Doom: The Dark Ages Review - The Power Of The Slayer
In the first ageIn the first battleWhen the shadows first lengthenedOne stoodHe chose the path of perpetual tormentIn his ravenous hatred he found no peaceAnd with boiling blood he scoured the umbral plainsSeeking vengeance against the dark lords who had wronged himAnd those that tasted the bite of his sword named himThe Doom Slayer
These prophetic words were first uttered in 2016, a little tidbit of story that ID Software had inserted into their hugely successful reboot of Doom. These little teases implied a long history of the Slayer, a backstory that had yet to be seen. They also suggested that the Slayer was the one thing above all that Hell’s minions feared; they ran from. The thing is, we haven’t seen that Slayer in action; we haven’t seen the all-powerful warrior who makes demons run in fear. In 2016’s Doom, he was strong yet out of his time; in Doom Eternal, he was fast yet always on the edge of death. We hadn’t seen a Slayer who was at the top of his game, in peak condition and ready to make Hell pay. That is, until now. Doom: The Dark Ages is exactly that, the Slayer at his demon-killing best and portrays that power fantasy to every player that dives into this brutal adventure.
For those not up on the backstory, Doom: The Dark Ages is a prequel to the previous two games and is set in a time when a group of humans called the Senitals, along with a higher race called the Makyrs, are under siege by the armies of hell. Their best and most effective weapon against these armies is none other than the Slayer, who has been forced into servitude by the Makyrs to be used as nothing more than a mindless tool. It is here that the game starts, with the Makyrs sending the Slayer in to protect their power supplies, but as the game progresses you follow the Slayer’s story as he breaks free of their control, sides with the Sentinals and discovers a power in their race that is the key to stopping Hell and its armies.
The Doom series has never really been about story. Both 2016 and Eternal had story elements that were undoubtedly fun, but they served as little more than an excuse to kill thousands upon thousands of enemies. Here in The Dark Ages, the story is front and centre and frankly, the game is better for it. The Slayer is still a silent protagonist, so the tale is told by those around him. The story has several twists and turns, and those who dug the lore of the first game are in for a treat because it is here we see that lore come to life. Some great voice performances bring the solid writing to life in a way that only adds to the narrative, and the culmination of the story is satisfying, while leaving plenty of room for follow-up DLC or games, a trick that is often pulled off poorly in this medium.
But despite the story’s greater importance, it is still not the main course. No, that belongs solely to the bloody and satisfying moment-to-moment action. When I say this is a power fantasy, I mean that in its purest sense. This isn’t about being a strong warrior, a fast warrior or a capable warrior, this is about being the ultimate warrior. This game gives me the power to storm through hordes, wiping dozens with a single blow. It gives me the strength to go toe-to-toe with 5-story-high abominations. It gives the ability to scare even the largest of hell’s denizens into submission, all the while looking like the biggest badass to ever grace the screen. This is all achieved through some smart gameplay innovations that make the game feel completely different from what came before it, yet undoubtedly still a part of the Doom legacy.
The main key to this is the change of focus, this game is about getting up close and personal with the hordes, not wiping them away with guns from afar. That isn’t to say that guns don’t exist, but almost all of them are more effective up close. This combines with a new melee and parry system that uses a shield and one of three melee weapons to make getting face-to-face even more important. As attacks are parried, melee strikes are charged, which creates a dance of brutality that is so satisfying, so engaging that there were many moments that I forgot about the guns entirely. But with how good the guns were, I didn’t forget about them for long. The weapons here, apart from the Shotgun and Super Shotgun (you can’t have a Doom game without them), are all completely new, never-before-seen weapons in the franchise, and without exception, are all great to use. It is also worth noting that while the BFG is no longer present, there is a replacement that will bring a smile to even the coldest Slayer’s face.
This change in dynamic slows the game down, making you feel like a tank. That feeling is only intensified by the way the Slayer moves and crashes through the environment. His steps carry weight, and the way he leaps into action, crushing all below him, emphasises this point. But perhaps the single most satisfying part of the game is the ability to leap from a cliff, target an enemy and slam into them, causing that particular enemy and all those surrounding him to burst into a fine red mist. I never once got sick of that move during the whole game, and for me, it highlights the whole vibe that ID Software is going for with The Dark Ages. This slower pace and focus on parries and melee means the game is more approachable for console gamers as well. I found this, the first of the modern Doom games, to be just as good on a controller as it is with a keyboard and mouse. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I enjoyed using a controller more, which is something an old PC head like myself never thought would happen. It just seems to fit the gameplay perfectly.
Presentation-wise, the ID Tech engine continues to impress. I was playing on a 4080 at Ultrawide resolutions and was able to crank all the graphics settings to max without a single issue. There were no bugs, no crashes and no glitches. This is not a game that needs a day one patch (though it will undoubtedly get one) and feels perfect from the get-go. The game looks fantastic, the enemy design is wonderful (in an absolutely gruesome way, of course), and the sound design is bang on. If I have any reservations, it is about the music and the variety of environments. All the levels, be it in Hell or another dimension, kind of felt similar, with only the sky colour being the real difference. As for the music, well, it is good, but it just isn’t Mick Gordon good. It is such a shame they couldn’t bury the hatchet and get Mick back for this game, but alas, it just wasn’t to be.
It is also worth noting that this is a single-player narrative experience as pure as the driven snow. No season passes, no multiplayer, no endgame content. You play the story, you finish the story. That is perfect in my opinion, and it took me about 14 hours to finish on the middle difficulty. I would say, if anything, this is probably the easiest (a relative term, I know) Doom game available, and I feel like seasoned slayers will want to bump the difficulty up pretty quickly. But despite the game’s relatively short length, I was more than satisfied by what was on offer, and I immediately started a new game at a higher difficulty upon completion. There are also some great accessibility options here, with the ability for players to adjust parry windows and the amount of damage received using a couple of sliders, so even if you are really struggling, you should still be able to adjust the game to your skill level.
It would also be remiss of me not to mention the addition of the Atlan and Dragon missions within the game. These missions serve as something of a palette cleanser, something to give players some tasty side content in between their endless demon slaughter. The Atlan missions see the Slayer piloting a giant mech and taking down equally giant demons, like a hellified version of Pacific Rim, and the dragon missions have the Slayer flying over a wide open area and predominantly taking down stationary targets before landing and letting the Slayer do what he does best on foot. Both of these styles of gameplay feel like enjoyable diversions and neither has the depth of the main gameplay loop, but are fun to partake in nonetheless.
With all that said, all the wonderful story, the satisfying gameplay and the cool tech, I think the most impressive thing that Doom: The Dark Ages achieved was that it kept me smiling for the entirety of the game. It is a game that is chock-full of “hell yeah” moments, twists and turns, and a surprising amount of humour. It is a game that grabbed me with both hands and didn’t let go. I haven’t mainlined a game like this since, well, probably Doom 2016, completing it in two sittings. What Doom: The Dark Ages also does is complete perhaps the most unique trilogy of games on the market. A trilogy where each game is undeniably different, yet maintains the feel of what makes the core franchise what it is. It also means that each of the games, 2016, Eternal and The Dark Ages are still relevant, still playable and haven’t been replaced by their sequel, something that I don’t think any other series can really say. For me, though, The Dark Ages is my favourite of the three and is without doubt the power fantasy to end all power fantasies.
They knew he would comeAs he always hadAs he always willTo feast on the blood of the wickedThe Doom Slayer sought to end the dominion of the dark realmDespair spread before him like a plagueStriking fear into the shadow dwellersDriving them to deeper and darker pitsHis power grewSwift and unrelenting
Doom: The Dark Ages was reviewed on PC with code kindly supplied by the publisher.
