Doom: The Dark Ages Review - A medieval brawl with a modern twist

BreakingNews.ie

25-05-2025

There's just nothing quite like dissecting demons or blasting them in the face with a shotgun.
Doom
has been a staple of the first-person shooter genre since the 1990s and has set the benchmark for how a shooter should feel to play.
id Software are masters at making you feel like a badass demon slayer. With each new iteration, they reinvent the formula without losing the DNA that makes
Doom
so special.
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Doom: The Dark Ages
continues this tradition, offering an action-packed first-person shooter with enough weapons to satisfy anyone's power fantasy.
Before delving deeper into the combat, it's worth noting how impressive the game looks. It runs consistently at a smooth 60fps on the Xbox Series X.
While the environments are your standard
Doom
fare—Gothic cathedrals and barren hellscapes—they harness the power of modern consoles with more enemies on screen and larger set pieces.
There are plenty of secret areas to discover, including plush toys and Codices, which make each area feel less linear. You can also find new skins for your weapons hidden in nooks and crannies, often behind puzzles that act as a carrot on a stick for players.
While
Doom Eternal
focused on giving players a large variety of weapons,
The Dark Ages
strips things back and provides a more melee-focused experience. The Shotgun, Chaingun, and Rocket Launcher are still available, but they serve more as companion weapons.
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This change may irk some fans, but those willing to adapt will find it just as satisfying as previous entries.
Parrying projectiles
The biggest addition is the new shield, which fits the medieval aesthetic while doubling as both an offensive and defensive weapon. The developers said their goal was to make you feel like a tank—to stand and fight rather than dodge and weave.
The shield allows you to parry green projectiles from demons—a mechanic that plays a central role in combat, with some mini-bosses requiring well-timed rebounds to break their defences. Offensively, you can lock on and smash into enemies from afar. Later, the shield gets upgraded with a rotating saw that continually stuns tougher enemies while slicing through weaker ones with ease.
The shield's versatility makes it one of the most satisfying weapons in the game, evoking the feel of the axe in
God of War
. Launching it and watching it return is always rewarding.
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It takes time to get used to the melee focus, but once you enter the flow state—slicing through smaller enemies to regain health before tackling behemoths like the Cyberdemon—it clicks.
Each enemy has an exploitable weakness. The Pink Rider, for example, is weaker than his mount, while the Shield Soldier becomes vulnerable once his defences are lowered.
Robust package
The Dark Ages
continues
Doom's
tradition of combat experimentation. You start with the parry ability and later unlock upgrades like Runes, which add even more nuance. 'Ground Fissure' creates a shockwave upon parrying, 'Holy Swarm' unleashes daggers, and 'Auto Turret' does exactly what it says.
You can also upgrade melee weapons such as the Power Gauntlets or the medieval-themed Flail by increasing damage or reducing cooldowns.
It's a robust package, full of variety and replayability.
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Some fans may miss the emphasis on
Doom's
signature Glory Kills, but the developers said these would interrupt the pacing with so many enemies on screen.
Accessibility options are excellent—sliders adjust incoming and outgoing damage and fine-tune the parry window.
Normal difficulty ('Hurt Me Plenty') offers a decent challenge, though seasoned players may prefer the more punishing 'Ultra-Violence' mode.
While the gameplay is undoubtedly a blast, some of the missions can be repetitive. You are often dropped into a location, asked to destroy four demon portals or have to take down the bosses' grunts before you can kill them.
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Some missions become repetitive—clear four demon portals, defeat grunts before facing bosses—but detours break things up. You ride dragons and pilot mechs in explosive set pieces. The mech levels are a highlight: giant, punchy, and gloriously straightforward. The dragon segments are less compelling—fiddly lock-on mechanics and underwhelming gameplay drag them down.
Dragons and mechs
The more traditional missions are balanced out with detours where you get to fly on a dragon and operate a giant mech.
The latter is much more fun and straight forward as you are essentially a giant Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robot able to smash demon Titans. They do not overcomplicate things and I always looked forward to those levels.
While the dragon level help break things up, what you actual do in the levels can be quite dull. To destroy hell ships you have to lock on to their missile launchers and dodge them to break their shields.
It is far from thrilling gameplay but there is nice mix between flying around destroying ships and slaying demons on the ground.
Where
The Dark Ages
falters is in its story. As a prequel, it had the chance to delve deeper into the Doom Slayer's origins.
While it is more cinematic story than previous games, as a prequel it could have gone much deeper into Doomslayer's origins.
Instead, you are dropped into the ongoing war between the forces of Hell and the Night Sentinels and their allies the Maykrs.
The Doomslayer is their secret weapon, and you are seeing how he is summoned when their forces are getting overwhelmed. You learn through the game how he is being controlled by them and eventually how he breaks free of their control.
It is not a terrible story, but it feels like a missed opportunity not to expand on the lore in a substantial way. At the same time, I did not expect to be an HBO drama, and if it was too earnest it would detract from it.
Ultimately, The Dark Ages could turn off hardcore Doom fans who see it as too much of a departure from Eternal. However, if you come in with an open mind, you will find another great entry in a series that is constantly evolving while still honouring its considerable lineage.
Our score: 8/10