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Doom: The Dark Ages is introducing big changes to combat because id Software came to one core realization:

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Doom: The Dark Ages is introducing big changes to combat because id Software came to one core realization:

Doom: The Dark Ages isn’t a continuation of the blood-ritual carnage of Doom Eternal, it’s a return to the past – literally and spiritually. Developer id Software is unleashing a prequel to its modern series of Doom games, taking us back to a time where the Slayer was wielded as the ultimate super weapon of gods and kings. It sounds metal as fuck, and the perfect setting for a series that was running out of hell to raze. 

The thing is, id Software has landed in this medieval war against Hell not out of convenience but out of a need to change the fundamentals of play. To return to where Doom became legend two decades ago. “At the start of every development cycle, I play the original Doom again, and have the team play it too. I realized that we still didn’t hit the mark” says creative director Hugo Martin. And that is where Doom: The Dark Ages was born. 

Back to basics

(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

The cause of this epiphany? The projectiles. The nightmarish gauntlet of floating, homing hazards. “I noticed right away how slow those projectiles move – it just dawned on me that that is the maze. The movement is more horizontal as you weave your way between the projectiles, and every projectile mattered in the original Doom.” 

Doom Eternal invested heavily in verticality, making constant movement across multiple planes of wider combat arenas a central component of the core rhythm to encounters. Martin says that returning to the ethos that underpinned the series in the first instance became a “core pillar” of what the team wanted to achieve with Doom: The Dark Ages. “We couldn’t go any higher in the air than Doom Eternal. That was a great experience, but we want each game to stand on its own,” says Martin. 

Doom: The Dark Ages

(Image credit: Bethesda)

“If you were an F22 fighter jet in Doom Eternal, this time around we wanted you to feel like an Abrams tank,” he adds, and it’s an analogy that’s indicative of where id is steering Doom: The Dark Ages. “It means you’re more powerful and grounded. The combat system for new players – those who only got into Doom with the reboot – I think with The Dark Ages they are going to feel like this is a reimagined combat system. But for long-time fans of the series, people who played the original Doom, you’ll see it’s really a return to form.” 

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