Doom Review: Dark Ages – Two Types of Hell

As one of the players who “grew up” in the original game of the 1990s and spent thousands of hours at that time, I am not entirely excited by the direction of the new trilogy. It seems to me that they are too insisting on the arcade action on spacious arenas resembling Painkler or Serious SAM, and not colorful, smart and often ghostly design of the original game. On the other hand, it is necessary to recognize the new trilogy that you will not experience such an exciting effect of adrenaline. In addition, the last episode is boldly experimenting with the gameplay and the situation, so some of its passages are one of the best that the new trilogy proposed.

• Platform: PS5 (review version) XS, PC
• Date of issue: 15. 5. 2025 (premium -Iads 13. 5.)
• Manufacturer: Identification software (USA)
• Genre: Rip and Tear (Arcade Shooter)
• Czech Republic Localization: No
• Multi -user: No
• Download Data: 85 GB
• Game time: 15 hours
• Price: 1999 czk

A new type of hell

If you did not follow the history of the last game (doom eternal), including the collection and reading of the code, you can be somewhat confusing for you. This happens before the two previous games of the new trilogy and shows in detail how Slayer “jumped” after the massacre on the Moon Mars into the “Higher Dimension” named Argent d’an, where his insolvent hatred of the demon turned into something still strong. In practice, this is a “prequel” in the new trilogy, and we already know key events and the results of his stay in this dimension in advance, but now we get the opportunity to experience legends for ourselves.

Human inhabitants of this dimension combine the “medieval” architecture with advanced technologies and worship the Divine race of the Mayer, which are more or less aliens. They are found together by raids of demons from hell, which in practice in practice in the form of medieval siege of castles. All three sides of the conflict will quickly understand that the Slayer Doom (called here by several other nicknames, including the “beast”) can become a decisive factor in the whole war, which leads to the fact that the Mayer will deploy “leashes” for better control. Although history now contains a stream of impressive films (almost between each of the 22 missions), it is mostly simple and predictable, with some exceptions. These exceptions in the form of several completely cult films that are so cool that you probably never pull them out of your head.

The story currently contains a stream of impressive films.

The main surprise is the existence of a “new type of hell”, which we could see at the end of the recent plot trailer or even throughout the development diary, this is a new dimension with a significantly different aesthetics dedicated. Although the presence of this completely new location and aesthetics in the game decided to betray the game before releasing, I do not want to write about it, because I consider it the best surprise and passage of the game that will fulfill the wildest dreams of all fans of classical horror. After the end of the game, I absolutely regretted that this excellent passage will appear only at a later stage in the game, and, unfortunately, it does not last so long. Being the whole game only in this situation, it will work in the DOOM series much more original and interesting.

Motor shield

But not only the situation and the way to tell the story passed through the transformation. The gameplay itself also saw a noticeable evolution. As the creators themselves said: “While in Doom Eternal you felt like a fighting fighters, you will feel an iron tank, heavy and strong, but still fast.” This feeling supports the game not only mechanical, but also audiovisually, for example, when your character jumps on the battlefield from a greater height, it will cause a wave of pressure that spreads weaker enemies in your area. But the main factor in the slowdown is a new weapon in the form of a chainsaw (panel saw) that you will have to use.

The weaker attacks of enemies can completely stop the shield, while stronger ones (encoded by color) can even bounce back to the enemy, which in some cases is the best or even the only method to reveal the weakness of some enemies or bosses. You reflect as flying shells (all kinds of fire balls, etc.), as well as the efforts of enemies to “jump onto your head” and break your claws or an array. At some points when the bosses erect clusters of color shells, I felt that I was playing a return. The first hours or two, playing, perhaps this news will be a little embarrassed, but before you find out, thanks to the well -controlled animation of enemies and control over your character, you will get all this in your blood and use the shield absolutely smoothly and intuitively.

You will feel an iron tank.

At the same time, the game still contains mechanics where you can control various attacks by replenishing ammunition (the enemy sprinkles the centers after a fist or strap) or health (enemy sets first -a clap after a “stop” attack before death), therefore, along with a variety of composition of the enemy on the arenas, this rhythmic dance that we use is used. It simply contains less jumps and now adds protection with some attacks of the shield. In the end, of all three games of the new trilogy, this somewhat slower and more clear battle style ultimately enjoyed the most. The novelty is also an opportunity to create the complexity of the game, unlike details, including things such as the total speed of battle or the power of enemies and yours. As a result, the game can be “broken” in a rather interesting way, for example, if you change your strength to a thousand times in the settings, you will roll the battlefield as an explosive locomotive, crushing what is liba, which is visible with one blow.

Mosi and dragons

A relatively bold experiment is also the integration of game excerpts in which you have a giant mechan or a dragon. Again, I’m not entirely sure if it was necessary to reveal these things in marketing in advance. In any case, the creators are trying to use them repeatedly as a variety of a campaign, which, unfortunately, is a great damage. These passages are incomparably mechanically easier than the “common gameplay” in the rest of the game, and there are not enough speed and accuracy that is released in the nucleus of the game. MOS is slow and clumsy, he has almost two types of attacks, and the dragon is fast, but even he does not have a colorful arsenal. On the other hand, it is fair to admit that flights on the dragon high above the special landscape of this world sometimes offer impressive views and adds an “epic” impression.

In general, I found that these excerpts were completely primitive mini -players, which later suffered, that they repeat several times in almost the same form and, in addition, with repeating tasks (knock down three ships, break through three gates, etc.). Considering how the rest of the gameplay works well, it would be much more effective for excerpts with moss or dragon, if they were only once and more carefully built into the game: something seems to be excerpts in the Call of Duty series, which are usually processed as an excellent impressive, carefully prepared consistent ride. Instead, we have simple mini -games where I sighed when the game “unpacked” them for the second time or for the third time.

Neon hell

That the game is undoubtedly excellent is the design of weapons, enemies and the environment. If you were afraid that in medieval death there are not enough firearms, you can forget these fears. There are many weapons and ammunition, and, for example, the local version of BFG is creative and really completely destructive. In addition, you can additionally improve weapons and cold weapons, including a motor shield. Enemies, perhaps even more species than when, is also associated with the mentioned existence of a new dimension in the game. The environment is full of proper demonic buildings full of skulls or symbols, and looks really epic, although in places my taste is too colorful. In general, I would welcome the colder color palette in such horror games, but it is possible that all shining colors are necessary for greater clarity during quick actions.

Again, it surpasses the design of weapons, enemies and the environment.

This time in some places they are more and more open than we are used to in the new trilogy. This in itself is not a problem, but, unfortunately, sometimes you encounter the aforementioned disease in the form of repeated actions, such as “destroy three towers on the map”, which, in addition to implicit repeatability, encounters the need to run on a large map, while the second way can be boring. The joy of the adrenaline event also violates you to regularly introduce simple puzzles, but you must stop for a while and decide how to properly move blocks with access to the lever, etc. As a result, sometimes the gameplay and action will not be so natural and can pull you out of the intoxicating “stream”.

This time, the game does not contain a multiplayer environment, which is probably the right solution, because it allowed the creators to quit all their funds to create a diverse and narrative campaign. You can launch individual locations at any time during the game, the game continuously stores your character’s profile and records what objects of the collector or constant improvements that you have already found in this place. For example, you can return to mission No. the seventh, for example, before starting the first passage of eight. On the PS5 Pro, I have not seen any problem with smoothness (or other technical problems) throughout the game, regardless of the vastness of some places or in places, an absurd number of enemies. The sound is also magnificent, although the music seems to fall into the same genre as in previous works, in its melody and rhythms there are not enough imagination and strikes of the last two games: the lack of the legendary composer Mick Gordon, unfortunately, is very felt.