Doom: The Dark Ages (2025)

I enjoyed this a lot more towards the end. It helped that I set a rule to just do a few levels a day just to try and mitigate some of the monotony I was feeling with it. After having played through Doom 2016 and its sequel/prequel package I'd have to say Eternal is very much my favourite. This one was fun (and kudos to id switching up the gameplay by slowing it down a little and adding a shield) but it was probably the one I enjoyed the least.

Still, had a blast ripping and tearing and I await to see what id release next.

As of writing, I am 3 days after beating the game, and the remaining part of the game I had left was about the 2nd half of it. Overall, I had fun with the game. I will do the really cliche thing and compare this game to Junk Food, there wasn't any substance and I kind of just let it all happen around me, but while I was consuming it, I was having fun, even if there is no long term thought or benefit from playing.

I think the levels were definitely not that strong because of the open level design nature. The mech and the dragon did not show up enough times for it to really be a problem, especially not the dragon, the mech did very quickly lose any fun that could be have with it, but it is in total in the game for like 20-30 minutes, so idk why people were so up in arms about it.

A lot of stuff from my first thoughts of the game still stand, I will say combat wise, there is a certain enemy, the Agadon Hunter, that is just really boring and stupid, they have way too much health and are not fun to fight against. I do think the ending boss fights were fun, but that's because I love parrying.

For a quick summary of everything: A pretty nothing story but it wasn't terrible and it was just full of Doom Guy doing edgy cool things which hey I thought was fun enough, the shooting gameplay is fun and I really like the weapons and I love the shield and parrying but I felt like there were not enough movement options and I heavily missed glory kills, the level design was pretty boring and unmemorable but it wasn't actively bad except for like few instances, the presentation of in game stuff and cutscenes was really good. In conclusion, I can understand why people don't like this game compared to 2016 or Eternal, but I think I like it about the same as 2016 (although I have to play that) and more than base game Eternal. I would give the game a solid 8/10. (I never would have paid $70 for this tho, thank you gamepass)

Article: Doom: The Dark Ages Review - Believe In The Shield

Score Report: 9.5 / 10

Doom: The Dark Ages is modern Doom executed better than ever. It’s a bloody, challenging, and strategic thrill ride that tested my skills, forced me to catch my breath, and always had me asking for more. With the Shield Saw and other great additions, id Software gives me something I didn’t know I wanted, proving once again that this legendary series can still evolve in ways we haven’t even dreamed of.

• Marcus Stewart

I put this game on hold on 8/17 because Sea of Stars was leaving Gamepass and I wanted to beat that before it leaves. I am 10 levels through at the time of writing, and overall I am having a lot of fun with the game. The weapons might be my favorite in the 3 modern Doom games, the only one I don't like is the Pulverizer. The shield is super awesome. The two gameplay things I don't love are the melee attacks and there being no air dash, I'm so used to how they worked in the previous two games, and I feel like they were better in the previous two games. The "glory kills," if you can even call them that in this game, are wayyyyy worse than the other two modern dooms. I also feel like sometimes it is really hard to distinguish enemies from the environemnt. Lastly, the story cinematics are like insanely well done, but I just couldn't care less about what is happening so far. Also, the mech and dragon have both only showed up once so far, I can understand why people didn't like those, but at least so far they were a pretty minor part, so they didn't bother me. Lastly, there is one dumbass enemy type that just constantly shoots at you but also always has a shield up so you like have to take damage to damage them and it's really annoying because a segment with like 3 of those guys and tons of other enemies was the one time I had to lower the difficulty because it felt not fun unfair (opposed to some unfair situations that still feel fun).

I mostly said negative things here but that's just because I wanted it to be perfect, overall I am still having a lot of fun and look forward to beating the game once I have beat Sea of Stars. At the time of writing I would probably give it like an 8/10.

Completed it. The combat was fun enough that it drove me to keep playing. I cranked up the challenge a bit half-way through (ultra-violence) and that made it more satisfying.

I loved the shield and the parry mechanics, but the guns were less satisfying. The switching wheel has some friction that makes it imprecise to quickly go back and forth. But the real issue is there is no point in switching guns. Ammo is so plentiful and there is no significant advantage to the different guns; it is just your playstile. I also miss the glory kills of the past.

Story-wise the sentinels are uninteresting meat-heads, and are too similar in temperament to Doom guy. It means the dour, no-fear soldier doesn't stand out at all. I also don't much care for their leaning into magic-lore, nor the weird Kreed Makyr guys.