A question, the likes of which many have asked since the beginning of time. Is Fallout 76 better than Fallout 4? Is Red Dead Redemption 1 better than Red Dead Redemption 2? Are the Prequels better than the Original Trilogy? Paradise Lost or The Divine Comedy? It’s not quite an easy question to answer, but we first need to look at the different elements of both games first.

What is DOOM?

A quick introduction for those unfamiliar with the DOOM franchise, have you been living under a rock? First appearing as a PC “exclusive”, DOOM was not only one of the first FPS to use 3D graphics, but also the first FPS to receive widespread fame on the level of other household names like Mario and Sonic. In fact, it got so popular that for years after its release, any other First Person Shooter released wasn’t called an FPS, but rather a “DOOM Clone”. 

DOOM Eternal: Setting a High Bar

DOOM Eternal features weapons and movement systems which made the game feel more like a Real Time Strategy than a movement shooter. The attributes of your extensive arsenal of weapons mixed with the weakness of the extensive roster of foes -as well as the many secondary weapons like the chainsaw and flamebelch; each giving you a different resources upon using them to defeat enemies (ammo and armor respectively), all serve to make the game a constant rhythm of interlocking game mechanics, each one necessary for your survival.

It also features a Dash which allows you to move horizontally at high speed while on the ground or in the air, poles and climbable walls which service you in exploration and in-combat movement, runes which act as unlockable selectable permanent upgrades, Glory Kills, special weapons like the BFG9000 and the Crucible sword, and a base where you can rest between missions, store your weapons, collectibles, and armor, as well as practice combat.

DOOMed from the Start?

DOOM: The Dark Ages, like its predecessor, is a movement shooter focused using an arsenal of weapons and secondary abilities and weapons to destroy the demonic forces of Hell. It is: missing much of what made DOOM Eternal so special. Every feature just mentioned up above, besides climbable walls, is not present in DOOM: The Dark Ages. Which is fine.

DOOM: The Dark Ages does not hold up to DOOM Eternal. In terms of level design, the secret areas aren’t that secret, the levels have very simple design which does not impact the combat all that much, and again, nearly all of the movement mechanics from DOOM Eternal are missing. As for the weapons, because very few enemies have specific weaknesses, you can mostly just use whatever weapon you like the most, and don’t really need to switch between them all that often; only after you run out of ammo, which barely ever happens. Not only that but the amount of collectibles were massively scaled down to just codex entries, figurines, and a handful of weapon skins. 

Is DOOM: The Dark Ages Worth Playing?

DOOM: The Dark Ages, does hold up, just in general; it’s a really fun game. The parry mechanic is incredibly fun to play with and has several unlockable powerups which makes it a necessity in combat, but the parry window is just too big. Not to mention the shield dash is super fun, although it would have been great to get it, and, the normal dash as well. The gun upgrades add lots of use cases that wouldn’t have been there before, like the shredder being able to ricochet off the shield.

Speaking of upgrades, the purchasable upgrade system allows for more freedom in what you use; if you only use the accelerator, shield, and super shotgun, only upgrade those, it also feels a lot more rewarding to have to go out and find upgrade materials rather than the story just handing them to you. There’s also a ton of other cool little puzzle elements that were not present in DOOM Eternal. Last, but certainly not least, you get to ride a Cyborg-Dragon and fight in Mech Suit, what’s not to love about that?! 

DOOM: The Dark Ages is a 7/10 game for me. It’s not perfect, it’s not even wildly exceptional, but it’s exponentially better than average, and nightmarishly fun, but what else would you expect from another entry in the near impeccable series that is DOOM.