Once I finished DOOM 2016 and DOOM: Eternal, I was excited to jump back in again. Less so Eternal, but it’s a fantastic sequel to the untouchable first reboot. DOOM: The Dark Ages is arguably the most complete and well-crafted of the trilogy, but I find it the least memorable and least replayable of the three.
In a bid to expand and evolve, The Dark Ages feels like an extension of its predecessors, more than a full-scale demonic overhaul. Furthermore, everything new mostly misses the mark, and can make the experience go from Imp to limp very quickly. id Software probably has an ideas board more bloated than a Mancubus after a Christmas Dinner, and there’s plenty of hope for the next trip to hell.
It Won’t Spell DOOM For The Franchise
I think DOOM is the quintessential first-person shooter franchise, as well as the most important one. Wolfenstein 3D helped the FPS genre crawl, but 1993’s DOOM stood on its own two feet—and throats of Baron of Hellish foes. Level design, music, the guns, the gore, and the thematic touches just exude a badass aura that few have even come close to.
Following DOOM 3’s survival-horror detour, there was a long wait for a new game. The infamous, canceled DOOM 4 project is better consigned to history, and thank our stars it was. We got the DOOM 2016 reboot instead—which I actually think is the best DOOM game everbut that’s for another conversation.
Eternal upped the speed and mobility and gave us Godmode Doomguy. I’ll never forgive the Marauders’ design, though, and I’ll die on that fiery hill! Both games are fantastic in their own unique right, and then you’ve got DOOM: The Dark Ages, which serves as a prequel. id Software decided to make its level design more open and chaotic, give us a Doomguy Dragon and Kaiju-inspired levels, and tighten up the game’s story with more cutscenes and character development.
In trying to do more, TDA does too much, and actually takes me away from the thing I enjoy most about DOOM: Killing lots of demons with fun weapons in small-to-medium-sized levels. But it’s still a good game!
Less Is More, More Or Less
Long story short…I don’t prioritise story when it comes to DOOM, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that sentiment. DOOM 1 and DOOM 2 achieve so much through visual and environmental cues and clues. How am I supposed to rip and tear when you won’t let me rip and tear? The Dark Ages’ Dragon levels are cumbersome and uninteresting, and while I can appreciate the attempt to freshen things up, the Mecha Doomguy sections are boring.
The shield and the slower-shield-based parry gameplay are solid, but you’re always aware that it’s a conscious effort to slow the game’s pace down (not as much as the Marauder, grr), and negatively juxtaposes the game’s identity. I’m not saying I want Doomguy to go shopping for some Sonic the Hedgehog shoes and borrow a Titanfall jetpack, but there needs to be a balance.
Ironically, I believe that balance is still DOOM 2016.
id nailed everything with the game. I’d like to see the next DOOM game be more akin to 2016, and maybe borrow the odd bit of parkour from Eternal, and even some of The Dark Ages’ incredible visual aesthetic. It also wouldn’t hurt to broker peace with Mick Gordon, I beg. In the same way that DOOM 3 was starting to steer the ship away and veer off on a completely different course, I think the same needs to happen again now.
The series is as popular as ever, but it felt like everyone forgot about it as 2025 went on. Let’s fuse old-school and new-school DOOM again. Finding key cards in well-designed levels that don’t just rely on being open, and adding depth with hidden platforms and switches galore. A beastly soundtrack supported by grizzly battle scenes is also a must. Let’s waste less budget on theatrics and inject that into R&D on fun gameplay mechanics and ideas, and re-reboot DOOM again.
What do you think id and Bethesda got wrong with DOOM: The Dark Ages? What needs to happen for the next iteration? Head to the Insider Gaming Discord Server and share your thoughts.
If you like DOOM, it’s definitely time to check out IG’s DOOM games ranked from worst to best list, and the 9 best DOOM weapons ever ranked
I don’t really agree that DOOM: The Dark Ages shows the franchise needs to “go back to the drawing board.”
It’s not trying to be Eternal 2, and judging it by that standard misses the point. Eternal was a mastery-driven power fantasy built around speed, resource juggling, and precision. The Dark Ages delivers a different fantasy entirely… weight, dominance, and inevitability. You’re not dancing through arenas, you’re advancing through them like a siege engine.
That doesn’t dilute DOOM’s identity, it explores a different axis of it.
Replayability is also being overstated as a flaw. DOOM has never been about infinite systems or long-tail grind. Replay has always meant “does it feel good to jump back in and rip and tear for an hour?” On that front, The Dark Ages absolutely holds up.
Not every entry needs to escalate mechanical complexity to justify itself. The Dark Ages innovates in tone and posture rather than inputs, and that’s a valid design choice. If anything, the modern trilogy works because each game expresses power differently… raw in 2016, mastery in Eternal, dominance in The Dark Ages.
The real risk for the franchise isn’t experimentation. It’s assuming there’s only one “correct” way DOOM is allowed to feel.
I had been thinking along the same lines. Doom does need to get back to the roots. They need to revisit the map designs of the past days. As stated here switches everywhere and key cards needed to unlock new areas of the map with having to cross back areas. This adds to the puzzle aspect and its just not balls to the wall all the time. There is balance in trying to figure out the maps puzzles while blasting away foes so that you can manage to do just that. That is what made Doom 1&2 awesome! The maps where it just holds your hand through it from arena to arena gets played out indeed although it is a beautiful well crafted series. Back to the roots would be an awesome turn of events!
I ain’t ever playing it after the way they treated Mick.
Good article explaining what I may like about Dark Ages even if you found it a negative.
I loved Doom 2016. Bounced hard of Ethernal so never gave Dark Ages a go. The slower pace & mechanics of Dark Ages intrigues me and will probably be better as my reflexes have slowed into my mid forties.
Thanks.
May be a nice 2026 present to myself.
I share the same mindset. Screw those people. Dark Ages got the most generic boring metal OST as a result.
As far as I’m concerned, Eternal is the last entry to the reboot.
TDAs was a blast! I loved it. Different pacing, different game, different mindset sure, but Hugo Martin for the win! I find myself replying Eternal and TDAs regularly, with 2016 being played the least. I’m excited to see what id does next with the Doom franchise!
They just need to stop recycling the same franchise over and over and over… Just take Quake and give it what it deserves, and not this crap they called “Quake Champions”. Quake have the entire universe and atmosphere, mixing industrial and medieval elements with diabolical and supernatural creatures…
Lost all credibility when he said 2016 is better. Doom 2016 falls last out of the three.
Eternal > TDA > 2016
this is the worst review I’ve ever read on anythong DOOM related, and I curse google discover for putting this trash on my phone
You are wrong, it was fantastic and there’s nothing wrong with Doom changing with every iteration. I trust Id team
I think 2016 was the perfect translation of old DOOM feel into a new package. Eternal is a parkour game with occasional shooting. TDE is a Soulslike with guns. I personally have no interest in any new DOOM that isn’t going back to 2016 gameplay. Like the other commenter mentioned, what we really need is a new Quake. If DOOM can sell that well without any MP at all (or unpopular as in 2016) then it isn’t an excuse that console peasants probably won’t play MP on a new Quake. Make an awesome Lovecraftian SP and it will sell like hotcakes.
Theres a lot of reasons why I tried on GP first instead of buying.
First point was its price. TDA offers you less content than its predecessors and yet demands an upcharge for giving me less. For a single player game thats some serious balls considering I could just wait for a sale and updates to iron out bugs and I wont miss a damn thing unlike a multiplayer game which has a finite shelf life.
Second point was the decision to go mandatory ray tracing. My pc isnt a beefy powerhouse and I did technically meet minimum requirements but TDA to me doesnt look that much different than Eternal to the degree where I fell like the performance drop doesnt justify the laziness of using AI to put raytracing in when they baked in the lighting previously. Most games youre able to turn it off for better performance but TDA for some reason thinks everyone can handle that no issues.
Third point as the author stated was a massive case of “show dont tell” and TDA seems to wanna just exposition dump on you. 2016 had minimal story and world building unless you read the codex which I preferred. The story is there if you want it but doesnt cut out on demon killing time.
4th point. The music and sound design in general for TDA i felt are the weakest in the series. Music isnt memorable nor does it give me that adrenaline rush like Mick and Andrew had mastered.
I wanted to love TDA so bad, I love the doom franchise so much I got a slayer tattoo because I love this series and seeing so many poor decisions made is upsetting and I hope they do better in the future.
The Dark ages was absolutely atrocious and a complete and utter embarrassment to the developers, the publisher and anyone who even remotely praised such a heaping pile of hot garbage. I understand and empathise with what the developers were trying to achieve by going back to a more traditional control style and feel to the game but I just hate the way it feels now. I want to be the “fighter jet” of eternal not the “tank” of dark ages. It’s feels slow and lethargic like it was made for children with down syndrome to play and enjoy. It has no octane. It has no soul. And WTF were they even thinking with those awful dragon and mech sequences?! They were lazy fillers put in by unimaginative programmers who knew the core game was awful and tried in vane to distract from that fact. Don’t the dark ages is one of the biggest pieces of crap this side of the milky way and always will be a complete tragedy in my view.
It’s amazing to me that you write like your speaking to an audience but you post the words on the least forum like software possible. This little comment box is a terrible design but every news site uses it. We need to get back to phpBB and vBulletin.
the dark ages and, gasp, eternal are terrible. both of them could just be called eternally out of ammo. 2016 is untouchable, so why do they keep trying to turn my beloved horror game into some stupid sci-fi nonsense. and the resource juggling makes it like tony hawk pro skater or guitar hero. you don’t need gaming skill you need juggling repetition key sequence skill. lame.