Is this the Doom Slayer’s finest hour?

Announcing DOOM: The Dark Ages, the prequel to the critically acclaimed DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal, and the third instalment of the modern DOOM series. Developed by id Software on the latest idTech engine, DOOM: The Dark Ages is a single-player action FPS that tells the epic cinematic origin story of the DOOM Slayer’s rage. You are the DOOM Slayer, the legendary demon-killing warrior and the super weapon in this never-before-seen dark and sinister medieval war against Hell.

The DOOM reboot back in 2016 was superb and Eternal turned the volume up to 11 on the badass scale. The Dark Ages is a prequel to the 2016 reboot, showing the DOOM Slayer in medieval times, equipped with guns but now also a shield that can be used for battering demons to death with. There are plenty of other new tools and weapons at your disposal, all of which are incredibly satisfying and brutal to use.

While adding in new elements, it still feels like classic DOOM and if you’ve played the recent reboots, then you’ll know what to expect. Plenty of hidden areas, easter eggs and tons of collectibles to uncover. The PS5 Pro version that I was going through did have a few issues, but not as many as had been reported so maybe I got lucky, and the latest patch seems to have helped as well.

Personally, I think this is the best DOOM out of the new era. It sucked me in with its medieval era, its more dramatic and I love the new weapons. The level design is impressive, and the combat is just pure carnage, I love it. The second I finished the campaign, I dived straight back in to mop up everything else that I missed until I nabbed every trophy.

Visually, it’s the most stunning DOOM game to date and runs at an impressive framerate. The gore looks great, animation is fluid and the atmosphere is great. The voice-acting is good, while the soundtrack is superb as always. As I said, the game did have some PS5 Pro issues but seem more stable now.

The Verdict

DOOM: The Dark Ages has a great setting, powerful weapons and is a nice origin story for the Slayer. Killing demons has never felt so good.

Score: 9.0

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co