Doom: The Dark Ages: Review

Developed by id
Published by Bethesda
Platform: PS5

Touted as a new evolution of Doom rather than just simply scrolling through tunnels and shooting, Doom: The Dark Ages is about as medieval as it comes.

But with developers id promising that there's an evolution in the game, "a core pillar of their studio", don't be expecting a repeat of Doom or Doom: Eternal.

However, how you may feel about this new evolution of it though largely depends on how accepting you are of change and adaption.

In truth, Doom: The Dark Ages, which serves as a prequel to 2016's Doom as it follows the rise of the Doom Slayer and his quest to vanquish the legions of Hell, is a fairly solid and enjoyably fun romp through what makes the franchise so eternally popular - shooting things, exploring tunnels and being jump-scared when something unexpectedly shows.

Taking the previous games' run and gun mentality and gifting you early on with a shield, blessed with buzzsaws, that can be hurled at victims and stop them in their tracks, the game's commitment to action is more about handling a wide variety of oncoming masses and then basically obliterating them.

At times, it feels like an Iron Maiden cover writ large upon a video game world as the hordes descend on you. But in truth, the game's commitment to giving you a way to survive (certainly in its earlier levels and on its lower difficulty setting) means that it's actually wanting any player to pick up a controller and build their way up to being a brutal badass. Whether that's a good thing for a franchise that's been about toughness is another big question.

How you'll feel about that depends on how much of a Doom purist you are.

But using the shield to repel attacks back on those who've dished them out or shooting a row of shield-bearing bad guys and then firing the shield into them to cause them to explode, showering you in items and limbs, represents a solid step up from the days of point and click for the game's very first iteration. It's also undeniably fun - albeit a mechanic that doesn't evolve.

Plus add into the mix the fact you can swing around parts of the map by hurling your shield, and it soon becomes a vital addition to the armaments to aid on your journey. Throw in some puzzles and the Doom ideology has somehow expanded beyond its basics.

And you have to admire a game that delivers a weapon that takes skulls, processes them and spits them out as deadly bullets. Plus, even the weapons sound like Iron Maiden B-sides.

But it's not all positive.

It has to be said the hordes feel largely nondescript in their design and while the game's not really about standing around and admiring the scenery, there are numerous moments when the well-presented, but ultimately amorphous, bullet sponges simply feel like they're cannon-fodder, rather than memorable bad guys writ large over 22 levels.

Upgrading is simple too - just collect gold and trade it to improve your weapons and skills. It's here the game's maps come into play as you head around hidden areas to collect rewards for surviving ambushes.

While the game's set in a techno medieval background, the ability to get inside a Mecha Slayer and deliver some Kaiju-sized chaos isn't as good as it sounds - and may be one of the evolutions from id that will polarise players used to be ground-based.

In truth, this first outing in the Mecha-Slayer's underwhelming. It's not a chance to wreak chaos on a sandbox scale and the frustration of the game guiding you only to areas where you can Hulk-smash and shoot those attacking you isn't as great as it may sound. While it comes with a larger weapon to help you piece apart Atlan invaders, the Mecha-Slayer feels like a slightly retrograde element in the game, something akin to being inside a Pacific Rim or Transformer as they bring the Bayhem.

Graphically, the game looks pretty - which may sound trite, but it's not.

Its palette and aesthetics may not be as colourful as prior outings, but the darker edges and dull colours certainly bring the medieval setting on a hellscape to life. Limbs splatter, blood flies everywhere - it's not the stuff of nightmares perhaps, but it's solidly executed and looks the part. But the castle buildings pop with precision and menace.

If anything, Doom: The Dark Ages may well come under fire for not quite doing enough and radically going all in with changes (though you'd have a strong argument to say that's not really what its core base wants). 

It certainly brings the bloody bullet-based mayhem that fans would want - and the fun gore the franchise craves.