DOOM: The Dark Ages (2025)

[Thunder 57]

I figured for sure I would get TDA. Now I am not as sure. I probably will, but might wait until it is on sale. There seems to be too much emphasis on the shield and I'm not sure I will like that. All at the cost of losing secondary fire. The thought of a shotgun without a grenade launcher just seems weird to me.

Early access begins today. Anyone get it yet? If so, thoughts?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I figured for sure I would get TDA. Now I am not as sure. I probably will, but might wait until it is on sale. There seems to be too much emphasis on the shield and I'm not sure I will like that. All at the cost of losing secondary fire. The thought of a shotgun without a grenade launcher just seems weird to me.

Early access begins today. Anyone get it yet? If so, thoughts?

LGR has an excellent almost completely spoilers free review. If you don't watch his channel, he is an old schooler and I find him like minded on many things. His breakdown of the soundtrack in particular speaks to my age group.

TLDW is he thinks it is more a spiritual successor to Quake than Doom. But philosophizes on what aspects make a Doom game Doom. He was a bit hesitant about the parry system too, as he usually hates games with it, but he said once you get in the groove it pulls you in. Much more melee heavy instead of ranged, though some is still there. He says the shotty may be his favorite of any game ever once you have it fully upgraded. The circle saw on the shield looks badass, that's my jam right there.

 

[Thunder 57]

LGR has an excellent almost completely spoilers free review. If you don't watch his channel, he is an old schooler and I find him like minded on many things. His breakdown of the soundtrack in particular speaks to my age group.

TLDW is he thinks it is more a spiritual successor to Quake than Doom. But philosophizes on what aspects make a Doom game Doom. He was a bit hesitant about the parry system too, as he usually hates games with it, but he said once you get in the groove it pulls you in. Much more melee heavy instead of ranged, though some is still there. He says the shotty may be his favorite of any game ever once you have it fully upgraded. The circle saw on the shield looks badass, that's my jam right there.

I skipped the Quakes, having barely put hours into them. Therefore I am not sure how to compare it. It also sucks for me that it wants high end hardware whereas the last two would run on old stuff without an issue. For that reason alone I may hold off until later. I'm pretty sure I will get it I just don't know how I feel about the changes. I wish they had made something closer to a Doom 2016 game. At least it isn't Doom Eternal 2.0. That game has the worst superfans too. I would make points about why I thought it was flawed and maybe mention I preferred Doom 2016. I would get attacked and told how wrong I was and that I was an idiot. Again, these were only the most hardcore fans, but it got old.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

This is a rare game that looks great on low and 8GB is good to go. @GodisanAtheist patient gamer strategy is a good one. Wait until it drops 50% to buy it.

I dig Quake 4, did a playthrough last year.

John from digital foundry has a great tech breakdown on Dark Ages. Hopefully more studios use the engine. EDIT: I see they don't offer it for lease, bummer. The destructible physics is a welcomed callback to games of yesteryear. Cloth and wind physics deserve attention, and the body destruction pipeline is wild.

 

[Thunder 57]

This is a rare game that looks great on low and 8GB is good to go. @GodisanAtheist patient gamer strategy is a good one. Wait until it drops 50% to buy it.

I dig Quake 4, did a playthrough last year.

John from digital foundry has a great tech breakdown on Dark Ages. Hopefully more studios use the engine. EDIT: I see they don't offer it for lease, bummer. The destructible physics is a welcomed callback to games of yesteryear. Cloth and wind physics deserve attention, and the body destruction pipeline is wild.

I may get it even at full price. I figure I'll wait until the masses get to play it and review it. I'd love half price but who knows when that'll be? Maybe this holiday season? Guess it depends on sales and how good it is.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

This is a rare game that looks great on low and 8GB is good to go. @GodisanAtheist patient gamer strategy is a good one. Wait until it drops 50% to buy it.

I dig Quake 4, did a playthrough last year.

John from digital foundry has a great tech breakdown on Dark Ages. Hopefully more studios use the engine. EDIT: I see they don't offer it for lease, bummer. The destructible physics is a welcomed callback to games of yesteryear. Cloth and wind physics deserve attention, and the body destruction pipeline is wild.

-That to TDA I might finally get around to buying and playing Eternal

 

[DAPUNISHER]

-That to TDA I might finally get around to buying and playing Eternal

My advice is make accounts on other launchers. Then install https://heroicgameslauncher.com/ to manage them. Then, start getting AAA games for free via patient gaming. I have both 2016 and Eternal as freebies. Among dozens of others.

 

[Thunder 57]

My advice is make accounts on other launchers. Then install https://heroicgameslauncher.com/ to manage them. Then, start getting AAA games for free via patient gaming. I have both 2016 and Eternal as freebies. Among dozens of others.

Wait, what is this patient gaming thing you are talking about and getting AAA games for free? Though I will say 2016 is worth every penny. Eternal, eh, it's OK.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

@GodisanAtheist makes patient gamer threads here in the PC gaming forum, have a look. There is also https://www.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/

If you check the free games thread stickied at the top of this forum, you will see all of the games being given away week to week. I use Amazon prime for benefits along with my store card. One of the many perks of being a subscriber besides free expedited shipping, streaming media, music, first reads books, is free games. They can be various services e.g. Epic, Microsoft, GoG. Even Steam does free games, though rarely AAA.

 

[EXCellR8]

Unpacking game files now, if it's better than Eternal I'll be happy. I don't expect it to grab me like Doom 2016 though.

Rip and tear good sirs.

 

[EXCellR8]

Welp, jk

 

[DigDog]

where are @BFG10K and @Shmee when you need them?

the non-sponsored reviews for Dark Ages are in and they are all on the mediocre side. It's a bit hard to understand the complaints without my hands on the game, but they are all citing that the gameplay is slower and less intuitive than Doom 2016. this .. is not good. Because literally the one thing that made 2016 a good game was that you just went and ripped demons. No learning, just pwng. Shoot - move - kill. Sometimes move shoot kill.

eh, i will probably wind up playing it anyway, i think i waited idk, 2 years to play 2016.

You know, we can clearly see that 2016 was a hit because all they did was they made a game. A simple game. A game that does not, idk try to create a horror atmosphere (Doom 3), or that has to add ammo recovery mechanics, but just.a.game that you load and WASD + Mouse1. And somehow then forgot that THIS was the reason they sold well, and did Eternal, which .. was still received decently, but pretty much everyone said "why" the new mechanics, that nobody had asked for. And now it seems that Dark Ages is yet further along the line of weird mechanics that just do not work with the concept of Doom as a franchise.

 

[igor_kavinski]

As long as they have that marty character attached to the development of anything Doom related, it's gonna turn out bad. The toxic guy thinks he's the next Jesus.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

BFG rage quit the forums.

2016 was a hit because it was the first time an ages us old schoolers got a truly new installment. It also introduced a whole new generation to Doom. And importantly, it ran well on potatoes.

This game is going to be a big hit, even if old dogs won't learn new tricks.

 

[igor_kavinski]

This game is going to be a big hit, even if old dogs won't learn new tricks.

Or maybe it can be fixed with mods.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Or maybe it can be fixed with mods.

I like what I've seen of it. Don't need to fix what's not broken. Boomer shooters are crusty, they can use a good 💩 mixing IMO. Maybe I like parrying because I fight IRL, I dunno.

 

[DigDog]

Maybe I like parrying because I fight IRL, I dunno.

this reply is meant to Amuse(tm), not offend.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

View attachment 123805

Yeah, you do. Demonstrations are available by appointment.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Maybe what Doom needs is the ability to seamlessly switch between first person and third person view?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Maybe what Doom needs is the ability to seamlessly switch between first person and third person view?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Alright which one of you is this?

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1kn5diy/rpatientgamers_be_like

Not about Dark Ages, so on topic -

John shows off the tech -

 

[DigDog]

for educational purposes

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I like what I've seen of it. Don't need to fix what's not broken. Boomer shooters are crusty, they can use a good 💩 mixing IMO. Maybe I like parrying because I fight IRL, I dunno.

-The issue, I think, is 2016 was fresh because in a sea of cover shooter press up to go forward COD clones, 2016 put all its energy into action.

Anything that didn't progress the killing and movement was gone. No long animations for item pickups, no hit scan enemies, glory kills took all of a second to complete, even the lore was stripped down to the basics to move the action forward.

Eternal onward started getting away from that core formula. Acrobatics, tons of cutscenes, lengthy glory kills etc took you out of the combat more and more. Party system seems to be more of the same.

Its a fine idea, just why Doom? Quake would have been an amazing fit, that series was always more about the map and dealing with a handful of tougher enemies than a swarm of cannon fodder. Wouldn't come along with the "baggage of expections" Doom does thanks to 2016 either.

 

[DigDog]

if you guys like plain ol' shooters, you should give Witchfire a try.

Yes, it's got an additional layer as a "horror" game (which is not bad, mmk?) but essentially it's you shooting overpowered asskicking weapons into hordes of angry enemies. The shooting and movement are superb, really pure - without descending into 1990s Arena-style clones of Quake.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

-The issue, I think, is 2016 was fresh because in a sea of cover shooter press up to go forward COD clones, 2016 put all its energy into action.

Anything that didn't progress the killing and movement was gone. No long animations for item pickups, no hit scan enemies, glory kills took all of a second to complete, even the lore was stripped down to the basics to move the action forward.

Eternal onward started getting away from that core formula. Acrobatics, tons of cutscenes, lengthy glory kills etc took you out of the combat more and more. Party system seems to be more of the same.

Its a fine idea, just why Doom? Quake would have been an amazing fit, that series was always more about the map and dealing with a handful of tougher enemies than a swarm of cannon fodder. Wouldn't come along with the "baggage of expections" Doom does thanks to 2016 either.

You can speed the action up or slow it down. Until you find a combo of speed and difficulty settings that suits your particular style.

I remember Doom 3 getting hate too. Though a good bit of it in these forums, was ATI vs Nvidia users trashing the game that ran better on the others hardware; Half Life 2 and Doom 3. It was even sillier than it reads. Anyways the complaints were always about Zombie closets, the pre flashlight mod dark corridors, being on rails, the usual. Which I always wonder if too dark would have been such a bid deal 10 years later when almost no one was on CRT anymore? 🤪

I say this much: I am stoked to see the complaints so far, seem to be from Doom purists. Instead of the politically charge horse💩that has infected the culture.