Doom: The Dark Ages (2025): The Review

Overview

Doom: The Dark Ages, title aside, feels less like a step backward and more like a full-on rebirth for the series. It abandons the aerial chaos and frantic weapon juggling of DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal in favor of a heavier, boots-on-the-ground combat flow that echoes the franchise’s roots. Throw in a mech, a dragon, a darker story woven into the rebooted timeline, and a campaign that’s downright crusade-sized, and you end up with something absolutely worth digging your chainsaw shield into.

Score: 8.5 out of 10

The Positives ✅

Doom: The Dark Ages doesn’t try to outdo Doom (2016) or Eternal by going louder or faster, instead, it goes sideways. It feels less like a headline act and more like a surprisingly meaty spin-off, the kind that deepens the universe rather than redefining it. Think B-tier Marvel movie energy, but in a good way: lower stakes, heavier lore, and a different tone that lets the world of Doom stretch its legs. Argent D’nur finally gets to be more than a codex dump, and honestly, that alone makes this entry worthwhile.

Visually, the game is an absolute monster. The medieval-tech fusion of Argent D’nur looks incredible, blending knightly pageantry with brutal sci-fi machinery in a way only Doom could pull off without collapsing into parody. Demons in plate armor, laser-spitting hellspawn, war-torn citadels bathed in firelight, it’s metal as hell, and it owns it. This is Doom leaning hard into aesthetic confidence, and it pays off almost constantly.

The arsenal is where The Dark Ages truly flexes. Sure, you’ve still got guns, because Doom without guns would be heresy, but now they’re twisted through a medieval lens. Skull-launching monstrosities, stake cannons, flails, and the absurdly wonderful chainsaw shield turn combat into a violent playground. Melee isn’t just a flourish anymore; it’s foundational. Stringing combos together, parrying attacks, and smashing demons up close makes you feel less like an airborne murder ballet dancer and more like a walking siege engine.

And then id Software completely loses its mind, in the best way, by giving you an Atlan mech and a rideable dragon. These aren’t throwaway gimmicks. They’re fully realized gameplay systems with dedicated chapters and mechanics. Piloting the Atlan against Titans feels like Doom cosplaying as a kaiju movie, while the dragon sections, despite handling like a jet-powered brick, deliver pure spectacle. It’s excessive, ridiculous, and somehow still controlled enough not to derail the experience.

The Negatives ⚠️

For all its strengths, The Dark Ages absolutely overstays its welcome. Twenty-two chapters is… a lot. Somewhere around chapter ten, the realization hits that this crusade might’ve been better with a tighter edit. Some levels are sprawling, semi-open endurance tests that can stretch past two hours, while others barely last long enough to leave an impression. The pacing inconsistency messes with the otherwise strong rhythm of the campaign.

That length also makes the difficulty sting more than it should. On higher settings, repeated deaths during long encounters start to wear you down, not because the combat is bad, but because restarting sections becomes mentally exhausting. Eternal felt relentless but focused; The Dark Ages sometimes feels relentless and bloated.

Then there’s the elephant in the hellscape: the soundtrack. It’s good. It’s competent. It fits the medieval war vibe. But it’s not Mick Gordon, and you feel that absence constantly. Finishing Move did solid work and wisely didn’t try to copy Gordon’s style, but what we get lacks that raw, unholy personality that made Eternal feel like a playable death metal album. In any other game, this soundtrack would slap. In Doom, it merely behaves.

The technical and financial barriers don’t help either. Nearly 90GB of storage, demanding PC specs, and a $70 price tag make this a high-commitment experience. The content mostly justifies it, but that doesn’t make the hit to your wallet, or your SSD, any less painful.

The Experience 🎮

Personally, The Dark Ages took a bit to click. The slower, more grounded combat felt strange at first, especially coming off Eternal’s constant vertical chaos. But once I pushed past the early chapters, upgraded my gear, and learned the rhythm of parries, charges, and melee chains, everything snapped into place. This isn’t Doom as a speedrun, it’s Doom as a war march.

What really sold me was how deliberate the combat became. Enemies don’t just swarm anymore; they hold ground, form lines, and force you to think tactically. The lock-on charge, shield parries, and elemental synergies made every fight feel intentional instead of frantic. It reminded me less of modern Doom and more of classic Doom, dodging projectiles, picking openings, surviving through awareness rather than pure momentum.

The story, while not packed with standout characters, did enough to ground the carnage. Fighting under the Maykrs instead of purely on the Slayer’s terms subtly recontextualizes everything you do, making this feel like a chapter of history rather than another isolated rampage. It’s world-building for people who actually read codex entries, and yeah, I’m one of those people.

By the end, even with the campaign fatigue and the Mick Gordon-shaped void echoing through every arena, I walked away impressed. Doom: The Dark Ages doesn’t replace Doom (2016) or Eternal, it complements them. It strips the formula back, reforges it with medieval brutality, and proves that Doom can still evolve by knowing when not to escalate.

It’s big, loud, expensive, and exhausting, but in that very Doom way where exhaustion still feels earned. Call it a renaissance or call it the Dark Ages. Either way, ripping and tearing has rarely felt this weighty.