Doom: The Dark Ages - A Halo Moment in Gaming

During a recent hands-on demo of Doom: The Dark Ages, id Software's gothic prequel to the iconic series, I was unexpectedly reminded of Halo 3. Picture this: I'm mounted on the back of a cyborg dragon, unleashing a salvo of machine gun fire across the side of a demonic battle barge. After destroying the vessel's defensive turrets, I landed atop the ship, charged through its lower decks, and turned the entire crew into a few gallons of red slop. Bursting through its hull, I leaped back onto my dragon to continue my crusade against the machines of Hell.

This scene bore a striking resemblance to Master Chief's assault on the Covenant's scarab tanks in Halo 3, though with a Doom twist. The helicopter-like Hornet was swapped for a holographic-winged dragon, and the giant laser-firing mech became an occult flying boat. Yet, the core experience of an aerial assault transitioning into a devastating boarding action remained intact. Surprisingly, this wasn't the only Halo-like moment in the demo. While the combat core of The Dark Ages is unmistakably Doom, the campaign's design has a late-2000s shooter vibe, complete with elaborate cutscenes and a push for gameplay novelty.

Over two and a half hours, I played four levels of Doom: The Dark Ages. The first level, the campaign's opener, echoed the tightly paced and immaculately mapped design of Doom (2016) and its sequel. However, the other levels introduced a colossal mech, the aforementioned dragon, and a wide-open battlefield dotted with secrets and powerful minibosses. This departure from Doom's usual focus on mechanical purity felt more akin to Halo, Call of Duty, and even old James Bond games like Nightfire, which thrive on scripted setpieces and novel mechanics.

This direction is intriguing for Doom, especially since the series once rejected such elements. The cancelled Doom 4 was initially set to resemble Call of Duty, with a modern military aesthetic, increased emphasis on characters, cinematic storytelling, and scripted events. Id Software eventually scrapped these ideas for the more focused Doom (2016). Yet, here they are again in The Dark Ages, set to release in 2025.

The campaign's rapid pace is punctuated with new gameplay ideas reminiscent of Call of Duty's biggest novelties. My demo opened with a long and elaborate cutscene reintroducing the realm of Argent D'Nur, the opulent Maykrs, and the Night Sentinels—the knightly brothers-in-arms of the Doom Slayer. The Doom Slayer himself is depicted as a terrifying legend, a nuclear-level threat on two legs. This lore, familiar to Doom obsessives, is now presented in a deeply cinematic way, reminiscent of Halo. The levels themselves feature NPC Night Sentinels, akin to UNSC Marines, adding a sense of being part of an army, much like Master Chief.

The cutscenes introduce the mission but don't interrupt Doom's signature intense flow. However, other interruptions come in the form of new gameplay segments. After the opening mission's pure shotgun slaughter and parrying Hell Knights with the Slayer's new shield, I piloted a Pacific Rim-like Atlan mech to wrestle demonic kaiju, and soared through the skies on a cybernetic dragon, taking down battle barges and gun emplacements. These scripted levels shift gears, reminiscent of Call of Duty's novelty sequences like Modern Warfare's AC-130 gunship or Infinite Warfare's dogfighting missions. The Atlan mech feels slow and heavy, while the dragon is fast and agile, providing a very different experience from classic Doom.

Many of the best FPS campaigns thrive on variety, as seen in Half-Life 2 and Titanfall 2, and Halo's mix of vehicular and on-foot sequences. However, I'm unsure if this will work for Doom. The Dark Ages remains a wonderfully complex shooter with every second demanding complete attention as you weave together shots, shield tosses, parries, and brutal melee combos. In contrast, the mech and dragon sequences feel anemic and almost on-rails, resembling QTEs more than the engaging combat of Doom.

In Call of Duty, switching to driving a tank or firing from a circling gunship works because the mechanical complexity isn't far removed from the on-foot missions. But in The Dark Ages, there's a clear gulf between gameplay styles, making the transition jarring. While Doom's core combat will always be the star, even during the mech battles, I found myself wishing I was back on the ground with a "mere" double-barreled shotgun.

My final hour of play saw The Dark Ages shift into another guise, with the "Siege" level focusing on id's best-in-class gunplay but opening up into a huge battlefield. The goal of destroying five Gore Portals had the same energy as Call of Duty's multi-objective missions, yet the grand scale reminded me of Halo, contrasting the tighter routes of the opening level. This level required rethinking the effective range of every weapon, using charge attacks to close large distances, and deflecting artillery with the shield.

However, expanding Doom's playspace can lead to unfocused moments, with backtracking and empty pathways killing the pace. Integrating the dragon into the mix, similar to Halo's Banshee, could help maintain the pace and make it feel more integral to the experience.

The Dark Ages resurrects and reinterprets ideas from the cancelled Doom 4, featuring scripted set pieces and vehicle scenes reminiscent of Xbox 360-era shooters. Marty Stratton from id Software confirmed that Doom 4 was much closer to Call of Duty, with more cinematic elements and characters. Despite being scrapped, these ideas are back in The Dark Ages, with big boarding action setpieces, lusciously rendered cinematics, a wider cast of characters, and huge lore reveals.

The core of The Dark Ages remains its on-foot, gun-in-hand combat, affirming it's another fantastic reinvention of Doom's core. While id Software has other designs, I'm concerned that some of these new ideas feel mechanically slim. Only time will tell if these demo missions will be contextualized well within the full campaign. I eagerly await May 15th to return to id's unrivaled gunplay and see if Doom: The Dark Ages will be a good late-2000s FPS campaign or a messy one.