Doom: The Dark Ages Leaning Into One Element Makes Perfect…

Summary

Doom: The Dark Ages revamps gameplay and adds to the lore by putting the Slayer into a sci-fi medieval setting.
The game also embraces Lovecraftian cosmic horror, bringing new monsters and locations to the table.
Venturing into cosmic horror keeps the franchise feeling fresh, offering more epic moments for fans to experience.

Doom: The Dark Ages continues the 2016 reboot's mission of bringing one of the most influential FPS franchises into the modern era. With the third and latest installment, Doom: The Dark Ages serves as a prequel to both Doom and Doom: Eternal, sending the Slayer into a science-fiction crossed with medieval aesthetics setting, during his time under the tether of the alien Maykrs, where he fought alongside the planet of Argent D'Nur's Night Sentinel forces when Hell invaded their homeworld.

In the most recent outing, Doom: The Dark Age s shakes up the gameplay formula that developer id established for its new era nearly 10 years ago, tweaking it to make the Slayer play and feel more like "an Abrams tank rather than an F-16 jet fighter." It also expands on the increasingly complex lore that the series began to introduce in 2016. And as the Slayer has ripped and torn his way across futuristic facilities on Mars and through the bowels of Hell, The Dark Ages now mixes in another aspect with some new locations and foes that add a fitting layer to the established world and combat.

Spoilers for Doom: The Dark Ages below.

Doom: The Dark Ages Takes Several Steps Forward, But One Inevitable Step Back

Doom: The Dark Ages offers some great upgrades to things like combat and exploration, yet one aspect of the game was always going to be divisive.

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By Jake S

Doom: The Dark Ages Embracing Cosmic Horror is One of its Best Choices

Doom Has Always Verged on the Lovecraftian

From its very outset, Doom's framework of demons pouring through portals in reality and threatening to drive humanity into extinction has contained more than a few shades of Lovecraft. Some of the enemy designs, like the Cacodemons, also highly resembled Lovecraft-inspired ones. With the modern Doom games delving further into the lore of the series, expanding and filling in gaps in the grand narrative, taking players to the Cosmic Realm in Doom: The Dark Ages seems almost a natural extension of its roots that it could easily have explored much earlier.

The various forces of Hell that fans have faced in the series have also become fairly familiar over the years. And though some of the most iconic enemies in Doom, like the Revenant, Cyberdemon, Mancubus, and others, have undergone redesigns for the modern period, they all still remain largely recognizable, with veteran players knowing which ones to tackle first and the tactics that are most effective against them. The Dark Ages introducing fans to an Eldritch setting populated with some new types of baddies for the Slayer to crush is a winning move on both fronts.

Doom: The Dark Ages Venturing into Cosmic Horror Keeps its Feeling Fresh

About halfway through the events of Doom: The Dark Ages, the Slayer finds himself following an important story character into what appears to be another dimension, or at least a previously unknown planet. This area displays impressive level and art design, something true of the previous two games too. But here, the crumbling Cyclopean temples and unearthly landscapes where Cthulhuian entities reside are some of the highlights. And indeed, there are more than a few passing references and nods to the Great Old Ones and Lovecraftian imagery.

In this realm, the Slayer takes on some new monstrosities that behave in some ways like classic Doom demons, but also have a few new tricks for players to deal with. Combined with these Eldritch beasts' often creepier visual flair, even compared to the gnarliest of known demons, makes the locations and fights feel fresh. Doom: The Dark Ages even has the Slayer shredding his way through a massive otherworldly entity, creating another epic and badass moment in a series that has given fans some of the most memorable in gaming.

Doom: The Dark Ages' foray into fully cosmic horror territory makes more sense than it may seem given the IP's overall presentation. It also makes for a great addition to the latest iteration and proves that Doom has plenty more to show players and for the Slayer to do what he does best.

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