You thought Doom Eternal was badass? You ain't seen nothin' yet. What id Software has in store for players with Doom: The Dark Ages is going to redefine the meaning of rip and tear, with more visceral action than ever before.
So then, it's no secret this is one of 2025's most anticipated games, and we even got an early look at some gameplay for what Executive Producer Marty Stratton calls the biggest Doom game "by a lot."
After watching a deep dive into the game's mechanics, TechRaptor and other press attended a roundtable Q&A session with Stratton along with Game Director Hugo Martin. We learned more about how Doom: The Dark Ages is hearkening back to the roots of the franchise, as well as what players can expect in terms of weapons, difficulty, and more.
Doom: The Dark Ages Is a Grand Adventure
I don't like drawing comparisons to other games unless it's warranted, but the gameplay of Doom: The Dark Ages reminded me most of, well, Doom (2016) and Eternal, of course, but surprisingly, I saw a bit of God of War DNA in there as well.
By God of War, I'm talking about the 2018 entry and Ragnarok. Doom: The Dark Ages is explicitly said to not be open world, but it does have large, open areas players can explore. Within these areas are "multiple objectives you can complete in any order," said Stratton.
"It is our most expansive worlds that we've ever built," said Stratton. "Kind of goes from, you know, typical, what I would say is normal, linear Doom, to these larger sandboxes we call them, where just, you know, the exploration really kind of opens up."
So basically, while you're ripping and tearing through demons, you can find secrets like collectibles, but also progression items. And progression seems to be the focus here, when it comes to exploration -- that is the main incentive for scoping out these vast open spaces while working your way to the next objective.
"There's secrets everywhere," said Martin, "and as Marty said, the secrets are really tied to the player's progression. So there's a great motivation there."
One aspect the Doom: The Dark Ages gameplay showcase wanted to emphasize is, in Doom (2016) players were asked to "run and gun," in Eternal to "jump and shoot." This time around, we're asked to "stand and fight."
This "stand and fight philosophy" manifests itself in multiple ways. Enemy projectiles behave more like that of older Doom games from the '90s, meaning you'll be moving around while shooting and slashing away. While there's less verticality in The Dark Ages than there is in Eternal, Martin says the aim is to have each game feel a bit different.
"The board, I would say, is flatter," said Martin, "to create more space for that strafe-to-aim combat loop that we see in classic Doom.
"We've balanced the the range of the weapons to be medium-to-short range," Martin added, "so that way, you're encouraged to take the fight to the enemies, move through that maze of projectiles just like in classic Doom as they're whizzing by, and delivering that killing blow with melee, shield, and guns."
Rip and Tear? No, Hack and Slash!
That brings us to combat, which is the cream of the crop when it comes to Doom games. We know they're taking a heavier emphasis on standing your ground and really leveraging the Doom Slayer's agile nature to skirt around projectiles and move in to deliver the finishing blow.
To do so, you're armed with an arsenal of new weapons like the Skull Crusher -- a lethal gun that shreds skulls and spits out fragments as projectiles -- but there are also three separate melee weapons, as well as an improved and more fluid Glory Kill system.
Martin compares combat to that one shot from the film 300, and this comparison was a driving force behind how the team wanted combat to feel in Doom: The Dark Ages:
"It's a panning shot they're tracking with, Leonidas, as he takes out of, you know, breaks from the phalanx and takes out a bunch of guys... first with a spear, then with a Spartan sword and shield, and the time dilates in and out. And that's, when you see the extended gameplay footage inside of dev direct, I mean, that was a big focus for us."
Melee weapons include your trusty ol' gauntlet, as well as a ball-and-chain-like weapon. Combine that with the shield saw, which you can throw to tear up enemies and even use as a makeshift grapple point, and let's just say the gameplay looks as exciting as ever.
Of course, Glory Kills are iconic to Doom, and we'll be seeing great improvements to this system in The Dark Ages. Glory Kills were already lauded as a fantastic mechanic in the previous titles, but id Software wanted to take it a step further and introduce even more fluidity to this system, so combat goes uninterrupted.
"There's no control taken away so you could stagger -- and this happens a lot, it was in the dev direct -- where there's like 4, 5, 6 enemies that are highlighted, ready to be taken out, and you could just take them out in one run," said Martin.
"When you play it, that fluidity, it plays into everything you're doing," added Stratton, "whether it's your weapons or the way you shield bash. We haven't even talked about it, like, you see it in there, but the shield has a capability to move you very fast through the world, where you kind of lock onto an enemy, and then you lock on with the left trigger, and then you hit the right trigger, and it pulls you through the world long distances... and you smash into the character."
A Positive Note on Challenge and Accessibility in Doom: The Dark Ages
Just a hunch, and I could be wrong, but one aspect players might overlook is the way Doom: The Dark Ages handles difficulty. You have your standard, pre-made difficulty modes, but then there are also sliders allowing players to adjust multiple facets of the gameplay.
These sliders include, but are not limited to: Damage to player; Damage to demons; Enemy projectile speed; Parry window timing; overall game speed and more. This acts as both a wonderful accessibility feature, but also a way to amp the challenge up to ridiculous heights.
"And then even on the accessibility front," said Stratton, "it really does make the game more accessible for somebody who maybe has motor difficulties, you know, wants to dial in the experience just for them. We've actually done a good bit of testing from that front and really gotten great response from from the accessibility side of things too."
Quick and Noteworthy Info for Doom: The Dark Ages
There's so much more we could touch on, but the points that stood out to me most were ones I wanted to highlight above. Though, I do want to mention a few additional notes that may be important for players to know.
One, multiplayer is not in Doom: The Dark Ages. This was in order to focus all resources on the ambitious campaign id Software made for this game. Second, there are full-on large areas where you can take control of the dragon and mech. They made sure to emphasize these are not one-time gimmicks, but will be present throughout the campaign. Lastly, the OST is composed by Finishing Move, a renowned team of four known for working on video game soundtracks.
The rest, well, we'll have to see. It won't be long until Doom: The Dark Ages launches, and I am unreasonably excited. Bridging the gap between old-school and modern FPS gameplay is a recipe for success, and I believe Doom: The Dark Ages will achieve just that when it launches on May 15, 2025.