Review

Doom: The Dark Ages

A single-player first-person shooter, set as a prequel to Doom (2016) in a medieval-flavored dark fantasy world. The combat is heavier and more grounded, with a shield you can use to block and parry. You also get melee weapons and vehicles, and the story explores the Slayer origins. Is it your kind of game?

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Games like Doom: The Dark Ages

8/10

Game Avant verdict

A confident, spectacular prequel that trades speed for weight and mostly wins the trade, even when its biggest set pieces outshine its combat loop.

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By GameAvant · Published Sep 30, 2026 · Updated Oct 9, 2026 · 13 min read

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IGDB

85%

163 ratings

Steam:

88%

32,288 reviews

Fits you if

you want brutal, fast shooting with a weightier feel and a bit more story.

Skip it if

you prefer the acrobatic speed of earlier Doom games or dislike gore.

Availability

Where to play

Steam

$49.99

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Facts

Platforms: Xbox · PC · PlayStation
Release date: May 15, 2025
Length: About 19 hours
Difficulty: 3/5 (estimated)
Genres: Shooter
Themes: Action · Fantasy · Science fiction
Perspective: First person
Modes: Solo only
Languages: 3 languages
Text in your language: Yes
Steam Deck: Verified
Microtransactions: None

More about Doom: The Dark Ages

Doom: The Dark Ages opens with a deliberately contrarian question for a series that built its modern reputation on speed: what happens if the Doom Slayer simply stops moving? Developed by id Software and published by Bethesda Softworks, it released on 15 May 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC as a prequel set generations before the events of Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal, finally showing the Unholy Crusade that both of those games only referenced in passing. Where Eternal turned every encounter into a mid-air resource-management puzzle, solved by dashing, meat-hooking and double-jumping between six systems simultaneously, The Dark Ages hands you a saw-edged shield, tells you to plant your feet, and asks you to read an incoming attack instead of dancing away from it. The story context matters more here than in any previous entry in the rebooted series. The Slayer is a weapon forged and handed to the Night Sentinels of Argent D'Nur by King Novik, deployed to fight a demonic invasion led by Prince Ahzrak, who wants an artifact called the Heart of Argent to seize total control over Hell's legions. The 2016 reboot and Eternal kept their protagonist an almost mute force of nature, his history told entirely through environmental storytelling rather than dialogue. The Dark Ages surrounds him instead with an actual court: Novik himself, his daughter and heir Commander Thira, and a roster of Sentinel officers who argue, plan, and die around him over the course of the campaign. It is the most narrative weight the modern series has ever carried, and that framing changes the whole rhythm of the game before a single demon is even engaged. Mechanically, the shield is the whole redesign in miniature. Blocking, parrying, and countering become the primary combat verbs instead of movement tech, and the saw-edged shield doubles as both defense and a ranged weapon you can throw and recall mid-fight. That stand-your-ground philosophy extends to some of the campaign's biggest set pieces, including large-scale battles that put the Slayer at a genuinely different scale than anything the series has previously attempted, closer to a one-person army clearing a battlefield than a single soldier working room to room. The trade is not without cost. The biggest, most spectacular sequences occasionally outshine the core combat loop they are built around, and some of what made Eternal's frantic, juggling combat so beloved is deliberately absent here by design, which will not sit well with everyone who came to the series for that specific rhythm. Taken as a whole, though, this is a confident, genuinely bold reinvention rather than a safe sequel, and after a full campaign spent standing firm against Hell's medieval armies, the gamble mostly pays off.

The thing you'll love. Or hate.

A slower, heavier combat loop

Vehicle set pieces

A story with an actual supporting cast

Not quite for you?

Three alternatives, one line each on why.

Shorter

Similar, but noticeably shorter.

With co-op

Similar, but playable together.

Cheaper or free

Similar, for less money.

Frequently asked questions

How long is Doom: The Dark Ages?: About 19 hours to finish the main story.
Which platforms is Doom: The Dark Ages on?: Doom: The Dark Ages is available on Xbox · PC · PlayStation.
Does Doom: The Dark Ages have co-op?: No, Doom: The Dark Ages is single-player only.
Does Doom: The Dark Ages run on Steam Deck?: Verified
What does Doom: The Dark Ages cost?: $49.99 on Steam.