Doom: The Dark Ages Review – A Satisfying New Approach for the Slayer

Id Software returns with Doom: The Dark Ages, a bold new chapter that trades speed for more brutality. While it builds on the foundation laid by 2016’s Doom (run and gun), and Doom Eternal (jump and shoot), this entry encourages players to stand their ground—shield raised, fists ready—delivering a more grounded but equally intense experience.

The chaotic intensity remains, but this time, you're often the one taking hits. It’s a fantastic power trip of being an unstoppable one-man army of death as Id Software has crafted yet another experience that fully embodies what makes Doom so iconic.

Brawler x Shooter

In my first hours with The Dark Ages, it almost felt like a brawler. I was in constant forward motion—punching for ammo, blasting enemies at point-blank range with a shotgun. As I unlocked more weapons and expanded the Slayer’s toolkit, the strategy never really changed: charge in and hold your ground - and I had a blast going through the same loop.

Retreat rarely crossed my mind, even when overwhelmed. That’s because this is the first Doom where the player has so many defensive tools that it becomes viable and even encouraged to push forward. I navigated open spaces while tactically picking off priority targets and exploiting weaknesses, all to manage the overwhelming flow of damage headed my way.

Slayer’s Shield - the core of everything

The Slayer is slower this time around, with a shorter jump and no default double jump. That tradeoff exists for a reason: the Saw Shield. This tool defines the game’s entire design philosophy. It blocks incoming damage, enables homing charged bashes, parries special attacks, and can be thrown to damage mid-range enemies or trigger distant switches. Later, it’s even used for traversal—propelling the Slayer across gaps by magnetizing toward the shield’s position.

The shield feels like a natural extension of this version of the Slayer. Despite the shift to melee and defense, the Doom gunplay essence is still intact. It’s less of a reinvention and more of a change in flavor.

Parries are key. Green-marked melee attacks and projectiles signal opportunities to parry and gain advantages like staggering enemies or activating rune powers—stunning nearby foes, auto-firing a turret, or creating damaging fissures. During the most intense encounters, your screen floods with effects, limbs, and chaos as you block, shoot, parry, and punch. It’s thrilling, but one mistake can still mean a sudden game over as I saw my life pool fluctuate from 10 to 100 constantly on the default difficulty setting. I do feel powerful, but a sudden pause or hesitation can quickly end an attempt.

Always march on

Id Software makes sure that in this game, there’s little to no reason to take a step back, as melee kills reward ammo, while kills in general restore health or armor. Depending on the difficulty, it’s more about mitigating the right damage rather than minimizing hits altogether.

The staggering amount of enemy variety forces constant weapon-switching. Plasma guns shred energy shields, while others clear out fodder enemies with wide bursts. Let’s not forget Slayer’s trusty shotgun, which remains my go-to weapon for point-blank shots. The arsenal is incredibly well-balanced, as it feels that roughly 90% of the weapons are viable from start to finish, and each one feels satisfying to use and features a unique design that makes it distinguishable and very Doom-like. One stand-out weapon uses demon skulls as ammo, so you can visibly see the gun grinding skulls as you fire away.

These weapons are tuned for close-to-mid-range combat. There are no scopes or sniper mechanics, with only one weapon being the best choice if you do need to hit something at long ranges. Some get even stronger up close—for instance, an upgraded rocket launcher heals you after parrying, turning it into yet another deadly point-blank weapon.

A particularly welcome change is the removal of lengthy glory kill animations. Now, stunned enemies simply explode after a punch or kick, keeping the action flowing. Only mini-boss enemies get full execution sequences. This is something I noticed when replaying Doom Eternal in preparation for this review - repeated animations often disrupted the pacing, so it’s a welcome change.

A less complex level design, just more room

With the emphasis on close-quarters brawling, level design has adapted. Encounters mostly occur in open spaces with limited verticality. The arenas aren’t overly complex, but they flood you with enemies—lesser demons act as ammo refills or traversal tools when using shield bashes.

Between battles, levels are filled with secrets, upgrades, collectibles, and mini-puzzles. Everything is clearly marked on your map, but reaching them usually requires a bit of creative thinking. These quieter moments offer brief but welcome breaks from the carnage.

Visually, the game leans into darker, moodier tones, opting for red and brown hues over the more colorful and bright aesthetic of Eternal. The settings span decaying battlegrounds, hellish realms, and a cosmic realm that gave me a hint of Lovecraftian inspirations.

A cinematic Doom?

While bashing, shooting, and punching demonic creatures is mostly what you’ll be doing in Doom: The Dark Ages, for the first time, this entry introduces more story than ever before. It’s Doom’s most cinematic campaign yet, filled with cutscenes, and characters that go through a cohesive story from start to finish. While there’s a lot of talking compared to other Doom games, the Slayer remains silent and focused, showing no emotion, never breaking character as a walking engine of destruction.

The plot centers around stopping the demonic Prince Ahzrak, who is hell-bent on acquiring a specific artifact protected and hidden in the mortal realm. The Slayer is caught up in all of this as he’s pointed in the direction of where he can kill the demons, and that’s exactly what he starts doing.

It’s not award-winning writing by any means, and I eventually lost track of the narrative midway through. But this is the most fleshed-out story ever delivered for the series, and I appreciate the addition to see Id provide more lore and story in between what is officially their longest game in the series. 

The longest campaign in the series

With 22 levels, The Dark Ages is the most expansive Doom game to date. Some stages took me up to 40 minutes to fully explore, but that’s assuming you take the time to look at everything that level has to offer. The Dark Ages features massive maps that make previous levels look small in comparison. There are shorter chapters, too, like the Atlan mech missions, where the Slayer pilots a Pacific Rim-style robot to battle giant demons in simple punch-dodge boss fights.

There are also aerial segments, where the Slayer rides a mechanical dragon to engage airborne threats and travel across environments. These don’t match the intensity of regular encounters due to their simplicity of dodge and hit gameplay, so it’s yet another ice breaker for the next wave of enemies you’ll encounter on the ground.

The most accessible Doom yet

It was clear that Id Software wasn’t trying to reinvent the series in a meaningful way, as they delivered the same experience with a different theme in mind. But they did make The Dark Ages the most beginner-friendly Doom to date, thanks to customizable options such as game speed, damage output, parry timing, and drop rates. Sliders let players tailor the difficulty exactly how they want.

The toned-down speed of the Slayer also helps ease new players into the series. Previous games required quick reactions and constant motion. Here, it’s more deliberate and digestible, especially since The Dark Ages is a prequel to Doom (2016).

But don’t freak out: this isn’t a watered-down experience. On default settings, the game can still challenge seasoned players, and you can crank the difficulty up further. I did, and it made my second run even more enjoyable/painful.

Id Software did a fantastic job, as expected, as this is a rather polished shooter with smooth gameplay and impressive visual fidelity despite all the chaos and intensity, with a butter smooth 60 fps with consistent visual fidelity during cuts

A near-flawless Doom flavor

What’s impressive about this entry in the series is that Id Software understands this series from head to toe and has gone the extra mile to not only give us a unique Doom experience, but also challenge themselves from a developer standpoint to shift the theme without breaking Doom’s DNA. Similarly to how Nintendo reimagines each 3D Mario entry without losing the core spirit, id Software has retooled Doom’s combat without betraying its essence. It even has the classic, adrenaline-pumping heavy metal soundtrack that plays when enemies start spawning in as they overwhelm you, mirroring previous games.

Doom: The Dark Ages is a brutal, strategic, and satisfying shooter that dares to try something new without abandoning what fans love. It’s another classic in the making, and a clear sign that the series has a lot of room to grow.

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Verdict: 4.5 / 5 (Fantastic)

PROS

• Satisfying combat that encourages close encounters and taking the hits

• Shield mechanic is the star as to why everything else works

• A fun variety of weapons and upgrades

• Large stages and open spaces filled with upgrades collectibles and rewards

• Highly accessible options for newcomers to the series

CONS

• The stronger and cinematic story, but still outshone by the fun, chaotic gameplay

• Dragon flight segments and Atlan mech combat are simplistic compared to the rest of the game

What I’ve Played

• Completed the campaign in 20 hours

• Reached over 90% completed on all stages during my first run

• Played on a base PS5

*This review is based on a PS5 review copy provided by Bethesda

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