I’m a 40 year old gamer who has been playing DOOM since the 90s, starting with Doom II. After all these years, it’s honestly amazing that this series can still feel fresh.

First rule: don’t compare this to Doom Eternal or Doom. Each game does something different, and The Dark Ages chooses a heavier, more grounded combat style that works beautifully. The parry system sounded weird at first, but once it clicks, combat becomes incredibly satisfying, brutal, rhythmic, and empowering. The visuals are gorgeous, the art direction is wild, and the performance is impressively smooth. Optimization like this deserves praise. The new RT system is in the DNA of the engine and makes the game beautiful, even on low setting.

The soundtrack by Finishing Move Inc fits perfectly. It shouldn’t be compared to Mick Gordon. Just appreciate it on its own terms. And some tracks absolutely slap for real.
Surprisingly, the story is also strong for a DOOM title, filling gaps between previous games while making the Slayer feel more myth than man. I told a friend that even the warriors of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 don’t feel this unstoppable and wild.

I don't want to waste your time. The final point: Life as a gamer just isn’t the same without DOOM.
It’s not just a game. It’s adrenaline in its purest form. It feels old and in the same time, It's freakin' fresh!

DOOM returns not as a whisper, but as a war drum shaking the gates of Hell. The Slayer rises once more, armored like a medieval god of destruction, stepping over burning corpses and cracked skulls as if they were stepping stones. This is not just a shooter. This is domination forged in steel and fire.
Combat feels heavier, more deliberate. Every shield bash crushes bone. Every shotgun blast echoes like thunder across cursed battlegrounds. You are not running from chaos. You are the chaos. The demons do not hunt you. They pray you do not notice them.
The atmosphere bleeds brutality. Dark castles, hellish skies, ancient war machines. Everything screams power. The soundtrack pounds like a war ritual, fueling every execution with savage rhythm.
DOOM: The Dark Ages is raw, relentless, and unapologetically violent in the best possible way. It evolves the formula without losing its soul.
In the end, this is DOOM at its most mythic.
And yes… it is worth every single penny.

I'll be hardly the first one to make the comparison, but it really is true: The modern DOOM trilogy pairs oddly well with the original Evil Dead trilogy.
There's that good yet semi-awkward first one of which evidently just hasn't quite gotten its footing yet.
Then there's the perfect sequel, of which continues to define the series.
And finally then there's that divisive medieval one.
And much like Army of Darkness, I just did not like The Dark Ages that much.

After just having successfully 100%'ed this game on its hardest difficulty setting, and also having checked out its Ripatorium both in its 1.0 and 2.0 state, I feel ready to finally review it through a complete and thorough perspective. So...

Is it any good?: Yeah, sure. I'd say so for the most part.
Would I recommend it?: No.

I aaaaaalmost really like this game. It's so close to being something worthwhile. As though I did generally enjoy my overall experience with this game, it does ultimately just feel utterly vain and somewhat lame.

As for starters, the combat is really quite good... occasionally. For though the basics of it is mechanically great, it also just often goes disregarded. As in, I feel like there's just so much distracting or diluting from the otherwise flow-state of its core combat rhythm. Mainly as a result of an overabundance of unrelated gameplay variety alongside an overwhelming amount of cut-scenes...

...There are seriously several moments in the game where there are 3-4 cut-scenes in a row, all needing to be skipped individually. And each cut-scene is usually sooo loooong if you bother to actually watch them! It's absurd!
Beyond that, there's just so much needless non-DOOM gameplay variety of which clashes so abruptly with the the real run-and-gun segments. With said variety segments altogether probably take up 1/4 of the playtime. Like, did anyone ever actually ask for mandatory, stationary turret segments in a DOOM game? And though the dragon and mech segments aren't as conceptually boring, they also just feel equally uninteresting to actually engage with, as they're just incredibly repetitive and without much flavour whatsoever. Everything about them just feel so static. Encounters have one dedicated way to overcome them, and that same strategy applies to literally all of them ever. They eventually, especially on repeat playthroughs, just become extremely tedious to endure through.

But in regards to the actual, fundamental gameplay routine, then yeah again I'd say it's okay. In some moments even really quite good. Yet even on its own it just feels so unrealized and neglected. Mainly as a result of an overabundance of too easy encounters and a high amount of unnecessary weapons.

I feel like ID tried to overcorrect themselves in response to the backlash by certain players' distaste of how Eternal enforces weapon switching, and so ID generally made all weapons effective in all situations, without ever really needing to switch off. Of which consequentially removes variety from the weapons themselves, meaning that the arsenal now feel extremely bloated by redundant weapons. So now individual weapons feel indistinct and thus without much reason to even exist. Like, I couldn't care less which plasma gun, skull crusher or rocket launcher I had equipped. Each counterpart didn't urge me to play any differently, and they both performed quite equally.
I feel like I could beat the entire campaign again with just 3 of the 11 total weapons, without it being any harder.
I mean, I beat several later levels without ever switching off the SSG, if that indicates anything.

Still though, again, in the actually meticulously difficult arena-fights the game does actually shine. I appreciated the encounters of which actually made me consider positioning, enemy priority and my equipped weapons were genuinely a lot of fun. They weren't very abundant, but still.
It's just unfortunate most arenas feel constructed essentially by fodder demons alone, making for very shallow and unengaging fight. Even the otherwise highlight arenas feel awkwardly lame, largely as a result of how repetitive they often feel. Of which is primarily because arenas now just appear so big, empty and similar-looking. Like, I understand that such is a result of this game's slower, larger projectiles; and how that craves wider areas for the player to weave around the fireballs. But the issue is still prevalant either way.

And to an extent of all of the above, the entire game just feels so excessively bloated. It really didn't need to be as long as it is.
Yet it's just so dragged out by variety gameplay segments, many long cut-scenes, repetitive arenas, repetitive-looking levels, more levels than Eternal, the individual levels are bigger than in Eternal.
I can't help but feel like a giant "MORE = BETTER" mentality was looming over the product. Of which consequentially means, again, that the whole thing just feels incredibly dragged out and that the developers also didn't have the time or budget to properly produce all aspects of the game.
I distinctly remember playing this game on launch, getting bored half way through, 6 months later finally returning to finish it, and another 6 months later now finally 100%'ing it. It's just such a slog to sit through in large doses.
It ultimately feels like the game is fundamentally just trying to justify its own price-tag, through quantity over quality, for no other reason than Phil Spencer could really use another yacht right now. Of which is a great segway into my next point...

...dog bless Fanatical pre-order discounts, as I still refuse to pay 70€ or excuse me now 80€ for a digital standard edition version of a game. It's bloody bollocks!
I still just fail to comprehend how some players will justify such earnestly
Same goes for the forced DRM and the forced RTX. Like, my game ran fine anyway, yet I just can't defend that. It's complete whack.

The soundtrack, much like the game itself, is also just stuck in this awkward limbo of not that great but also not terrible.
I mean, it's certainly no Mick Gordon. It simply lacks that edge and distinctiveness. But there are still a decent bunch of nice-sounding moments, even if the majority of the soundtrack kinda just sounds like slightly modified stock rock music.