Doom: The Dark Ages is solid, but can't escape gaming's trilogy curse
REVIEW: A fun shooter that falls slightly short from earlier entries, confirming that in gaming great things generally don't come in threes
As of last week, Infinite Lives is now a reader-supported publication. Special thanks to those who already signed up.
It’s still free to read the latest piece and sign up to the newsletter. There’s plenty more reviews like this, but by the end of June will require a subscription to access them. Read more about my subscription goals here. If you like what you’re reading, consider supporting independent Australian gaming journalism with a sub!
In video games, there's an unspoken rule about trilogies. The first game is usually fantastic. The second builds on the first. And then the third? Well, it kinda goes off the rails.
There are plenty of examples of this: the rebooted Lara Croft series, the recent Batman game series, BioShock. None of the games here are bad per se, they just fall slightly short of their predecessors. `There are also a couple of exceptions, like Uncharted – which went on to make a fourth game. But for the most part, the drive to improve and re-engage an audience with a third game often gets the better of most developers. Bigger isn't always better, and some ideas are better left on the cutting room floor.
Doom: The Dark Ages unfortunately doesn't buck the trend. It's a strong solo shooter title that's a blast to play. But a desire to add more and more to the game ultimately dilutes the finished product. The game also attempts to build on the Doom franchise's somewhat flimsy narrative foundations, taking itself incredibly seriously when the subject matter is really all about... killing demons. Let me explain the premise and you'll see exactly what I mean.
Leaving you in the dark
Doom: The Dark Ages is a prequel to two earlier games in the franchise: Doom (2016) and Doom: Eternal (2020). Those games loosely tell the story of humanity overstepping its bounds, attempting to leverage Hell's energy – known as Argent Energy in the game – to solve its own clean energy crisis. And in doing so, humanity flies too close to the proverbial sun and is invaded by demons as a result. It threads the needle of offering enough of a plot to frame a game, but not being overbearing and distracting from the goal: murdering the legions of Hell.
Doom: The Dark Ages cuts Earth out of the picture. The game is set on another world called Argenta D'Nur and is home to a race of warriors at war with the legions of Hell. Why? It's not really explained. They just hate each other. You play as The Slayer, a hypertuned warrior designed to be the secret weapon against Hell. You rip. You tear. You may have motivations, but they are unclear.
What is crystal clear, however, is how serious everyone else is. Doom: The Dark Ages is narratively a violent soap opera that tonally jars with its core gameplay. The joking, almost mocking tone of Eternal is gone in this game. I'd go as far as to say the lack of humour is a departure from the entire series. Even the original 1990s Doom had Doom Marine (the playable character) rage at demons over the death of his pet rabbit Daisy as part of the story.
What makes this decision to drive further into being a narrative game even more baffling is that this game is surprisingly light on lore, despite its attempts to world-build. The codex – in-game notes on demons, areas, characters – feels particularly light and non-descript this time around. Again, we're here to slay, not to read. But if we're trying to win an Emmy for storytelling, all of the plot devices need to work together coherently.
Weapon of choice
Doom: The Dark Ages really is at its best on the battlefield. Narrow corridors and gymnasium-like arenas in Eternal have given way to wide-open battlefields with little in the way of cover. To compensate, The Slayer wields a shield, which is arguably more of a weapon than a defensive tool.
Living out your greatest Captain America fantasies, you can block, parry and shield bash demons into a fine paste in this game. A buzz saw upgrade turns the shield into a weapon that stuns larger demons and satisfyingly chops lesser ones in half.
I can't understate how key the shield is here. Demons' projectiles somewhat track the player, forcing you to get better at blocking than dodging. It's an interesting shake-up for the shooter genre, which often relied on players' dexterity with a joystick as a proxy for skill. Hell has also graciously colour-coded their shots this time around, too. Ones that can be parried for effect glow bright green – you won't miss them.
Guns in Doom: The Dark Ages are equally as interesting. All the classics – the plasma cannon, the super shotgun – are here with some twists. Upgrades for them also return, and they make some tangible differences to your weapons. Whereas Doom: Eternal focused on using specific guns to best manage certain enemies, all of Doom: The Dark Ages' weapons get the job done. That all equates to less pausing to switch guns, which speeds up the overall pace of the game. The developers intend for that brain space to instead be occupied by the parry mechanic, which, if executed correctly, can mince some of Hell's most intimidating spawn.
It's a very different direction to Doom: Eternal. In fact, if you really liked that game, you may hate the combat in this rendition. But if you are looking to hold the trigger and go for broke, you are in luck. Doom: The Dark Ages has your back, and that's bolstered by an incredibly customisable difficulty system allowing any player to tailor their experience to their tastes.
Doom giveth and Doom taketh away
The highs seen in the combat of this game, though, are somewhat diminished by a few other trimmings. Secret areas have been a hallmark of Doom since its first release in 1993. All of them appear on the map this time around but can be difficult to pin down.
The frustration here is that if you are a completionist, these hidden areas will taunt you as you finish the levels. Doom: The Dark Ages levels are filled with points of no return, which means if you miss one you'll need to restart the level to find it. Some can take as long as an hour to finish. What's worse: many of these secrets are essential to upgrading your character and guns. Miss too many of them, and you'll find the demons will gradually become quite spongy and tough to kill.
Any buzz I felt from banishing the legions of Hell quickly diminished when I had to put my detective cap on to find a hidden nook in a corner of a level. Secret areas are, all in all, fine. But the line between completionism and essential gameplay is a little too blurred here for my liking.
Meanwhile, Doom: The Dark Ages also features levels on dragonback and in a giant mech. These parts are undeniably visually cool and are supposed to serve as a break from the action. But mechanically, they are clunky. The same adrenaline high you get from combat just doesn't translate. Towards the end of the game, these parts start to feel like padding rather than actually adding value.
Speaking of value, Doom: The Dark Ages is retailing at the premium price of $120 AUD on the PlayStation Store but is free as part of the Xbox Game Pass. As a Game Pass game, I'd say give this a go, no questions asked. It's a great 20-hour shooter with AAA production standards. Fantastic graphics and audio design to boot. You won't regret pouring even an hour into it.
But buying the game at its full retail price is a trickier proposition. If you are a fan of the past game, Doom: Eternal, you may end up not actually liking this title due to its departure from its run, gun, think playstyle.
More tellingly, other shooters, such as Call of Duty, bundle in several modes for the same price – including online multiplayer. I'm glad Doom stuck to its single-player roots here. But once you beat the story, there's very little left to do. Even older pre-web gaming shooters like TimeSplitters 2 and Perfect Dark had the foresight to include arcade-style modes to pad out their single-player story modes.
Perhaps the solution lies in Doom's 1993 heritage. The story is so open-ended it could have easily accommodated multiple pathways or a hidden level or two, as per what we saw with the original few games. Flourishes like this would have helped make the game as a whole more unique and justify its premium price tag.
It genuinely feels like we've come full circle with Doom. Its 2016 game was a reboot for the franchise. Its next title will likely be trying to achieve the same goal. Despite the highs this game hits with its nuanced combat, the trilogy curse continues to take its toll.
Reviewed on: Playstation 5
Worth playing if you like: The other Doom games, Deathloop, Borderlands, Wolfenstein.
Available on: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows, GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud Gaming
I was going to get the game on launch but a Vet trip ate my Doom funds, that being said, it pretty much sounds like exactly what I expected from the early reviews; I think I'll grab it on sale later in the year.
The lack of content is quite baffling. Doom's combat and level design seem absolutely ripe for a Horde mode, perhaps even with multiplayer since PvP hasn't really worked that well so far.