Doom: The Dark Ages review – A new era of Doom, for better and worse

Doom: The Dark Ages doesn't just iterate on Doom Eternal, it revolutionises it in all senses. Across its approach to combat, story and world, it is significantly expanded, though perhaps not always for the best.

But let's save the negativity for later. Doom is all about the combat, and the combat in The Dark Ages is exceptional.

After previewing the game back in March, I briefly went back to Doom Eternal and, honestly, struggled to enjoy it. That's because its gameplay is so totally eclipsed by The Dark Ages.

As before, you have your wide arsenal of weapons, from your classic shotgun to new favourites, but unlike the Dooms of old, this game isn't about your guns, it's about your shield.

The Dark Ages bequeaths the Doom Slayer with a shield-cum-buzzsaw known, funnily enough, as the Shield Saw.

This is the bread and butter of The Dark Ages' combat, whether that's comboing it with certain guns or deflecting damage back at your enemies.

There were plenty of worries upon the shield's reveal that it would lead to a slower playstyle. This is true to an extent, but I would posit that what is lost in speed is more than made up for in strategy.

Your weapons and shield have synergy - shield bashing to close the distance before unleashing a shotgun blast is an obvious example of this.

But later on, you'll pick up upgrades that let you develop specific playstyles, whether that's crowd control or high single-target damage.

It's a level of strategy that was missing from previous Dooms and it makes your approach to combat as a whole feel far more purposeful.

The shield also comes with a parry mechanic, allowing you to stand your ground more effectively.

You can't parry every attack, only specific ones marked by a green glow. It's a good trade-off to stop the game becoming too slow and defensive.

Coming up against certain bosses, you can get up close and personal, swapping between slow-motion parries and swinging back with your flail – it's a spectacle, something that's true of much of The Dark Ages.

But as fun as the shield is, and I really believe it to be one of the most fun mechanics Doom has ever introduced, I would argue that it is a tad over-tuned.

Once you get the hang of things, you can effectively make any non-boss encounter entirely moot on the lower few difficulties.

Shield bashes can deal area of effect damage to take out scores of weaker mobs, while your shield throw, especially once upgraded, can stun bigger enemies for more than long enough for you to take them out safely – it's not a negative per se, since it is an absolute blast to use, but you may want to consider upping the difficulty a notch or two.

That being said, the combat in The Dark Ages is, in my eyes, almost flawless. Sadly, the same cannot be said for its story.

The Dark Ages has a much stronger focus on story than its two predecessors. You can still collect Codex pages for a bit of extra lore, but the main story unfolds almost entirely through cutscenes.

The crux of our tale is that the Doom Slayer is a super-weapon subservient to the Khan Maykr, fighting to overcome the traditional onslaught of demons, but also fighting the chains that bind him.

As stories go, it does the job, and while it certainly improves as it goes on, I would be lying if I said I was ever particularly invested in it.

Much of the story feels like it's playing out around you, rather than through you.

Rather than a cohesive story, many of the cutscenes are little more than brief chunks of exposition thrown your way to add a bit more context to why you happen to be in this specific place massacring this particular mass of demons.

As someone who was excited for a bit more story in Doom, I found it a tad underwhelming. It's serviceable, but nothing special.

Another aspect I was a little disappointed in was the world itself. The futuristic setting of our previous two entries is gone, replaced by a kind of techno-medieval hybrid.

It strikes a high fantasy chord, and while this certainly adds a level of pageantry to the proceedings, it is, again, all a bit lacking in substance.

The hyperbolic corporate satire is out the window. Don't get me wrong, I think that trope had run its course, but there's nothing here to meaningfully replace it.

It's clear that, with an added focus on story, the team at id Software were aiming to craft a serious world with a serious storyline, and while they have done that to an extent, they both end up falling somewhat flat.

What the world lacks in substance, it does make up for in style, however. Navigating grand castles and dingy marshland is a treat, and there is such a wide variety of areas to explore across your playthrough, although my now-ailing PC did struggle at points.

The pinnacle of this is Siege – a level type that essentially throws you headlong into an honest to goodness battlefield to complete a set of objectives, find secrets and absolutely go to town on hordes of demons.

I genuinely don't think I've ever had as much fun in a Doom game as I have in these levels, exploring every nook and cranny of these enormous maps. You could (and I did) easily spend a couple of hours in each one alone seeing everything they have to offer.

Your shield also comes back into play during exploration as there are some puzzles to solve, using your shield throw to activate switches or jump to nearby ledges. These puzzles are never very difficult, but they force you to keep an eye on your surroundings a bit more, which is a nice touch.

You also have the odd 'set piece' level. Like an expansion of the Revenant drone in Doom Eternal, we now have levels where you pilot a giant mech and even ride a dragon, taking down enemy airships.

The controls for these are a bit clunky, and they thankfully don't overstay their welcome, but they play perfectly into that spectacle that The Dark Ages achieves so well.

Overall, Doom: The Dark Ages is an interesting package to review.

If we're talking about the gameplay alone, then The Dark Ages is, in many ways, the best the series has ever been – an easy five stars.

And had the game taken the same approach to its story and worldbuilding as its predecessors, it would have got those five stars.

But id Software took the bold decision to lean more into its storytelling, placing a higher emphasis on cinematics than on piecing together titbits of lore, and unfortunately, it doesn't entirely come off.

Doom: The Dark Ages is a fantastic entry in the series with some truly stellar combat throughout. And while its story and worldbuilding lets it down a touch, it still manages to strike gold with that classic, gruesome Doom magic.

Doom: The Dark Ages launches on 15th May 2025 for PC, Xbox Series X/S and PS5. We reviewed on PC.

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