DOOM: The Dark Ages - Full Review

I have very much been enjoying my time with DOOM: The Dark Ages. However, it has also raised a lot of questions and, honestly, the more I've played, the more monotonous the game has become to me.

Right off the bat, let me just say that DOOM: The Dark Ages is to DOOM (2016) as DOOM 64 is to the original DOOM. It's a weird, non-canon offshoot from its predecessors that does its own thing and feels only loosely inspired by the source material. The difference though is that while DOOM 64 mostly succeeds in its weirdness, in many ways The Dark Ages really does not.

Getting the game to work on the Steam Deck is relatively straightforward. I wrote an article about that which you can find here.

So let's talk about the ups and downs of The Dark Ages.

The Good

The Combat

The combat in TDA is at once an evolution of DOOM Eternal and a radical departure. The game feels excellent to control, and the new mechanics and melee options have necessitated an overhaul of the gamepad controls. It's to the point where it took several hours of gameplay for me to get used to it.

Shield Stuff

The big changes here are all the ways you can engage in melee combat. The glory kills mechanic is gone to a large extent. Instead, you now have a shield in your left hand that's engaged by holding the left trigger. When you have your shield engaged, you can lock on to enemies by placing your crosshair near them. As you lock on, you can pull the right trigger and you'll fly across the map and bash them with your shield. Pretty neat and it really feels good to use.