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I still remember the first time I played the original Doom back in college—the pixelated demons, the chunky weapons, the sheer adrenaline rush of surviving wave after wave of hellspawn. That feeling stayed with me through decades of gaming, and when I heard about Doom: The Dark Ages, I'll admit I was skeptical. Could this series still deliver after all these years? Well, having spent the last week immersed in its dark fantasy world, I can confidently say not only does it deliver, but it might just be one of the most refreshing entries in the franchise.
What struck me immediately was how Doom: The Dark Ages manages to feel both familiar and wildly innovative. It takes the chaotic energy that made Doom Eternal so memorable but channels it into something entirely new. The developers have shifted focus toward melee combat in a way that feels surprisingly natural. I found myself instinctively parrying attacks from a towering Hell Knight during one early encounter, following up with a counter-attack that sent demonic ichor spraying across the stone floor. That moment—the perfect synchronization of block and strike—felt as satisfying as landing my first ever BFG shot in the original games. The rhythm of combat becomes almost musical: dodge, parry, counter, repeat, with the occasional glorious explosion of a well-placed rocket to change the tempo.
What's remarkable is how this new emphasis on close-quarters combat doesn't slow down the action. If anything, it intensifies it. I remember one particular arena fight where I was surrounded by at least fifteen different demons—Imps hurling fireballs from ledges, Cacodemons floating menacingly above, and a pair of Revenants pushing me toward the center. In previous Doom games, I might have relied on circle-strafing and constant retreat while chipping away at their health. Here, I danced through the chaos, deflecting projectiles back at their senders, closing distances with purposeful dashes, and using the new execution moves to create brief moments of breathing room. The power fantasy remains intact—you still feel like an unstoppable force of nature—but there's a finesse to the violence now that adds layers to what could have been mindless slaughter.
This isn't to say the game abandons its roots. During my playthrough, which took me approximately 18 hours to complete the main campaign, I still got to experience those classic Doom moments of sheer overwhelming force. There's a sequence about halfway through where you pilot a demonic dragon through a collapsing fortress, and the sheer spectacle of breathing fire across hundreds of lesser demons evoked that same childlike wonder I felt playing the original games. The developers have found a way to balance innovation with tradition, understanding that what makes Doom special isn't just the guns or the gore, but the feeling of controlled chaos.
That said, the game does stumble occasionally. There were two particular sections where the developers experimented with platforming mechanics that felt at odds with the combat flow. I died seven times in one frustrating vertical climb sequence not because of demonic opposition, but because the jumping physics felt slightly off. These moments were rare in my experience—perhaps comprising less than 5% of the total gameplay—but they stood out precisely because the rest of the experience was so finely tuned.
The success of Doom: The Dark Ages reminds me of what other long-running franchises are achieving with their latest installments. Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1 have both managed similar feats of reinvention while honoring their legacies. Street Fighter injected hip-hop culture into its DNA with such style that it made a 35-year-old franchise feel fresh and relevant. Meanwhile, Mortal Kombat completely rebooted its lore while keeping the visceral combat that made it famous. These series prove that established franchises don't need to play it safe—that sometimes the biggest risks yield the greatest rewards.
What I appreciate most about Doom: The Dark Ages is how it demonstrates there's still so much fertile ground for this series to explore. The shift to a dark fantasy setting—with its gothic architecture, mythical creatures, and medieval-inspired weaponry—feels less like a departure and more like a homecoming. There's a sequence where you battle through a cathedral filled with stained glass windows that shatter spectacularly as demons burst through them, and it occurred to me that this aesthetic somehow fits Doom better than the sci-fi industrial complexes of previous games. The medieval setting enhances the brutality, making each encounter feel more personal, more visceral.
Having completed the campaign and spent another eight hours diving into the arcade mode, I'm convinced Doom: The Dark Ages represents a new high watermark for the series. It understands that evolution doesn't mean abandoning what worked before, but rather building upon that foundation in smart, measured ways. The changes feel purposeful rather than arbitrary, innovative without being disruptive. While I'll always cherish those late-night sessions with the original Doom in my dorm room, I can honestly say that what id Software has created here might just be my new favorite way to rip and tear.