Doom: The Dark Ages Review: The Shooter King Returns With a Shield, Not on a Shield

The release of each new part of the Doom series is a real event for the gaming industry. Over the past thirty years, shooters have changed a lot, they have a plot, developed characters and a thick atmosphere, and some representatives of the genre have an open world and RPG elements. Doom still offers the destruction of demons in small arenas. But exterminating evil spirits in it is still as interesting as it was thirty years ago. And due to the change of setting, The Dark Ages feels like a breath of fresh air.

The very first Doom was the spiritual successor to Wolfenstein 3D. The adventures of B.J. Blazkowicz were also liked by players at the time, but it was the battles with hordes of hellish creatures on Martian bases that brought the popularity of shooters to a new level. And a year later, a sequel with additional levels and a signature double-barreled shotgun appeared on store shelves.

The first two parts of the series surprised with advanced technologies — John Carmack not only developed a pseudo-3D engine, but made it work quickly on the current computers of those years. For the unique level design with an unusual architecture, we must thank American McGee and John Romero (John Romero).

The developers of Doom 3 shifted the focus from dynamic shooting of demons to horror elements, as a result of which we got a completely different game. The concept was considered unsuccessful, so the next part turned out to be a reboot, which returned to the formula of the original dilogy. And in 2020, Doom Eternal was released, where battles resemble peculiar puzzles. You need to accurately calculate the number of bullets, wisely use all available skills and remember the weak points of each specific monster.

In all previous parts of the Doom series, we did roughly the same thing — fought demons in a near-future setting, and also looked into hell to deal with particularly strong minions of the devil. Even the arsenal was similar everywhere. At the announcement stage, it seemed that The Dark Ages would be limited to cosmetic changes compared to Eternal. But instead, we were sent to the Middle Ages, given a shield, and offered to burn demons while riding a huge dragon.

Shooters with elements of classic fantasy were released back in the 90s. Bright examples are Hexen and Heretic from Raven Software. However, thanks to the gloomy scenery, The Dark Ages is reminiscent not of these projects, but of the original Painkiller. Very soon it will receive a full-fledged remake. It will be interesting to compare two representatives of different series, which suddenly turned out to be similar to each other.

"A game's story is like a script in a p**n movie. It has to be there, but it's completely unimportant," John Carmack said. This phrase, slightly outdated by 2025, surprisingly suits Doom. Starting with the third part, the writers have been actively trying to tell a complex story with cutscenes, diaries, an in-game codex, and much more. But the gist always comes down to one thing — demons from hell have attacked people, so they must be stopped.

In The Dark Ages, we see a large-scale invasion with the storming of cities, we observe the implementation of the insidious plans of one of the leaders of the devilish armies and the hunt for mysterious artifacts. Moreover, the silent protagonist here acts as a person with incredible strength and power. One of the characters seriously compares the Doom Slayer to God, and the demons tremble at the mere mention of his name. And all this pathos is presented as seriously as possible.

It is curious that eleven years ago we were shown that a sequel to a classic shooter can have an excellent plot that evokes emotions and builds intrigue. We are talking about Wolfenstein: The New Order. In 2017, it received a sequel with the subtitle The New Colossus, in which the story reached a qualitatively new level.

The change of setting directly affected the arsenal of the new Doom. At the very beginning of the game, we are given a shield. The simple ability to block enemy attacks transforms the entire mechanics — you can always go on the defensive, change your position and try to restore health on the outskirts of the arena, away from the most dangerous demons.

However, it is much better to parry attacks. This allows you to inflict additional damage, knock off armor from armored opponents, force the revenant to materialize, and much more. Fights with local bosses are entirely built on parrying their attacks.

The shield can also be used in attack. Among the available techniques are a simple ramming strike and a forward throw. In words, all this seems like a standard innovation, as if we were talking about an additional weapon. However, in fact, the appearance of the shield makes you think differently. While it is raised, enemy ranged attacks are not scary for you, but the hero cannot use ranged weapons. And when shooting, you are defenseless against return fire from demons. As a result, you have to react intelligently to what is happening on the battlefield, act according to the circumstances.

It is surprising how cleverly the shield fits into the basic mechanics of Doom. It will take five to ten minutes and several battles with ordinary opponents to master it. Moreover, you won’t be able to stand in a block all the time — after several hits it will be broken through, and you will be vulnerable. In this regard, the game resembles action games with a stamina bar in the spirit of Dark Souls.

As in Eternal, it is advisable to take into account the strengths and weaknesses of opponents. For example, at an early stage of the game, soldiers with their own shields will pose a serious threat. But you can get rid of them in a couple of seconds if you first shoot them point-blank with a shotgun and then throw a circular saw. But this weapon bounces off the armor of stone imps, so it is better to hit them in close combat. Against single opponents, a piercer is perfect, which can be called an analogue of the bludgeon from Painkiller. But against crowds of different enemies, it is better to use a rapid-fire weapon, for example, a plasma accelerator or a bone crusher, a local analogue of a minigun. If the battle unfolded in the narrow walls of the castle, then it is better to switch to a double-barreled super shotgun, which deals great damage in close combat. Even huge opponents in the spirit of a mancubus or a horseman cease to seem so formidable when you discover how quickly they are killed with a zepoval core. But this weapon loses its effectiveness when it comes to fast enemies. The appearance of each new gun is a real holiday. It is demonstrated from all sides, after which they offer to immediately put it into action. Moreover, the feeling of using the weapon is simply indescribable, because it is perfectly voiced and animated, and the enemies react vividly to direct hits — armor, pieces of flesh and even individual limbs fall off. And if you play with the DualSense gamepad, you will get additional pleasure from shooting thanks to the vibration and resistance of the triggers.

The latest parts of the Doom series were criticized for finishing off enemies, which slightly disrupt the frantic dynamics ofdoes not look alien, but fits perfectly into the theme of The Dark Ages.

Music has always been an important part of Doom. Even in the very first part of the series, it set the mood — it turned out that heavy rock is ideally combined with the destruction of hordes of demons. The Internet is actively discussing the departure of composer Mick Gordon, who worked on the 2016 reboot and Doom Eternal. It is difficult to say whether it is his fault or the sound engineer, but here the music plays in the background and practically does not cheer up. It's not bad on its own, if you listen to it separately, but it feels like it's out of place in the game.

Sounds are a different matter. And it's not just about gunshots and explosions. Even the simple landing of the Doom Slayer after jumping from a great height is accompanied by a realistic clatter of iron. Largely due to the clanking of metal, we feel like we are controlling a hero in heavy armor. A similar effect was in RoboCop: Rogue City, where every step Alex Murphy took was accompanied by the rumble of his mechanical legs.

In fact, today Doom: The Dark Ages has no direct competitors. The annual Call of Duty offers a completely different approach, and boomer shooters with pixel graphics are difficult to perceive as full-fledged modern games. The Painkiller remake, which we mentioned above, has not yet been released, and it is not a fact that it will be successful.

Therefore, the new Doom can only be compared with the previous parts of the series. For example, Eternal feels more difficult, because there is a more rigid attachment of weapons to the vulnerabilities of opponents, and much less ammo. Whether this is good or bad is up to you. But we will note the main thing — thanks to the change of setting and the appearance of the shield, The Dark Ages is perceived freshly. The developers from id Software managed to avoid repeating themselves, which can already be considered an achievement.

It turns out to be a paradoxical situation. The updated shooter mechanics and dragon flights are the only things that are excellent in The Dark Ages. The rest of the game's elements seem mediocre or outdated. But I still want to recommend this shooter to anyone who is not indifferent to the genre. The last time we were offered such a furious and exciting destruction of demons was five years ago, in the previous part of Doom.

Have you already completed The Dark Ages? Did you like the game or were the previous parts of the series better? Share your opinions in the comments!