Doom: The Dark Ages Revealed, Shows Off Skull Fragment Gun and Circular Saw Shield

Just when the reveals of high-octane shooters couldn’t get more plentiful, with the announcement of Black Ops 6, Fragpunk, and Gears of War: E-Day, Bethesda and id Software have unveiled Doom: The Dark Ages, a prequel for the modern Doom franchise.  A follow-up to 2020’s Doom Eternal, Doom: The Dark Ages throws us back in time to a medieval hellscape where the Doom Slayer must battle off primoradial demons across multiple dimensions.

Revealed as part of the Xbox Games Showcase, after being leaked late last month, Doom: The Dark Ages is a brutal return to form for the storied series.

From the trailer alone we can gleam a lot about the upcoming title, but the highlights right away are a kind of Circular Saw Shield used to chop down enemies close and far, and a weapon that chews up skulls and spits the fragments at demons to kill them. If those sound like enticing bits of gameplay for you, then you need to get excited for this one.

Getting Medieval on Those Demon’s Asses with Doom: The Dark Ages

Doom: The Dark Ages

Credit: Id Software

Doom: The Dark Ages new trailer firmly plants us in a dark fantasy world with demons ruling over a castles, temples, and ruins. The Doom Guy, who can now deflect bullets with his shield, and pilot giant mech suits, and use a dragon to breathe fire down a demon’s throat, is set to save the world again from a horde of demons.

The heavy metal soundtrack is back, the dark gothic aesthetic has returned, and honestly I couldn’t think up more of a Doom game without mainlining Metallica, Hellraiser, and few sessions of Dungeons & Dragons directly into my veins.

What’s unique though is that hybrid mix of medieval and mecha aesthetics. Doom has always flirted with those kind of allusions, but The Dark Ages embraces it fully in a way that pushes it in a new exciting direction. Which is to say I’m excited to ride the mecha dragon.

The Doom series had a cultural moment with its 2016 reboot. But eight years and one sequel later, it’s beginning to look a little milquetoast. What’s more, it didn’t quite manage to transform the entire gaming landscape like the original. While we’re not setting such lofty goals for Doom: The Dark Ages, it would be nice to see the industry take a leaf from id Software’s book and make something that’s cool for the sake of cool, covered in gore, and filled with heavy metal. Or maybe I’m just letting my preferences shine through…

Doom: The Dark Ages is set for release on Xbox GamePass, Xbox Series X|S, PC or PlayStation 5 in 2025.


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