Doom: The Dark Ages Will Make Demon Slaying More Satisfying Than Ever
Keep it simple, slayer.
Doom: The Dark Ages is the third game in the seminal first-person shooter series’ modern trilogy, but director Hugo Martin says one of id Software’s major goals is to make it totally different from what came before. This philosophy comes from his own gaming tastes: he never wants to play the same thing twice.
“That’s how we felt about Doom 2016, we couldn’t just do the same thing again,” Martin said. “I know that would please people, but we see that those [kinds of sequels] tend not to be as sticky. People still talk about Doom Eternal because we didn’t just make Doom 2016 2.0. We mean it when we say we want every game we make to stand on its own.”
The core essence of Doom — fast-paced, visceral combat and a thumping soundtrack — is certainly present in The Dark Ages. Weaving between projectiles and putting Doom Slayer’s ridiculous arsenal through its violent paces looks as satisfying as ever. But the feel of combat and its core loop will be a noted departure, Martin and executive producer Marty Stratton said.
In their words, the players were a human fighter jet in Doom Eternal, and now they’re a powerful iron tank. Shifting the game’s feel alongside its level progression, Doom: The Dark Ages is shaping up to be one of 2025’s most intriguing first-person shooters. Inverse got an early look at Doom: The Dark Ages in an hour-long preview event, and the biggest takeaway was how faithful it looks to the 1993 original.
“It feels more like classic Doom than any game we’ve made up to this point,” Martin said. “There are a lot of modern conveniences that the original Doom doesn’t have when it comes to exploring a level. But when it comes to combat, it’s really incredibly streamlined. That’s why it’s still fun to this day.”
Developer id Software took the approachable nature of the original game and made it a central part of this sequel. Three buttons make up all of The Doom Slayer’s abilities: the saw shield, melee, and trigger. The shield can deflect projectiles, parry enemies who attack up close, and be thrown as a projectile, Captain America-style. All of these uses are triggered with a single, contextual button.
When getting more hands-on with demons, players choose between an iron flail, an electrified gauntlet, and a mace. Each offers strengths and weaknesses, unique upgrade options, and gory executions. It’s up to the player to choose which works best for their play style, but again, only a single button is needed.
The Saw Shield is a versatile new weapon.
The trigger, likely the button players will use most, comes down to how weapons impact enemies. During our preview, there were zero energy or magic-based weapons shown. Instead, each firearm was built to rip, tear, maim, and impale the hellish spawn that stands in your way. Every weapon, including the skull-crusher that became a meme last summer, looks like a blast to use.
Making The Dark Ages simpler was a direct result of the reception to Doom Eternal. While id Software stands by some of Eternal’s more divisive design decisions, like ammo scarcity and how difficulty ramps up, they also understand that the barrier to enjoyment for some players came down to complexity, not how tough the enemies were.
“Fewer strings on the guitar is really what the goal was. Something that felt intuitive so when we do pressure the player, they’re not reaching for buttons they’re not familiar with.”
“The control scheme led to unnecessary difficulties,” Martin said. “You want to be fighting the demons, not the controls. So one of the core pillars of development, going back to our green light, was an ergonomic control scheme. Fewer strings on the guitar is really what the goal was. Something that felt intuitive so when we do pressure the player, they’re not reaching for buttons they’re not familiar with.”
This ethos goes beyond making the game simpler: The Dark Ages will be the first Doom game to give players a range of difficulty sliders, something that’s become a staple of Xbox’s first-party games. In addition to selecting a base difficulty like in older games, players can get into the nitty-gritty of the experience they want, from how much damage they take to how long the parry windows are.
“We’ve never given players access to these kinds of things before,” Stratton said. “When you can dial up the game speed, the difficulty, from shortening the parry windows which will be very important in this game, or even the damage that’s done to you, you can create a very challenging experience.”
All weapons are built to rip, tear, maim, and impale the hellish spawn that stand in your way.
Level design is the other big change, as the two lead developers spoke about The Dark Ages having battlefields rather than arenas like the previous two games. While they were adamant that this won’t be an open-world game, Stratton suggests a Dark Souls-ian approach to level design. Players are given multiple objectives they’re free to tackle in any order, obtaining upgrades and powers along the way.
Players who want to explore these medieval-inspired backdrops that look like they’re ripped straight from a Megadeth album cover will have hours of side content to explore, but the crux of progression is about making your way through enemies across interconnected areas. Players won’t just explore on foot, either, as a new fire-breathing cybernetic dragon with mounted Gatling guns will take them soaring across dark skies. Players will also take control of a 30-story mech called an Atlan to fight massive demons Pacific Rim-style. It’s a beautifully absurd addition to Doom’s over-the-top world, one that feels like the perfect escalation of what came before it.
“These aren’t one-and-done features either,” Martin promised. “They have a full suite of abilities and mini bosses.”
Doom: The Dark Ages is set to be the perfect entry point for players who didn’t play the last two games. The power fantasy of being a potent demon slayer armed to the teeth with insane weapons and abilities looks more appealing and approachable than ever. And for returning fans, the next iteration of what id does best — tweaking the core of Doom to create unique first-person shooters — looks just as engrossing as its two genre-defining predecessors.
