DOOM: The Dark Ages

[mfnick]

Well, open zone or area then. I hate the look of it. Hopefully I’m proven wrong though.
 

I’m a huge parry fan as is probably known by this point but yea, not sure it needs to be in DOOM. 

[one-armed dwarf]

One thing I think looking at the gameplay is it's supposed to be about claiming space back from the enemy. I don't know why, maybe it's cause of all the Marvel Rivals I played, but I feel these Dr Strange neurons firing when I look at the way the enemies attack you and the different projectiles, and the mix of parry projectiles and ones you have to jump over (presumably) and the combination of open space and natural obstacles

 

I don't think it will be easy to see the idea here until we find out how the 'tanking' works here, while Eternal is more of a 'DPS' type of game maybe. The thing with the wide open zones then makes a lot more sense from a gameplay perspective as places need to be big and threats have to stand out in contrast to them, which is also a principle of Eternal but it replaces wide open with verticality

 

edit here's some PC gameplay

 

 

You can see him use the shield to zoom upwards as well

[one-armed dwarf]

IGN compares it to Halo, tho in good and bad ways it has to be said

 

 

That's the thing I thought was good about the original Halo, the variety in gimmicks with the vehicles and stuff and the mix of large open areas and tighter environments. Not the multiplayer stuff. I didn't like Halo 2 at all cause it had very little of that, H3 brought it back a bit I think.

 

 

Combat with the speedup. Hard to know what to make of it cause of how parry heavy it is

 

 

[one-armed dwarf]

John from DF, a well renowned cool guy no ifs or buts, shares his thoughts on Doom Dark Ages

 

 

[one-armed dwarf]

So we have nightmare mode gameplay and a generous amount of it

 

edit replaced video, last one went private for some unexplained reason. Maybe he showed some shit he wasn't supposed to. It was an hour long and this is only 19 minutes now

 

 

You can really see how important the cover becomes I think, cause you can get picked off quite easily. Enemy prioritisation is still a big thing

 

Still, I don't know. I'm feeling a bit bored watching it. It's only level one though, level one of Eternal is even more boring than this (I should know I've done it tons of times trying to do ultra nightmare) so in that sense it looks good maybe

[Maf]

Was just watching the DF video on this and I actually really like it. I like the bullet hell shooter elements, being able to reflect certain types of bullets, keeping the fight in front of you and dodging in between the gaps.

 

Combat looks like a nice balance between Doom 2016 where the combat seemed to require no strategy at all and Doom Eternal where the combat was too prescriptive and precise 

 

The tech in it just looks really good as well. I was of mind to not even bother giving this ago tbh but the video has turned me around. This looks fun 

[one-armed dwarf]

The guy who uploaded the last video I posted made a point on his earlier video, I think, where he thought the weapon switching in Eternal removes a lot of decision making. I don't think that's applicable to 90 percent of people who touch that game but it is an interesting thing about the way DPS worked in Eternal where you sort of stun them and can then combo them like crazy with weapon mods and swapping between guns.

 

Whereas this you commit to an option. I still really don't like how everything seems to come to a standstill though when you parry. I know it's a repetitive criticism but it makes combat feel really narrow in its possibilities. But hopefully there's interesting upgrades for the shield to turn it into a more varied type tool which can launch into multiple branches of offense and defense, like how faltering an enemy in Eternal did the same so you weren't killing things the same way every time in the same order

[mmmark]

 

[one-armed dwarf]

The story stuff is pretty weird. I actually think the lore in the games is sort of interesting, but the storytelling on top of it is not

 

The last dlc for Eternal had a big Avengers Endgame moment in it, 

Spoiler

they literally rip off the portals

. But they haven't developed these characters so it didn't matter. It almost feels like they are trying to retroactively do that now cause they want this blockbuster style to it

 

Seems dumb, but I'm getting more into the idea of how this game is going to play. I don't really need another Eternal

[one-armed dwarf]

Yuck, 'Lovecraftian dimension'. Why is Lovecraft so overused in gaming stuff.

 

 

I hope this game proves me wrong, it's hard to keep hype for it. So much focus on the parry, the combat has such a staccato rhythm to it now

[one-armed dwarf]

Reviews on 9 May, 80 euros on steam fucking hell. 

 

I sort of hope it sucks, I don't want to spend that much. Or maybe I'll finally become a gamepass subscriber, they have 14 days for one euro that I've still not used, plenty of time to beat it.

 

(and of course they're doing the early-access dickhead edition as well, a cool 110 euro)

 

[DANGERMAN]

I don't especially want to give Microsoft money atm so if I play it it'll be from the GP sub that comes with my phone 

 

Shame, it's Doom, why are they ruining Doom? 

[one-armed dwarf]

Reviews out

 

https://www.metacritic.com/game/doom-the-dark-ages/

 

https://www.eurogamer.net/doom-the-dark-ages-review

 

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/doom-the-dark-ages-review/

 

Decent reviews but I'm definitely gonna become a gamepass subscriber for 14 days I think. After finally figuring out the clockwork of Eternals ripping and tearing, reading that Dark Ages is "dumbed down" doesn't make me want to be 80 euros poorer.

 

edit this guy made some very good (tho very opinionated and maybe a bit arrogant-sounding) videos about Eternal's combat, he likes Dark Ages and makes it look really good here

 

 

Don't really like how it slows down every time melee occurs but when you think about it, that happened more significantly in Eternal and 2016 with the cutscenes for GK and chainsaws

[one-armed dwarf]

[shinymcshine]

On 25/04/2025 at 16:11, one-armed dwarf said:

Yuck, 'Lovecraftian dimension'. Why is Lovecraft so overused in gaming stuff.

 

 

TBF there's a reasonable pedigree between Doom, Doom II & Quake and the designer Sandy Petersen who worked on those videogames and developed the Call of Cthulhu Tabletop RPG system in the 1980s (and more recently Cthulhu Wars)

[Nag]

I'll be quite chuffed if this is "dumbed down"... I don't think I appreciated 2016 as much as I should've when I played it and found Eternal way too frantic while playing.

 

If this is a bit slower that's good news to these old ears.

[one-armed dwarf]

tbh, the 'Impressions of Doom' footage of the game looks fairly fast. Tho that vid might be using the speed up sliders

[Nag]

I dunno, I haven't watched anything... just going on what's been posted. I'll get round to this but after Expedition 33 I think it's time to actually use the PS5 for a little bit.

[mmmark]

Looks bangin and the perfect game to play in front of my wife first to show her she married a pro gamer with quick reaction times. 

[Maryokutai]

The physical version is just a launcher for a download, as is becoming very common with MS published games: https://www.doesitplay.org/game/Doom%3A The Dark Ages/ps5/Base PS5?region=all regions&version=Standard

 

Just a heads up if someone cares about that aspect of their disc purchases.