DOOM: The Dark Ages

I have over 100 hours combined on both PlayStation and Xbox and let me tell you, DOOM: The Dark Ages is the most disrespected Modern DOOM game because this entry without a shadow of a doubt deserves its praises. Before I start the glazefest, some cons I have with it personally: - The story in the base game is your standards 80s dark fantasy action adventure flick plot. Most of the characters like Thira and Novik I wasn't really interested in and I felt like they carry the plot a lot if it's not the antagonists, which is Prince Ahzrak, The Witch and Kreed Makyr. The story feels like you're only part of the world of Argent D'Nur, rather it being a Slayer story, which to TDA's credit, the mid to endgame does. Was it satisfying to see The Slayer cave in Ahzrak's skull with the Flail slowly after Serrat's death? Absolutely. Was it compelling to see The Slayer struggle with the subsequent mind-control The Khan Maykr order the Bishop to tether so he can only be a weapon of mass destruction? Absolutely. Was it awesome to see The Slayer once again, cheating death by blowing himself up, becoming the Zombie Slayer and LITERALLY RAM THE FERRY INTO THE MORTAL PLANE TO GET RESURRECTED IN THE SAME SARCHOPHAGUS HE EVENTUALLY WAKES UP IN 2016 AND LAID TO REST AT THE END OF THE ANCIENT GODS DLC FOR DOOM ETERNAL? HELL YEAH. Point is, up until Revelations, I really did not care for the story other than it being a footnote for the Slayer's Testaments. - The music. Before y'all angrily type in the comments, let me say that I am a full-blown metalhead and what Finishing Move has produced in the base game is actually pretty good. The problem, much like the story up until Revelations, is the music isn't Slayer focused and it doesn't have that "UMPH", that DOOM feeling Mick was able to capture for two games, which to be fair, it is their first crack at and of course, with his absence, they are bound to be harshly critiqued for but my point still stands. Hell and the Cosmic Realm felt lived in because of the music and the visuals, which absolutely carried the presentation but while you're on Argent D'Nur, it felt like a compilation of other metal genres, rather than it being Slayer focused. It's still good DOOM music but I don't find myself listening to it half as much as I did when Revelations came out other than a few tracks (That being Unholy Siege, Atlan Battleground, Infernal Chasm, Ancestral Beast, Into The Void, What Lies Below, Battle on the Blackened Tide, When The Shadows First Lengthened, and From The Ashes.) - The whole Forced RTX and Deneuvo requirement (thank God id removed Deneuvo) - Other than the Ripatorium, there was the lack of replayability. You can always replay The Dark Ages on another save but for a year straight, that's all there is to do other than the Ripatorium. - A lack of verticality. While I generally like the Classic DOOM layout of most flat ground, finding secrets, etc, it does hurt the game to not have an option to vertical combat if it's not a shield puzzle. - The Atlan and Serrat sections. On repeat playthroughs, I just want to play as The Slayer. Serrat, to a lesser degree than the Atlan because you can explore the large maps and land but the caveat is the Star Fox like dogfights. The Atlan gameplay was really fun the first time around but that's just it actually. Now the positives: - The base gameplay, while not as complex as Eternal's, still provides a visceral combat loop. Like Eternal, every tool in your arsenal is useful but now you have a much more robust set of weapons. The Shield-Saw is honestly the best thing id has made, flat out with the Chain Spear in the DLC. Shield Runes, Melee Weapons, and Your Guns all have upgraded variants with mods you can buy, making your version of the Slayer feel more versatile than the previous games. There are entire builds you can customize with that can take advantage of the weapon buffs/status effects and the best part is that you can play the entire game that way if you want to. Player expression is much more friendly than Eternal, especially with the sliders so you can make it piss easy or dastardly hard. The bosses are actually really good too, with Enhanced Ahzrak being the best out of all of them. - The level design, despite lacking verticality, harkens back to Classic DOOM, which is different but until Revelations, id being the technical wizards made sure the levels are massive with loads of things to do, which makes subsequent re-runs more enjoyable, despite the content drought. Secrets are littered around, whole encounters, waiting to be played, the fact that The Dark Ages boasts the most amount of demons on screen makes it feel larger than life. - The graphical fidelity is honestly excellent, despite the Forced RTX Raytracing. id never misses when it comes to idTech. - The artstyle and atmosphere is on par with 2016 flat out. Hell has never looked better. The Cosmic Realm is the real highlight of The Dark Ages, with the ancient cyclopean architecture, floating ship masts, water portals, Giant Cacodemon Hybrids flying around, of course, tentacles, it's honestly one of my favorite environments in any DOOM game. The Slayer himself is just badass with his Sentinel Slayer Armor, rocking the fur cape too. Normally, if it was just the base game, I'd give an 8.6/10 IF IT WASN'T FOR THE ABSOLUTE BOMBSHELL THAT WAS REVELATIONS.

!

zeer goede game, tempo loopt wel langzaam op helaas

The game keeps freezing on me. I'm playing on a ROG Ally X handheld. I've tried messing with some of the settings to no avail. However to be honest I am rather limited with my computer skills. I believe its only an issue with the revelations dlc. I haven't experienced this issue with the base game. Anyway I also noticed that the chain spear isn't automatically mapped for the controller and had to play around to get it to work. If anyone has suggestions that may fix the issue I am open to reading them.

Probabilmente il migliore Doom della saga, forse anche tra i migliori sparatutto 1p di sempre. La migliore aggiunta è stata quella dello scudo, implementando la tecnica del parry, rendendo il gioco ancora più divertente. Grafica spettacolare, come le animazioni, i mostri e le armi bilanciate. Consigliato

Release the Slayer! Doom: The Dark Ages is a pedal to the metal high octane adrenaline fueled first person shooter with some of the best combat in any game I've ever played. Doom 2016 was a great first step. Eternal, for me at least, has always been a bit too experimental and hard to fully enjoy. Dark Ages though? Absolute peak! Good: Performance is absolutely stellar. On my rig, at 1440p, locked 60 FPS with nary a drop in frames even when maps have upwards of 20 or more enemies all vying for a piece of the Slayer. ID Tech is without a doubt one of the best engines in use today for FPS gameplay. Combat is nothing short of near perfect. While parrying may not be everyone's cup of tea, I never once got bored of it. The sound when you reflect a projectile off your shield, or the impact of your boots hitting the ground creating a shockwave that turns lesser demons into chunks - glorious. Weapons are also well thought out and all have their uses, from the overheating accelerator or the wrecking ball that is the chainshot, to the classic super shotty that tears through anything, it's simply sublime. Level design is fantastic. Whether it's the large open arena fights with leader demons and their minions, or side areas with minor encounters or puzzles involving the shield, it's all well thought out and never comes across as ID being lazy just to get their work done for the day. The in-game map is also extremely well designed, with easy to read layouts and clearly placed icons that are overlayed with a checkmark once you've found the item, making it easy to know where you've been, where you haven't yet, and what you may have missed. Upgrades are meaningful and worth experimenting with. While it may seem tempting to stick with one form of a weapon, switching its perks around can be useful if you're getting your tushy handed to you on the higher difficulties. The accelerator with the heatblast modification has saved my bacon more than once against some of the tougher enemy groups. Difficulty sliders for a custom experience should be the standard in every game going forward. This allows players of any skill level to get their feet wet and eventually overcome the challenges, tempting them to dive into the deep end when their skills have improved enough to warrant it. Neutral: The story is hit or miss. Entertaining, but nothing amazing. It serves the forward movement of the levels and at least shows how powerful Hell's armies are when they're at literal war. People have touched on this before, but the soundtrack is not amazing. There are some bangers here to be sure, but there are more tracks I zone out to than jam to. The ones I do really enjoy are absolutely killer though. Bad: This is fairly annoying. The collectible counter in the corner of the screen accounts for every piece of loot you can pick up in the level, but does NOT account for how many pieces of loot are in the current map, and since a number of levels have transition points with no way to return, you may miss gold or other upgrapde materials if you aren't thorough enough, and since many of these levels are very large, it can be easy to miss things and not realize it until you finish a level and it shows 99% instead of 100% all because you missed a single piece of gold. A simple solution to this would have been to have counters for map sections, rather than for the entire level. A small gripe, but there has to be something in an otherwise near perfect game. In conclusion: If you like razor sharp combat, meaningful upgrades, performance that is as smooth as a freshly lotioned lady, play this game. It is so bloody good that it just might put other FPS games to shame and show why ID Software are some of the best in the industry at what they do.

hi i love this game so much If you're holding off because it's not like Eternal or 2016, DON'T. It's a super fun middle-ground between both and it's lore (especially in the Revelations DLC) makes it ABSURDLY great for a Doom game.