DOOM: The Dark Ages (2025)

[EXCellR8]

I still haven't been able to try it lol, Game Pass keeps making a bm on my computer. Oblivion remaster seems quite happy though, so go figure.

If I have time tonight to fire it up on another machine I'll try and post my thoughts.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

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.

- Doom is woke because there isn't some big tittied goth gf with no agency who is completely devoted to doom guy and is of questionable legal age for gooners to rule 34! REVIEW BOMB TIME!

In all seriousness though, Doom 3 sucked balls. Completely ditched the frenetic action of Doom 1/2 and basically went all in on the monster in a closet element of prior doom games. Bascially existed as a glorified tech demo with a sprinkling of System Shock with the audio messages laying around. Still haven't wasted my time with the expansion for that game...

 

[igor_kavinski]

In all seriousness though, Doom 3 sucked balls. Completely ditched the frenetic action of Doom 1/2 and basically went all in on the monster in a closet element of prior doom games. Bascially existed as a glorified tech demo with a sprinkling of System Shock with the audio messages laying around. Still haven't wasted my time with the expansion for that game...

It was still better than having NO Doom game to play

 

[igor_kavinski]

- Doom is woke because there isn't some big tittied goth gf with no agency who is completely devoted to doom guy and is of questionable legal age for gooners to rule 34! REVIEW BOMB TIME!

May the Universe bestow upon you the job of Marty Stratton!

Just make sure that the gf is a shapeshifter. For reasons of variety and diversity

 

[DAPUNISHER]

It was still better than having NO Doom game to play

It was a good game in its own right, and a blast to play that All's Hallow Eve.

- Doom is woke because there isn't some big tittied goth gf with no agency who is completely devoted to doom guy and is of questionable legal age for gooners to rule 34! REVIEW BOMB TIME!

That is the most succinct description of incel culture I've ever read.

In all seriousness though, Doom 3 sucked balls.

So, the incels will rush to play it? Besides, how am I supposed to take a deity that does not believe in himself seriously, when it comes to Hell?

 

[EXCellR8]

Argh, after all that nonsense with game pass, a forced driver update, and trying several ini tweaks... game is locked to 16:9 and no multi-monitor support.

Trash.

Welcome to modern PC gaming

 

[DigDog]

the only Doom review that matters

 

[igor_kavinski]

Guy's got a point. The trailer gives vibes of Destiny+Halo. Did a bunch of ex-Bungie guys get picked up by Bethesda???

 

[Thunder 57]

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.

I think Doom 3 is decent enough. I don't understand the amount of hate it gets. I guess it was just too different.

 

[Thunder 57]

That said, I do remember the jokes. "Hey Bob, what are you working on?" "I don't know, it's so dark I cant see ****". The duct tape mod was also a must. There was another one like years in the future on another planet yet no one has invented duct tape.

 

[Shmee]

Hello all, I myself haven't bought Doom the Dark Ages yet, though I hear it has a rocky launch. I may get it later on sale, though I couldn't get into Doom Eternal, as I have stated before.

I enjoyed Doom 2016 for the most part, but I feel it was more of a remake/retelling of Doom 3, but not as good, at least IMO. I did enjoy Doom 3 and mods quite a bit back in the day, including the more modern remaster, BFG edition. I still play Doom 3 BFG sometimes for achievement hunting, and it is easier to get working properly on modern hardware than Doom 3 2004 version.

These days I am also playing Doom + Doom II on steam, as well as I have played Doom 64 on steam recently. I of course have played various derivatives and mods of classic doom on GZDoom and other platforms.

For classic Doom fans looking for a modern feel, I can recommend Project Brutality and Brutal Doom (or variants) on GZDoom with a map pack project such as Extermination Day or Dragon Sector remake. Extermination Day has IMO the best re-telling of Doom and Doom II, with a more modern map/gameplay design. It is meant to be run with the Doom2 WAD, and Brutal Doom, all on GZDoom. You can find more about these mods on MODDB or Doomworld etc.

 

[Thunder 57]

Hello all, I myself haven't bought Doom the Dark Ages yet, though I hear it has a rocky launch. I may get it later on sale, though I couldn't get into Doom Eternal, as I have stated before.

I enjoyed Doom 2016 for the most part, but I feel it was more of a remake/retelling of Doom 3, but not as good, at least IMO. I did enjoy Doom 3 and mods quite a bit back in the day, including the more modern remaster, BFG edition. I still play Doom 3 BFG sometimes for achievement hunting, and it is easier to get working properly on modern hardware than Doom 3 2004 version.

These days I am also playing Doom + Doom II on steam, as well as I have played Doom 64 on steam recently. I of course have played various derivatives and mods of classic doom on GZDoom and other platforms.

For classic Doom fans looking for a modern feel, I can recommend Project Brutality and Brutal Doom (or variants) on GZDoom with a map pack project such as Extermination Day or Dragon Sector remake. Extermination Day has IMO the best re-telling of Doom and Doom II, with a more modern map/gameplay design. It is meant to be run with the Doom2 WAD, and Brutal Doom, all on GZDoom. You can find more about these mods on MODDB or Doomworld etc.

I don't like telling people their opinion is wrong, but your opinion is wrong. Doom 2016 is far better than Doom 3. That said, good advice on the classics. As for Doom 64, I also bought it on steam recently since it was only a few dollars on sale. I played maybe the first three maps but just couldn't get into it. I'll have to try again.

 

[Shmee]

In a way, Doom 3 was kind of like a predecessor to the FEAR games. The first FEAR came out shortly after Doom 3, and both had somewhat similar aspects of horror, scifi, and game design. The Doom 3 expansion, Resurrection of Evil, even had a similar bullet time ability, and came out in 2005 just like FEAR. I don't remember which was out first though.

Anyway, not going to argue with you, but one of the things I liked about Doom 3 over Doom 2016 was it seemed more ultra realistic at the time, and overall really cool. Part of this may be nostalgia and the time in which it came out. Also Doom 3 had some pretty good tweaks/mod support, including custom maps and campaigns.

There were definitely some issues, like the shotgun was way different, in some ways worse in some better. Interesting that you could reload two shells at a time, not much realism there. It had terrible high spread, but did do a lot of damage if all the shots hit. Also there was the whole flashlight controversy. These issues could be fixed with mods however, (you could tweak shotgun spread and damage easily, there were many mods with duct tape flashlights and even laser sights, and mods where only one shotgun shell was loaded at a time, for more realism) and the later release of Doom 3 BFG edition also helped the flashlight situation without relying on mods by adding a shoulder/head lamp, though you could only use it for short time before it needed to "recharge".

Another thing that was fun about Doom 3 were the coop mods. They were far from perfect, and quite janky at times, but overall they were still cool and fun with friends.

 

[Artorias]

My problem with this game is the gameplay boils down to "Simon Says do this". Green, purple, red counter gameplay is so stale, unimaginative and boring.

Doom 2016 was the best, ultimate freedom where you weren't forced to weapon juggle 24/7, or do specific combos otherwise face negative damage modifiers.

The Marauder enemy is one of the worst enemies created in a video game ever, just so annoying to deal with.

Give me freedom to approach an enemy however I want.

 

[EXCellR8]

Doom 2016 was such a breath of fresh air at the time... just a nicely polished modern fps with good pacing and level design. It's like they went out of their way since then to steer away from what made that one so great. Simple to pick up, mostly linear design with cool guns and a killer soundtrack. I think I played through it like 2 or 3x on harder difficulties and it was still fun to play.

...and yea the Marauder from Eternal, extremely divisive as basically all reviews and gaming journalists have pointed out and beaten to death. I'm not against having difficult enemies opposing progress, but there was something deeply un-fun about grappling with them. My main issue with the game was the arcade-y feel and feeling like I needed to be constantly on the move. I like taking my time and exploring things, so that just didn't work for me personally.

Oh, and still haven't played a second of DA haha (not worth my time until I can have my multi-monitor support)

 

[Thunder 57]

I just watched this review of TDA and it is full of spoilers so beware:

It is quite negative and it has swayed me from buying it. Sounds like it should be Doom: The Shield (or parry) Ages.

They went from Doom 2016 which was amazing to Eternal which was flawed but playable to what looks like a pile of crap where you get barraged by colored projectiles. I don't get why they went in this direction. I'm sure I'll play it at some point but I am in no rush. Also, Doom 2016 and Eternal would run on old hardware just fine and this one suddenly requires fairly modern hardware? It's not like it looks any better. It can have more enemies on screen at any given time but that's the only improvment I saw. I could certainly run it but not at the high FPS that made Eternal more fun. Also I'd probably need upscaling. Sad that seems to be the norm these days.

 

[EXCellR8]

I'm sure I'll play it at some point but I am in no rush

Basically this.

Firstly, I would have fired whoever pitched that Doom... DOOM, should have a parry mechanic. All of the gameplay videos I've see watched show a brownish-gray color pallet, annoying bullet hell gameplay and yea... a completely out of place parry system. A far cry from the really interesting hi-tech mars/hell UAC facility type locale that I really loved.

I went from wanting to play it to "eh, at some point when I'm bored or drunk" pretty fast.

 

[Ranulf]

Fleekazoid weighs in, spoilers:

It is interesting that they moved away from the required glory kills that many complained about to a required parry mechanic that seems fun and fits with the medieval setting but making it the whole game? Just the same problem as Eternal.

 

[Thunder 57]

The more gameplay I watch the more I think I won't like it. I decided I'm going to get gamepass for a month. I can try it there. If I don't like it, there's plenty of other games I'll be able to try during that month. I think a lot of people are doing just that because of its stupid price and the poor Steam numbers.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I think the original Doom 4 concept being in real cities was worth giving a shot again.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

The more gameplay I watch the more I think I won't like it. I decided I'm going to get gamepass for a month. I can try it there. If I don't like it, there's plenty of other games I'll be able to try during that month. I think a lot of people are doing just that because of its stupid price and the poor Steam numbers.

That's how I started game pass, but ended up not canceling because of all the new releases they have. If you play 3 new AAA titles in a year, you are in the black. Everything after that is gravy.

They have a 14 day $1 trial, game is worth that much even if it ends up not being your jam.

 

[Thunder 57]

That's how I started game pass, but ended up not canceling because of all the new releases they have. If you play 3 new AAA titles in a year, you are in the black. Everything after that is gravy.

They have a 14 day $1 trial, game is worth that much even if it ends up not being your jam.

Is that trial still a thing? I see it under console but for PC. That would've been a steal.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Is that trial still a thing? I see it under console but for PC. That would've been a steal.

Dang it you are right, it looks like it is only for console. ☠️ $12 isn't bad for a month. If you like the game well enough to beat it, you can move on to some of the other games until your month runs out.

 

[Thunder 57]

Dang it you are right, it looks like it is only for console. ☠️ $12 isn't bad for a month. If you like the game well enough to beat it, you can move on to some of the other games until your month runs out.

I'm not concerned about $12, I was already going to do it regardless. A basically free first two weeks would've been nice though. I have a feeling I'll keep it for more than a month anyway. There's a decent amount of games I saw listed I'd be happy to play.

 

[Thunder 57]

Dang it you are right, it looks like it is only for console. ☠️ $12 isn't bad for a month. If you like the game well enough to beat it, you can move on to some of the other games until your month runs out.

I am getting it later today and I just went to look at the included games again and noticed that the $1 two week trial is back. Sweet! Not the biggest deal but I'll take it.