DOOM: The Dark Ages Reviews
DOOM The Dark Ages is aggressive as hell, loud, fast, and all the fun you want. Sometimes you just need to pick up a shotgun, a flail, and a saw-bladed shield and rip through baddies. To put it simply, DOOM The Dark Ages is rewarding. The gameplay matters and ultimately makes up for any weaknesses in the story.
With satisfying combat, fun exploration, and some of the finest accessibility options out there, Doom: The Dark Ages is an epic heavy metal odyssey that proves the iconic franchise is still king of the genre.
DOOM: The Dark Ages takes us back to the Slayer at his most powerful, stylish cape and all. Twenty-two levels of mayhem, excellent pacing, and furious combat make this entry my favorite in the series yet.
Doom: The Dark Ages sticks to its roots, offering refined gameplay rather than a reinvention like Doom (2016). The focus on strafing over constant flying through the air is a welcome shift, with difficulty settings helping maintain the series' trademark speed. While the mech sections and soundtrack fall short of previous entries, the game delivers fast-paced, satisfying action complemented by a touch more story and expansive level design.
Review in German | Read full review
So yes, all the hallmarks of what makes a good Doom game are fully on display in The Dark Ages: overpowered weapons, copious amounts of blood, chaotic combat, a blistering metal soundtrack. Hell. It’s all just been moved around a little bit, remixed to feel fresh. Like spring cleaning. The place may look different, but that doesn’t mean it’s not comfortable. After all, your chair is still your chair, and Doom is still Doom.
"The best DOOM experience ever!" DOOM: The Dark Ages is a bold and exciting shift for the series, abandoning excessive speed in favor of depth and tactics. Combat is more realistic without losing its usual ferocity. A new arsenal of weapons and abilities, and most importantly, a greater expansion of the story and world of the title, retains the series' hallmarks while letting you know it's a new DOOM. With its modern touch, the game surpasses its predecessors, opening the way for a larger and broader audience.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Doom: The Dark Ages trades speed for savagery and rockets for ruin… but make no mistake, the heart of Doom still beats beneath the chainmail.
DOOM: The Dark Ages modernizes the series with flair, offering intense gameplay and sleek graphics. Despite a weak story and some repetition, it’s a compelling experience overall.
Review in Italian | Read full review
From the first kill to the last, Doom: The Dark Ages is an undeniably exhilarating ride that rarely comes down from its high. The narrative sets the stage for more, the weapons and the Shield Saw make for potent combinations, and the level and world design tie it all together in one devilishly brilliant package. It has been more than 30 years since the franchise first kicked off the killing spree, and this latest entry represents the continuation of a new golden age for the Doom Slayer.
Doom: The Dark Ages may be my favorite Doom experience throughout the years. Whilst it may be 'slower' than previous Doom's. feeling the weight of Doomguy as I cut my way through waves of demons, using the shield as a weapon as much, if not more than a defense, and some glorious level design that never got boring, I just can't wait to get back into the fight and really give it my all on all the difficulty levels. It's a blast, and any FPS fan should be looking at this. The only drawback is the thin and at times boring story getting in the way of more slaughter, but you can't blame iD for trying something new.
Doom: The Dark Ages is a great game, a fantastic demon slaughter festival, but not exactly the best Doom. There's too much plot, dialogue, side characters, cut-scenes, too much trying to make this campaign feel like Halo and Call of Duty. On the other hand, such an approach may appeal more to people who are unfamiliar with the beginnings of the series, not emotionally attached to the franchise since the 90s.
Doom: The Dark Ages is much more focused than its predecessors and more fun thanks to id Software’s ability to continually refine the Doom formulas to feel different enough that it never gets boring.
This is a brave game that dares to innovate and reinvent an already established and beloved formula. This reinvention breathes new life into the franchise, presenting fresh ideas — some of which are spot on, others not so much.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
DOOM: The Dark Ages is a bold and visually stunning shooter that captures the franchise’s essence while pushing gameplay forward, though its underwhelming story and some uneven design choices hold it back from matching its predecessors.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
DOOM: The Dark Ages is, for the moment, the best first-person shooter of this year, and I'm afraid that few titles will be able to threaten it in winning the well-deserved awards. It's a phenomenal game that I recommend to any fan of dynamic FPS games. While I love Eternal and it will remain in first place in my heart for a very long time to come, I can't escape the fact that its new, youngest brother is treading on its toes.
Review in Polish | Read full review
The Doom Slayer returns in amazing fashion with riveting gameplay, exceptional variety and gorgeous design. It might just be the best iteration of Doom so far, even though some elements pull you out of the game's adrenaline-filled tempo.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Sure, there are some nitpicks, such as the dragon feature being underutilised, but nothing [in Doom: The Dark Ages] ever really pulls you out of the experience. What’s left? A strange, almost reverent love for a game that’s raw, ridiculous, and unnecessarily metal. And I loved every second of it. If this is hell, I’m not just walking in—I’m speed-boosting with a maxed-out Combat Shotgun and Finishing Move blaring at full volume.
“Doom: The Dark Ages” doesn't reinvent the wheel. I get exactly what I expect from the series. Frenetic action against snarling demons. If there's one thing I'd like to see in the next installment, it's a return to horror. Because this Doom Slayer definitely doesn't know fear.
Review in German | Read full review
What’s here is a medieval mosh pit of mayhem that’ll leave you grinning under your helmet, even if it doesn’t quite outshine its elders. Some of the flesh of Doom 2016 and Eternal has been peeled back sensibly in service of a new way; some chunks of epidermis shouldn’t have been extracted at all.
DOOM: The Dark Ages is exactly what fans were craving: a beefy, brutal evolution of the franchise that mixes medieval mayhem with modern polish.