Summary
- Recent difficulty tweaks in Doom: The Dark Ages make the game more challenging.
- Fans can still customize difficulty levels despite the changes.
- Doom: The Dark Ages difficulty adjustments were made based on player data.
Recent tweaks to difficulty values across Doom: The Dark Ages make the game's experience that much more challenging. These changes don't detract from the considerable level of difficulty customization that Doom: The Dark Ages offers, though, and fans remain free to fine-tune their game difficulties however they like.
It has always been the case that no two Doom games are the same, and Doom: The Dark Ages is particularly prominent in its differences when compared to its predecessor, Doom Eternal. It's no surprise that the new game has been met with all sorts of opinions from the gaming community since its official launch earlier in May, but fans both new and old have had to learn the same distinguished combat loop that The Dark Ages introduces. Not everyone is a big fan of the game's slower pace and parry mechanics, but there's no denying that Doom: The Dark Ages plays quite unlike any game in the series that came before.
Doom: The Dark Ages' Parrying System Comes with One Big Downside
The combat of Doom: The Dark Ages is largely defined by its parry system, though this comes with a sticking point that is hard to ignore.
Different players have picked up the game's combat rhythm at different paces, though, with some even managing to beat Doom: The Dark Ages on Ultra Nightmare difficulty less than a week after launch. In a recent Slayer's Club livestream event hosted by Game Director Hugo Martin and Senior Community Lead Joshua Boyle, Martin discusses a recent shadow update made to the game's difficulty, and confirms that the game's challenge level has been adjusted upward in response to player data collected since launch. Interestingly, these difficulty changes were brought without the need for an official patch, and seem to focus on tweaking certain variables and enemy attacks. These changes have sparked some discussion among the community, and a clip posted by the player LuizFelipe1906 demonstrates how the game is now more punishing in certain areas.
A Lot Of Doom: The Dark Ages Fans Are Confused About The Sudden Difficulty Update
This developer livestream event is the first of many, and gives the Game Director a chance to directly discuss with fans and reveal some of the upcoming features and additions planned to come to Doom: The Dark Ages later down the line. Not only do these events help bridge the gap between players and the game's creators, it also gives fans the chance to follow along on Martin's Nightmare-difficulty playthrough of the game in real time. This isn't the first time the developer has hosted these kinds of livestream events, with the Game Director previously streaming his Nightmare runs of previous Doom games as well.
Still, with news of these difficulty changes only being revealed via this livestream event, it's understandable that a lot of Doom: The Dark Ages fans have been confused about suddenly finding the game a lot harder. Doom: The Dark Ages' many difficulty sliders still allow players to customize their experience however they like, and fans unhappy about the sudden difficulty changes can tune the challenge up or down at any point during the game.
DOOM: The Dark Ages
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 86 /100 Critics Rec: 95%
- Released
- May 15, 2025
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence
- Developer(s)
- id Software
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda Softworks
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- id Tech
- Genre(s)
- FPS, Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
