Now Playing: Doom: The Dark Ages

There are games that I find hard to review because I don’t really have much to say about them. Doom: The Dark Ages is one such game. It’s another absolutely fantastic first person shooter from id Software and a worthy sequel (well, actually a prequel) to the absolutely fantastic Doom (2016) and even more fantastic Doom Eternal.

When I like a game but don’t love it, when I’m frustrated by a game, when I feel a game is great but has many flaws, when I feel a game has untapped potential – I have so much more to say. But Doom: The Dark Ages is just so . . . spotless. It’s so effortlessly great. From gameplay, to visuals, to audio. It’s so perfectly polished, so technically proficient and so mechanically sound that I’m struggling to find anything to criticise.

Doom Eternal was absolute peak – I loved it. But I didn’t want The Dark Ages to just be more Eternal. The amazing thing about this new Doom trilogy is just how differently each of the games feel to play, yet they all retain a core moment to moment structure. I’ve seen a general perception that Eternal was fast and The Dark Ages is slow. And whilst it’s true that TDA is generally slower than Eternal (at least on the default speed settings – more on that later) it’s still pretty damn fast and just as intense.

The real difference here is mobility – Eternal featured a movement system that was very fluid and agile. In TDA, everything feels heavier – your movement, your weapons – you really feel the weight. And that means you take a different approach to combat. Like 2016 and Eternal, TDA is still a game of chaining together kills, one demon to the next – that’s the core moment to moment gameplay structure I was talking about.

But in TDA, you have to be a little more considered and thoughtful about your positioning and approach. Because you’re not as agile, you can’t quickly dodge or manoeuvre when surrounded so you’ll generally want to keep everything in front of you and tackle it head on. You do have a shield dash (and bash!) ability that does give you a quick ‘out’ if you need it, but once again, like the previous games, TDA encourages you to keep on killing because that’s what keeps you alive, your attacks providing a steady stream of health, ammo and armour.

If you’re low on health, trying to dash away to find some is less effective than fighting even harder and killing more demons. And it’s so satisfying being only a single hit away from death, only to trigger a glory kill and push your health back up just enough so you can keep going. Because like the Doom Slayer himself, you just Refuse. To. Die.

Your weapon selection is great – a nice mix of range and close quarters with nearly every weapon featuring an alternative fire mode that’s essentially a new weapon in and of itself. Each weapon can also be upgraded and tweaked with different modifiers. All of them are super fun to use and all of them are viable regardless of the enemy.

Unlike Eternal where weapon switching was a necessity, TDA gives you absolute freedom to tackle your foes with whatever weapon or modifiers you prefer. That’s not to say you won’t discover that some weapons are more effective against certain foes or within certain scenarios than others, but overall, they all get the job done.

You also have three melee options each of which provide different bonuses and your shield runes which also apply different modifiers to your parries. Yes – parries! Because TDA wants you to tackle foes head on you need to be able to block but also parry attacks with your (chainsaw!) shield. Your shield can also be thrown, lodging in an enemy and shredding them apart!

All combined, the combat system is gloriously fun, violent and provides exactly the kind of ‘unstoppable force’ power fantasy playing as the Doom Slayer should. Between bouts of combat you’ll have a few quieter moments in which to explore the level and find various ‘hidden’ collectibles (toys / weapon skins / codex entries) and upgrade materials (gold / rubies / crystals). I say ‘Hidden’ because they’re all clearly marked on your map – you just need to figure out how to reach them.

I played TDA on the ‘Nightmare’ difficulty but what’s interesting about TDA is how customisable the game is with regard to its gameplay. After playing through about nine chapters, I felt like Nightmare was slightly too punishing for me, but that the next difficulty down was far too easy. So what did I do? I tweaked it! I simply lowered the ‘damage taken’ slider from 250% to 200%. And that little tweak gave me the perfect sweet spot that felt just right for me.

And you can modify practically everything – parry window, taken taken / damage dealt, game speed, enemy aggression . . . you can make TDA as fast, slow, hard or easy as you like. Whilst I still prefer more clearly defined (and balanced) difficulty modes, I do appreciate just how personalised you can tailor your experience here.

If I did have one nitpick about The Dark Ages it would be that it is, perhaps, just slightly too long. There are 22 chapters to complete, and I feel like you could cut two of these and you’d have a better paced experience. The two chapters in question are ‘Siege – Part 1’ and ‘Belly of the Beast’. Siege – Part 1 features the largest open level in the game but it’s very much a case of ‘bigger isn’t always better’. There’s too much empty space to traverse and it drags on too long.

Belly of the Beast on the other hand is what you might call a ‘detour’ chapter towards the very end. It’s fun for sure, but it doesn’t feel like anything more than an unnecessary road block to your progress that interrupts the pace of the main campaign. I feel like the game could cut those two levels and you wouldn’t really miss out on anything but you would have a slightly better paced overall experience.

The Dark Ages also features a few levels in which you get to control an Atlan – think a giant mech like out of Pacific Rim. These are fairly short, but fun little diversions to mix up the gameplay. There are also levels where you’ll have access to a dragon you can ride, although it’s primarily used to carry the slayer from one combat zone to another. It’s another fun little addition that adds some variety to your progression but, like the Atlan sections, sensibly doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Visually, TDA looks fantastic and it ran incredibly smoothly for me, even with full path racing enabled. The music is great, but maybe not quite on par with the previous games. There’s also more story to this game in the form of cut scenes and different characters but the scenes are all very short and even if it is, admittedly, a bit flat, I still had fun with it.

Well, look at that – turns out I had more to say about Doom: The Dark Ages than I thought, eh? So I guess all that’s left is to determine if I like it more or less than Eternal. It’s a tricky one, because they do both feel so different to play but overall, I probably still rank Eternal as my favourite, with Dark Ages a close second and 2016 a very close third. But honestly, you can’t go wrong with any of them if you want to play a top tier first person shooter.

9/10