REVIEW: Doom The Dark Ages is the perfect meeting of action and brutality in a medieval world

To be acquired by Bethesda Softworks maybe it was the best thing that could have happened to ID Software. Thanks to this million-dollar deal, the glory of Doom created in the early 1990s was brought back from gaming Hell with a rebirth worthy of a fighter of the infernal hordes. 

The most recent entry, Doom: The Dark Ages, puts the player back in the shoes of the unbeatable Slayer as he traverses a medieval world and pulverizes all the demons in his path. Refining the elements that have already been successful in previous titles and bringing new mechanics to combat, the game offers the player the most mind-blowing and fun way to kill demonic creatures.

History

Let's face it, the number of Doom players who play the games in the series because of their story is close to zero, but it's still worth commenting a little about the plot of Doom: The Dark Ages. 

Despite being the third game in the series reboot, it does not take place after the last game, Doom Eternal, and yes before Doom 2016, when the protagonist called Doom slayer was in another dimension fighting alongside the Sentinels of Argent D'Nur to fight the hordes of Hell. Controlled by the mysterious sect of Maykrs, the Slayer must stop the demons from taking possession of the Silver Heart – a relic that gives its user almost unlimited powers.

The subtitle “Dark Ages” makes a clear allusion to Middle Ages (a period of about a thousand years between the 5th and 15th centuries) and which receives the unfortunate nickname of “Dark Ages” due to the loss of knowledge acquired during Antiquity and the rise of Christian fundamentalism. The dimension in which all the action of Doom: The Dark Ages It seems to borrow from our reality the entire look and style of the Middle Ages mixed with some technological advances and the authoritarian power of the Church being represented by the alien race of the Maykrs.

There are some collectibles like Codex Pages that give more depth to the plot and explain some details about the Slayer, the Sentinels, Maykrs and the demons. However, the player just needs to know that his mission is to destroy any and all demonic creatures that appear in his path! In addition, the end of the game indicates that we may have a few more titles in the series with this more “medieval” theme, before we return to the terrors of a post-apocalyptic technological world taken over by the hordes of Hell.

Gameplay

Despite preserving all the excellent FPS gameplay that the 2016 reboot brought, Doom: The Dark Ages offers the player a new combat option: the shield. In the first few hours of the game, you might think it's just another weapon to grind demons, but it becomes an essential tool to transform combat.

In addition to being able to block attacks from demons signaled by the green color and giving the Slayer an advantage in counterattacks, the protagonist's shield also has a built-in circular saw that allows you to throw the equipment at enemies and let it cut them while you unload your weapon on them!

Bringing back the upgrade system through the acquisition of gold and special gems, you can enhance your weapons with special abilities or activate runes on your shield. Depending on the combination you use, your shield can become an unbeatable weapon against the hordes in Hell, from bouncing from one enemy to another or firing additional saws when thrown.

Each weapon has an additional configuration that can be changed mid-combat, diversifying your strategy for fighting the creatures of Hell. Without a shadow of a doubt, our favorite was the super shotgun, which even in its most basic configuration has a shot so strong that it is capable of blowing even the strongest demons into a thousand pieces.

Second place goes to Sprayer, a type of machine gun that crushes demon skulls to fire shrapnel at enemies. In addition to the fun animation, it increases its rate of fire and damage the longer you keep shooting, so it becomes a fundamental ally for dispatching larger hordes.

And don't worry if you run out of ammo during a fight because the Slayer also has 3 melee weapons in addition to the shield. Among the Power Gauntlet, Flail, Ea Apple of Power, our choice is the Flail because, besides being fun to destroy a demon with a spiked iron ball, its charging time is the shortest among the three.

But it's not just with the power of his weapons and his strength that the Slayer will be able to stop the invasion of the hordes of Hell. Our enraged protagonist also has a giant robot called Atlante (in the best style). “Ring of Fire”) and a winged dragon equipped with lasers and rocket launchers. Both can only be used in some chapters of the game, but they are great for diversifying the gameplay and bringing new combat modes.

As for the enemies, there aren't many new features here compared to previous titles. Many of the demons are just slight variations of the enemies found in Doom 2016 e Doom Eternal, with an emphasis on the details of medieval armor and the styles of weapons and attacks. The repetition of many types of opponents during combat could make the gameplay very tiring after some time, but since it is always possible to kill the demons in different ways, the fun is always renewed.

And despite not having a very varied soundtrack, the metal rock-style songs accompany each of the fights well. As always, they are the right combination to unload each weapon and blow of Flail on the demons in the best style, so it is highly recommended to enjoy this experience with good headphones!

Comparison: NVIDIA Geforce RTX Vs PS5

In addition to receiving a copy for analysis of Doom: The Dark Ages for PlayStation 5, we also received a PC copy and had the opportunity to test, evaluate and compare the game's performance on both platforms. To promote the game, NVIDIA is also making available a free copy of the game for those who purchase any model of the 50 series of their latest cards GeForceRTX.

By combining the high-end GPU with an Intel Core i9 13900K processor, the game can run at 120+ FPS at 1440p and keep 60-100 FPS in 4K with ray tracing enabled. Frame pacing is superior, with faster response times, ideal for high refresh rate monitors (G-Sync or FreeSync).

This way, the RTX 4080 allows you to play at Native 4K with graphics settings on ultra and all effects enabled, including ray tracing (if the game supports it). The quality of shadows, reflections, ambient occlusion and details in general are significantly superior. In addition, the use of DLSS-4 improves performance while maintaining very high quality.

It's important to note that unlike other PS5 games, Doom: The Dark Ages does not have graphics settings that affect resolution or frame rate (FPS), so the game runs at a resolution of 2160p (4K) and 60 FPS (with dynamic resolution starting at 1440p on the base PS5, and starting at 1662p on the PS5 Pro). This way, during all hours of gameplay the game remained with stable resolution and frame rate on the PS5.

In the image below we have a comparison of different combat sections in Doom: The Dark Ages running on PC with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 with settings in “Ultra” mode (top) and on PlayStation 5 (bottom), where we can see how the native 4K resolution on PC with NVIDIA produces a sharper and more detailed image, while the dynamic resolution on PS5 offers great quality, but it is noticeable to more attentive eyes that it may not be reaching 4K resolution in all frames.

That said, it's worth mentioning that both the Bethesda and ID Software teams deserve a lot of credit for delivering a solid and polished experience. During the 10+ hours we spent grinding through hordes of demons, we didn't encounter any graphical or gameplay bugs. On both PS5 and PC, the game ran without any technical issues or graphical bugs.

Price and availability

Doom: The Dark Ages can be purchased digitally at Steam, at  Xbox and PS Store (for PS5) by 349,90 BRL in the standard edition and the digital deluxe edition (with extra cosmetic items and additional mastery points) for 499,00 BRL. It is worth remembering that the game is also available to subscribers of Xbox Game Pass at no additional cost!

Hardware requirements

Specification	Minima	Recommended
System	Windows 10	Windows 11
Processor	Intel Core i5-9600K @ 3.7 GHz or higher OR AMD Ryzen 5 3600X @ 3.8 GHz	Intel Core i7-13700K @ 3.4 GHz or higher OR AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D @ 4.2 GHz
Memory	16 GB of RAM	32 GB of RAM
Video card	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB OR AMD Radeon RX 6600XT 8GB	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16GB OR AMD Radeon RX 7900XT 20GB
Storage	120 GB available space (SSD required)	120 GB available space (NVMe SSD recommended)
Other Observations	Hardware Ray Tracing GPU required Graphics template: Medium Resolution: 1080p (Native) Target FPS: 60	Hardware Ray Tracing GPU required Graphics preset: Ultra Resolution: 1440p (Native) or 4K with DLSS/FSR Target FPS: 60+

Conclusion

Doom: The Dark Ages It's the perfect combination of all the elements that made the reboot of this action FPS franchise a success: frenetic combat, challenging enemies, and shots everywhere! In addition, the inclusion of the shield and mounts diversifies the gameplay and creates more combat strategies against the hordes of Hell. In some battles, the enemies could have a little more variety, but this is not something that will harm the user experience or make the gameplay too repetitive. On the contrary, every super shotgun shot is satisfying in the hands of the Slayer, from the first to the last!

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reviewed by Tiago Rodrigues in 16 / 05 / 2025