Do you have nothing to say to your creator? ... No.

Finally, one of the most anticipated titles of one of the biggest franchises in the history of games, from its predecessor that runs even on a pregnancy test, defying the graphic requirements of this new title, DOOM: The Dark Ages brings back the DOOM franchise with this fantastic game that will surely drive fans of the series crazy.

The plot takes place before DOOM 2016 and Doom Eternal, where we see the protagonist of the series, Slayer, in control of the Maykrs race and being used by them as a tool, a weapon of war to eliminate demons in situations of greater danger and in more dangerous situations, where Doomguy is perfect, especially considering the fact that the Maykrs removed all his memories and feelings, leaving only hatred for the demons.



At this point, the game makes a very important connection to the Doom universe, as its lore fills the gap between Doom 64 and Doom 2016, explaining the part of the story where the Night Sentinels find him after surviving eras in hell and decided that he was too mortal to leave him as a gladiator, so they decided to return him to the front lines where he would be more useful, correcting this "gap" that existed between the other games.

It is also possible to see a significant advancement in the way the game tells more about the franchise universe. In DOOM: The Dark Ages, it is possible to see a significant change compared to other titles, as now Id Software has included a much larger volume of dialogues and mainly cutscenes, which are very rich and help to better tell everything that is happening.



We can also count on some characters already known from previous games in the franchise, especially from Doom 2016 like King Novik, who plays a fundamental role in the initial context of the plot, but also features some new ones, bringing a sense of novelty, contradicting the thoughts of some players that "Doom is always the same thing."

Blood, guts, and viscera 

The gameplay of this game is impeccable, unlike its previous title, the game is less jumpy, frantic, and crazy. But calm down, it is still the frenzy of Doom, but in a more sane proportion, if I can say so, it is something more controlled and honestly I think it worked very well, the game became much more fun for me.

But overall the gameplay is very smooth, the game's ecosystem is very unique, from movement, damage, generation and collection of items and resources, everything is very well balanced, and all of this without eliminating characteristic elements of the franchise and losing its identity, the changes were very well thought out and completely healthy for the game.



The gameplay change that I found most relevant were the mechanics with the shield, which plays a fundamental role in facing enemies and in some moments even moving around the map and solving some small puzzles, the shield has a central role in the game's combat, it is clear how they wanted to add more importance to it.

The shield mechanics, in addition to the basic imaginable role of simply defending attacks, also have a crucial role in parrying the attacks of some elite enemies, but also have a very strong offensive power, being responsible for stunning enemies from a distance, exploding shields, and even performing those very violent animations of executing an enemy.



But don't worry, your beloved classic weapons are still present, and my friend, with these graphics and the absurd animations, it's even more exciting to go out shooting demons, I especially want to highlight my favorite, the skull crusher. It's even more insane to face a horde of demons using it, the animation of the skull being crushed slowly as I shoot is insane.

There are also upgrades that you can make to your weapons, both in the shield, weapons, and even in the Slayer's melee punch attack, and a cool point is that in this game there are some types of coins, and during the progress of upgrading a weapon, the "talent" tree, if we can call it that, will require a different coin for each stage and weapon, in addition to the fact that these talents have a big impact on the gameplay and firepower.



And last but not least, you there my fanboy friend, who loves spending hours exploring a level looking for a secret area or a collectible item as is customary in the franchise, you can be happy, the game's level design is very good, while the progress in the maps is somewhat linear and intuitive, it also allows you to explore, go back, and end up discovering secrets and items throughout the map.

No hope, just DOOM

And what to say about the graphics of this marvel, my friends, what graphics... I am a big car enthusiast, and seeing this game with this level of detail gives me the same feeling as seeing that classic 6-cylinder Opal completely restored, shining, with brand new upholstery, it's very cool to remember that it evolved from that pixelated game that even ran on an ATM to this.

The details are very good, the scenarios are, even though I hate to use this word, very epic, the enemies very characteristic, the execution and attack animations, and especially the weapons are amazingly good, honestly in this aspect there is nothing to complain about.



The sound effects and the soundtrack are also amazing, with the effects it is much easier to immerse yourself in the slaughter, hearing the sound of the weapons, the grunts and screams of the enemies, at times it even makes you feel like you are the Slayer himself annihilating hordes of demons.

The only point I found a little negative, but that may be corrected in the final version, is that the game is a bit heavy, I have a 4060 and in over a year of use, I had never seen it being stressed to the point of turning on its fans at maximum speed as a safety mechanism, the game seems heavy even though it ran smoothly on my configuration, which indicates that this is something that can be corrected in the official release.



With all this, I can certainly affirm that DOOM: The Dark Ages is a phenomenal game, living up to the heavy name that the franchise possesses, it will certainly be an insane game for those who are not familiar with the franchise, but especially for those who already know DOOM and other boomer shooters.

We sincerely thank Bethesda for providing us with the game in advance for this review.