Id Software's latest entry in the iconic Doom franchise takes a bold new direction, transforming the lightning-fast demon slayer into a medieval tank. Released on May 15, 2025, Doom: The Dark Ages represents a significant departure from the frantic pace of its predecessors while maintaining the series' signature brutality in a fully ray-traced hellscape.
 |
|---|
| A fearsome demon from Doom: The Dark Ages, highlighting the game's signature brutality in a medieval context |
A Medieval Reimagining
Doom: The Dark Ages serves as a prequel, taking players back to the Slayer's early days as a pawn of the Makyrs in their war against Hell. The narrative casts our protagonist as a barely controlled weapon, complete with a shock collar and a new fur pelt to signify the medieval setting. While previous entries kept storytelling minimal, The Dark Ages embraces more cinematic elements, featuring King Novik of Argent D'Nur facing off against Prince Ahzrak of Hell. The increased narrative focus works surprisingly well, with the Slayer's otherworldly determination and freakish nature amplified by his interactions with normal humans who treat him like an unknowable demigod.
Shield-First Combat
The most significant gameplay change is the introduction of the Shield Saw, permanently bound to right-click. This defensive tool blocks frontal damage and can parry green projectiles back to enemies. The shield fundamentally alters Doom's combat philosophy, anchoring the Slayer to the ground in exchange for survivability. Early upgrades allow the shield to be thrown, either stunning or slicing through demons. While empowering and elegant, the shield mechanic unfortunately remains one-note throughout the campaign, with limited evolution beyond its initial capabilities.
 |
|---|
| The advanced and powerful weaponry of Doom: The Dark Ages, reflecting the game's new shield-based combat mechanics |
Simplified Arsenal
What The Dark Ages gains with its shield, it loses with its guns. The right-click dedication to blocking means weapons no longer have secondary fire modes, instead focusing on passive upgrades to reload speed, fire rate, or damage. Many of the medieval-themed weapons lack the satisfying punch of their modern counterparts, with the stake-launching Ballista replacement feeling oddly short-ranged and the skull-hurling guns delivering more visual flair than impact. The exception is the late-game Chainshot, a wrecking ball launcher that caves in skulls before reeling back like a sinful yo-yo. Thankfully, id Software preserved the iconic shotguns, rocket launcher, and plasma rifle, all of which look and sound better than ever.
Ray-Traced Hellscape
Doom: The Dark Ages is the first entry in the series to be fully ray-traced at all times, creating impressive lighting and reflection effects throughout its medieval environments. Despite this technical achievement, the game runs surprisingly well across a range of hardware configurations. Testing shows that even modest systems with RTX 3060 Ti or RX 6750 XT can handle the game at 1080p Ultra settings with 60+ fps. The game offers excellent upscaling options, with NVIDIA's DLSS 4 delivering particularly impressive results for RTX card owners. AMD's FSR implementation also performs admirably, though it doesn't separate upscaling from frame generation as cleanly as DLSS.
Performance Across Hardware
The game's minimum requirements call for a GPU with dedicated ray tracing hardware and 8GB of VRAM, though testing reveals that 6GB cards like the RTX 4050 laptop and RTX 2060 can run the game adequately at 1080p. At the high end, an RTX 5090 can push 90 fps at native 4K Ultra settings without upscaling, while enabling DLSS Quality with frame generation produces ludicrous frame rates. Interestingly, the game's engine seems optimized for 60 fps, with higher frame rates sometimes feeling less smooth despite the numbers suggesting otherwise.
Streamlined Gameplay
The Dark Ages represents a significant simplification of Doom's mechanics. Enemy weaknesses have been largely homogenized, with the shield becoming the universal solution to most combat scenarios. The resource management that defined previous entries has been drastically reduced—the chainsaw is gone, replaced by a simple punch mechanic that generates ammo from grunts. Similarly, glory kills have been scaled back, with many enemies simply receiving brief slow-motion punches that drop health items.
Level Design Compromises
The game's levels feel noticeably flatter and more open than the intricate mazes of previous entries, likely to accommodate the Slayer's reduced mobility and the prevalence of projectile-based combat. While this makes backtracking easier, it sometimes results in long sprints across empty spaces. Secrets remain abundant but are more obviously telegraphed, reducing the satisfaction of discovery. The challenging platforming and combat puzzles that characterized Doom Eternal have largely been removed in favor of more straightforward progression.
Accessibility and Difficulty
The Dark Ages offers impressive accessibility options, allowing players to customize nearly every aspect of the experience. Sliders and toggles control everything from projectile speeds and parry windows to exact damage values, making the game approachable for newcomers while still offering challenge for veterans willing to tweak the settings. The default difficulty feels notably easier than previous entries, which may disappoint hardcore fans but welcome those who found Doom Eternal too demanding.
Conclusion
Doom: The Dark Ages delivers a visually stunning and technically impressive entry in the storied franchise, successfully implementing full ray tracing without crippling performance. The shield-based combat provides a fresh take on demon slaying, though the simplified mechanics and reduced mobility represent a step back in complexity from Doom Eternal. While still offering an enjoyable 15-20 hour campaign filled with brutal combat, The Dark Ages plays it safer than its predecessors, trading the series' signature speed and resource management for accessibility and spectacle. It's a good Doom game, but perhaps not a great one.
 |
|---|
| The Power Gauntlet acquired in Doom: The Dark Ages, symbolizing the balance between accessible gameplay and thrilling combat challenges |