Over this weekend, I invested a lot of time into Doom: The Dark Ages, just like I did when Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal released. While I think overall I prefer those games over this newest one, I can’t help but smile everytime these games let me run around like the ultimate demon killing machine. In real life, I’m about as boring and basic as a 33-year-old single father white guy can be. When I played Doom: The Dark Ages, I was the ultimate badass in my own world.
The Ultimate Escape for Someone Who Doesn’t Strive for It
Many people that play video games like to just escape the stress and headaches of everyday life. Typically, I don’t really think that’s what I play games for. I just like to have fun and experience something that I find to be worth my time. Whether that’s a good story or exciting gameplay, I don’t really care. That being said, I can’t think of another game series that feels like more of an escape for me than these recent Doom releases. I very much don’t feel this way for the classic games. While I enjoy them, I didn’t actually play them until after the 2016 game, so I don’t have any nostalgia for them.
What is it about this Doom trilogy that makes me feel so much more immersed than really any other game I can think of? I enjoy a lot of first-person games, but Bioshock, which I consider to be one of my favorite series of all time, doesn’t give me the same feelings. I would have said before The Dark Ages that the glory kill system made me feel strong, but this game almost completely erases those finishers, disappointingly.
It might just really come down to how good it feels to play as the Doomslayer in combat. The footsteps you hear as you stomp around the area are just as impactful as every blast of the Super Shotgun. Moving through boxes and other items in the environment is like a knife through butter. Everything you do in this game just conveys that you are unstoppable.
Where Do We Go from Here?
After taking down skyscraper-sized enemies, including Cthulhu, how can the successor to Doom: The Dark Ages take badass feelings to a new level? We’ve now seen three games of this style, but the jump into a medieval theme in the latest game provides more opportunities for new ideas. One idea I’d like to go back on, is the more open levels. I think the corridor layout just fits the fast and frantic style of Doom better. They experimented here, but I wouldn’t like to see the very wide levels come back.
Admittedly, The Dark Ages doesn’t do a ton of reinventing when it comes to enemies outside of redesigning them. I think a swath of new enemies would do the series a lot of good, but would also like to see a return of glory kills and a better emphasis on the music. The music in The Dark Ages is fine, but I hardly ever noticed it in my times of triumph. It’s incredibly passive, going against the whole feeling of baddassery. Mick Gordon’s music in 2016 and Eternal stood out at every turn. It feels like it punches when the Doomslayer punches. That is something that just simply doesn’t happen in The Dark Ages. Knowing the feud between the composer and Bethesda, there’s no way he comes back in the future, but I really hope the next music makers can get even a shred of the feeling from those games in the next sequel.
While the changes to music and enemies didn’t really do much to make Doom: The Dark Ages feel more badass, I do think the shield saw and other weapons were a triumph. Every weapon in the game feels great to use. You can feel the punch behind the Chainshot and Mace, but also can mow down hordes with the Ravager and Cycler. I don’t have any personal suggestions for the next round of new weapons, but I have faith in id to replicate the kind of success seen here.
