Doom: The Dark Ages Review - A Battle-Axe to the Face of Convention

A Veteran's Look at Doom's Evolution and The Dark Ages' Brutal Combat Design

After twenty years of tearing apart first-person shooters, a few series still sting my palms like Doom. I've felt every chaingun rattle, every meaty crunch of a Glory Kill since the 1993 launch. So when Doom: The Dark Ages landed, I knew my screen, reflexes, and nostalgia would all be put to the test. And let's be straight: this entry shakes the ground. It's still Doom. But now it's forged from iron, dressed in chainmail, and hurled headlong into a world older, meaner, and gloriously slower.

Performance Struggles on High-End Hardware: PC Optimization Issues in Doom: The Dark Ages

This is the part where I start grinding my teeth. My rig isn't ancient: RTX 2080 Ti, i9-9900K, 32GB RAM, and an SSD that loads most games like it's unzipping a folder. And yet Doom: The Dark Ages chugs like a drunk Hell Knight after too much blood wine. Running on low settings with DLSS set to balanced, I hovered between 60 and 90 fps, dipping into the 50s during peak, usually when a Hell Priest threw a cathedral-sized tantrum. For a series that has always bragged about speed and snap, this kind of frame wobble hits like a dull axe. The animations are sharp, the physics tight, but when parrying or chaining combos rides on milliseconds, even slight dips sting. Plain and simple, this game needs brutal optimization.

Combat Mechanics: Shield Bashes and Wrist-Snaps at Close Range

This game isn't Eternal Wild Circus. Gone are the gun-jump flips, swing-bar stunts, and endless flame loops. Instead, the action feels heavier, as if every swing lands with real weight. It's like the gap between a surgeon's scalpel and a blacksmith's hammer in your hands. The shield bash? It's not a flashy trick, but your heartbeat in every fight. Nail a perfect parry, then slam the shield and rip off a follow-up slice or shotgun blast, and the game talks straight to you like an old rival. The metal wall on your arm doesn't just soak damage; it builds speed, dares enemies to swing first, and keeps you alive.

Where Doom Eternal's combat was a blur of spinning plates at two hundred miles an hour, The Dark Ages asks for calmer timing and full commitment. Miss the block, and you lose; crack the combo, and the screen shouts you own this room. It shares blood with FromSoft tempo-driven duels, yet the rules aren't hidden behind fog or menus. Doom throws its math in your face and begs you to chase the numbers. Here, the rhythm slows just enough so you can relish each bone-crunching hit.

Weapons of Legend: Medieval Doom Arsenal and Its Impact on Flow

Alright, let's break down the gear. The flail-shotgun mash-up? It's an ear-splitting beast that feels like swinging the BFG toddler cousin. Clunky, loud, and absolutely glorious. Then there's the new Crucible sword; it looks less like a sci-fi lightsaber and more like a cursed Viking broadsword-fatter, slower, and far more satisfying. Each swing has true heft, and the lag after the cut forces real commitment. No button canceling. No do-over. Misjudge a swing, and your body ends up in a demon pile.

Next to other arena shooters, Ultrakill springs to this game's speed, which feels almost sacrilegious. In Ultrakill, you are pure momentum on your legs. In The Dark Ages, you are honest, old gravity. The title rewrites flow by letting you, one of those who buy Xbox FPS games, define the terms of engagement. When you rush in, you'd better finish what you start. Because if you don't? The demons will, and trust me, they'll grin while doing it.

Enemy Design and AI Behavior: The Evolving Dance of Death

The Dark Ages isn't shy about throwing different demons at you. You can't just memorize animations or hunt glowing weak spots anymore. Now, every mob acts like part of a small squad. I swear I felt them breathing down my neck. In one fight, three shielded Barons boxed me in while Imps zipped overhead and a Wraith teleported behind me like a twisted stagehand. I parried the Wraith, blasted an Imp mid-jump, then botched a shield bash and ate a full combo from the Barons. Absolute magic.

It took me right back to the best moments of the times when enemy squads worked together instead of standing in neat lines. There's a little problem-solving loop here that feels brand-new. Knowing the right answer isn't enough; the game forces you to nail it under fire. That kind of stress is exactly what great combat design aims for.

Accessibility and Customization: Making Doom for Everyone without Diluting It

At first, I rolled my eyes at the six-difficulty sliders-Doom. Parry windows, damage tweaks, and aggression tweaks all mixed together never felt overboard. I was dead wrong. Those options aren't training wheels; they're a toolkit. Drop aggression for a slower, chess-like rhythm, or crank the speed up when twitch precision is your jam. Slide them until combat feels perfect for you, and the game's core brutality never shifts. It's a quiet masterstroke. No XP grind, no random loot boxes, just pure intent wrapped in flexibility. Unlike Halo Infinite, which chased every player and ended up feeling toothless, Doom 2016 keeps its bite while opening the door a little wider.

Narrative Overreach: Pacing Missteps and Unnecessary Bloat at the End

And then, right when you're drenched in guts, and your muscles are twitching from reflex fatigue, the story just refuses to quit. One last level. Then, another boss. Then a long, slow, talk-heavy cutscene. The last fights aren't terrible- they're tight and even a little daring. They just drag the pace to a crawl. Imagine sprinting toward the tape, only to be asked for a victory lap you never trained for. I caught myself glancing at the clock. That almost never happens in Doom. In Eternal, the last boss hit like a brutal full-stop. This time, it's a drawn-out coda-earnest, emotional, yet wrongly placed. I admire the ambition. I can't help doubting the follow-through.

Final Verdict: A Brutal Step Forward With Bumps

Doom: The Dark Ages is a real head-scratcher. It comforts long-time fans by digging back into the series DNA while also pushing outward into a more hands-on, thoughtful style. Gone are Eternal's turbo speed runs; instead, you'll feel the weight of every blood-drenched swing and the hard pull of new physics. The pacing dares to breathe, and that pause shows muscle the beast forgot it had. Yes, the game still drips with bugs. PC frames cap at a puzzling low, given the bold visuals. The last chapter also trips over its own plot reach. None of that can kill the party. These issues are simply scars you earn in battle.

What really counts is how it touches your hands and heart. When you time a perfect parry, slam a skull with your shield, then roll and pin a second demon with a flaming crossbow, you don't just play Doom.

This is DOOM.

Brutal. Weighty. Gorgeous.