enough cutscenes. To keep it tight and minimal, it’s way too many. What’s left is a story that has the veneer of a much bigger story with a wider scope than this one, but is ultimately more of a shell than an epic. And that’s okay. Because they were trying something and even if it maybe didn’t work, it didn’t bomb or completely compromise the product.
GAMEPLAY: SHIELD AND SHOTGUN
It’s awesome. It’s different, fundamentally, from the previous games. The medieval style of the game has us embracing melee like we never have before. You could always punch, but now you punch hard as fuck and you do it all the time. You have a flail, a mace (called the Dread Mace, which is sick) and most importantly, the SHIELD SAW. The Shield Saw is probably the most important weapon or feature in this whole game. It reshapes combat from the ground up. What is it? Well, it’s a Captain America style shield with sawblades and all kinds of freakish abilities. You can throw it through enemies, you can throw it off things, into things (where it will stick and saw through) and you can also use it to traverse great distances by holding it flat and hitting R2, which will dash you into the nearest enemy on that side of the room. It’s magic, it makes no sense and it’s totally awesome.
The combat loop here is different. It feels heavier, slower, almost turn based in some ways, and is much more horizontal than previous games. Unlike previous DOOM titles, where you would usually linearly progress through an arena from back to front or you would be expected to whip around, here you’re supposed to defend 365 degrees of violence while standing your ground. And with the shield and it’ brilliant parry system, you can do a pretty damn good job. The parry is an integral part of Doom: The Dark Ages. With the parry, you can deflect your opponents attack, stagger them and get in a nice volley of shots in return. Glory kills (an animation where you brutally dismantle an opponent) are heavily cut down this time, though they still exist. Now, you can perform a crushing finishing strike on an opponent from any angle, you just don’t get quite the spectacle you used to. It’s a tradeoff that works well in the context of this game and it’s systems.
The enemy count in this game is huge, up from Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal. It doesn’t feel that different though because of how easily the shield dispatches fodder. It does make the battles take a brand new scale, with enemies being able to swarm you from all sides and you actually being able to deal with it. It’s not as hard as Doom Eternal overall, but there’s still some tense battles that kicked my ass a time or two. One thing is that the way these new arenas are structured, with waves of enemies, enemies spawning more enemies, or a central enemy you can only kill after killing…waves of enemies, these battles are really long in some cases and can grind you down. There was a couple of fights where I found myself dying at the tail end and having to redo the whole thing and mother of god was that annoying.
One big difference in the flow of this game is the flow and mission structure. In Doom (2016), the linear progressions/journey style of the game made it to where your journey through the space of the world made sense. Doom Eternal has a hub where you travel to missions from that also includes other things to do and collectibles. Yes, it does distribute you from location to location within the world, but it feels organic. Whereas in this game, it’s just a traditional mission layout screen. It matches the more gamified, cinematic style of this game, but it doesn’t have the same charm.
Secrets too are back, this time with the addition of gold. Pesky gold. There’s a finite amount in the world, stashed away in hard to find places and hidden corners. You use it for upgrades, so you do need it. But it’s far from plentiful. There’s also more traditional secrets that include ammo and supplies, as well as collectible toys, lore and skins. There’s no mini-map and you can see all the secrets on the map as you progress through it. Getting to it may be a harder ask though. The additional skins are cool but they aren’t at the level of the Doom Eternal alternate skins. The challenges attached this time around are also harder, including surviving one permadeath playthrough and another one that is essentially an extra life mode. Fun challenge, but difficult for DOOM.
GAMEPLAY: MECH-MECH
The mech (or Atlan, as it’s called in-universe) sections of this game, which you surely saw advertised, are not quite a breath of fresh air but are a fun break-up from the normal gameplay. The mechanics are pretty simple and you aren’t actually in a mech for that long, but it does work. It’s not a drawback overall and there’s some very fun elements here, such as the gore fest of smashing an enemy in the face or shattering their armor. Dodging the same way parrying works in normal combat- green flash and you hit the button. It’s not complicated but it is fun. It passes the scale test- you definitely feel big in this thing.
Even though you aren’t using the mech a lot, there’s still some variety here. Occasionally you get to use guns (super sized versions), there’s a mini boss or two and even a tough boss there at the end. There are some sections I thought were too short, some too long. But overall, this is a fun addition to the game and I’m glad it’s here. It adds to the grandiosity and overall bad-assery and while not perfect, those are certainly commendable things.
GAMEPLAY: MECHA-DRAGON
This dragon is lit. I wasn’t sure I’d like the dragon when I first heard about it. Nope, it’s awesome. It’s not the deepest system, but it feels good to use and in my opinion synergizes with the main game loop a little better than the mech missions. While on the dragon, you can fly around (duh), shoot things with your big turrets, chase ships and also explore the airspace, which occasionally has hidden landing spots you can find that are filled with goodies. I really liked these, as it felt like an organic way to add a new type of secret and added some replay value because some of these spots are hard to find.
I liked the flow of these levels more. There’s not a bunch of dragon combat, and that’s okay because the combat is frankly a little barebones. Still fun, but barebones. They got their proportions right with this one. Being able to fly around these massive airspaces and locales and find various spots to land, which then give you little land areas to fight on, is a very effective way of breaking up the action fluidly while still keeping the core combat loop centered. It feels more intuitive than the mech does.
And the dragon, Serrosh, is a character in and of itself that you grow to think of like a pet. He’s gritty, determined and aggressive, just like the Doom Slayer. And the Doom Slayer loves him. When he picks up the Serrosh toy (a collectible), he does a cute little flying motion with it. At one point he feeds Serrosh a demon arm. Their relationship is a fun contrast to the doom and gloom throughout the rest of the game and it adds some value to the gameplay context. Yeah, the dragon was a win in my book.
GUNS
At the end of the day, DOOM is a game about guns. That’s the focus. The chunky shotguns, hearty machine guns, zappy plasma guns, etc….those are iconic DOOM things. Doom 3 had a bad shotgun and it fucked up the whole vibe of the game. Doom: The Dark Ages has two excellent shotguns, perhaps the two best shotguns in a DOOM game. But two shotguns is also normal in DOOM. This game has two of every weapon type (except the BFG and the Chainshot). There are two plasma guns, the Accelerator, a standard plasma rifle that shoots at increasingly faster speeds, and the Cycler, which has two barrels and shoots more at once. The Cycler is better but the variety is still great. There’s also no Heavy Machine Gun, which have been replaced by the Skullcrusher weapons class, which takes a skull and grinds it into ammunition. There’s one called the Pulverizer, which is a wide shot scatter gun and there’s another called the Ravager, which is similar to the Accelerator in that it shoots faster and faster as you hold down the trigger.
One thing, that some argue is a downside, is that there is a bit of redundancy and while every weapon is good, especially once fully upgraded, some weapons are great.
The coolest gun is the Reaver Chainshot, which is like this big metal ball that you can launch at your foes. It’s attached to a chain and can deal crushing attacks to foes. The chain brings the ball right back and using certain upgrades, you can chain these attacks together (accidental pun perhaps?) It’s the only weapon besides the BFG which doesn’t have an alternate.
Speaking of which, the BFG is now the BFC. Ballistic Force Crossbow. We knew this game was going medieval and this is a nice touch. The BFC probably doesn’t look as cool as the BFG in my opinion, but it’s equally, if not more, devastating. This thing is really a get out of jail free card, compared to some BFGs from previous games that felt a bit watered down (DOOM 64 and Doom: Eternal) I appreciate how they were not afraid to take the risk of changing one of the calling cards of DOOM. Regardless of how much you like this game, there’s no question they took their shots when it comes to innovating. No chainsaw, different BFG, dragons, mechs…they went all out here.
LEVELS
This is really where we get into the subjective part. We know what’s in the game now, but how is it? Is it good?
Well, yes, I’d say so. I think in terms of overall consistency, the previous two games are a little better level wise…but this game has 9 more levels. There is some redundancy here, things I don’t love. We spend way too much in Sentinel facilities in my opinion, and not enough time in Hell. We spend too much time, in my opinion, mucking around with the Sentinels in general. Not to say some of those levels aren’t great. “Siege Part 1” is an awesome level, as is “Hebeth.” But the first act of this game can feel a little bland and samey up until about Level 8. Then it starts switching locales a shit ton, going from forests, to mine-like vaulted areas, to Hell forts, BACK to the Sentinels, and then-
And then….
Probably the most significant addition this game made to the lore or the world of DOOM was it’s introduction of Lovecraftian elements, including a new dimension called the Cosmic Realm. Also, Ctulu is in the game. I know. When you want to see where this game’s real “Holy Shit” moments come…it’s the Cosmic Realm. It’s physics are odd and unwieldy. It’s mostly grey rocks but who knows what or why anything is here. The new demons we meet here are different, Lots of water and swimming sections. Areas that don’t quite seem real. Weird puzzles, odd gigantic creatures flying around. The demons here hardly seem like the strangest thing going on at this point. This section, which spans from level 14 to level 18, is probably the best part of the game. It’s unique, bold and intense. It’s also where the combat loop really hits it’s groove. The fights here are more intense, but you’re better equipped and this is when the new skills from this game turn into muscle memory.
The end of the game has some very strong levels as well and I feel like the game ended on a higher note than it came in on. Fundamentally, the design is very good in most of these levels. It’s got a good balance of puzzles and combat and the occasional platforming. The enemy groupings are meticulously designed and diverse. But in some cases, the environment just doesn’t feel as cool or interesting as maybe it should or could. That happens. I think it’s because of all the things Doom does, Sentinels, while cool, are not that interesting when stacked up to Hell, the Cosmic Realm, Urdak, Mars and even Earth.
This set of levels is very fun, diverse and generally kick ass. The environments, particularly in the Sentinel area, can feel a little too similar at times and the earlier levels in particular suffer from this. But the pacing and encounter design is on point throughout and I would not say that these early levels are bad, just not as good as the best levels in this game. The mech and dragon levels are both very well placed and function as great change of pace. Some of these levels are downright awesome, particularly the Cosmic Realm ones. Overall, I would say that while they may not be as good as Doom or Doom Eternal, the levels here have some really high highs, but the lows aren’t bad either.
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I think there’s a recurring theme with Doom: The Dark Ages that everything it does is good for the most part, it’s just maybe not as good as the previous two games. The areas the game differs is usually a strong point, but it’s rarely as strong as whatever it took the place of. That’s okay because this is still a really fun and unique game. This game moves the franchise in a different direction, and I’m excited for it’s DLC. I think even if some fans may argue that is’s a step down, there’s no doubt that for the most part, a lot of the gambles taken here paid off.
I pre-ordered this game and I would do it again. It soundly met expectations, which is all a game needs to do. There were some things that ended up being better than expected. And you can’t discount the scope of this game, with the mechs, dragons, Ctulu, cinematic cut scenes. This may not be the best DOOM game, but it’s the biggest one so far. I wholeheartedly recommend this DOOM game. It’s a great game, it’s great DOOM and so it’s a great DOOM game. What more does the world need?
