Doom: The Dark Ages just announced

[BlessedSquirrel]

Bethesda have announced the next Doom title, Doom: The Dark Ages

Does look seriously cool, due for release next year, it's a prequel to the 2016 reboot.

 

[Steveyg]

YES YES YES YES YES

Hope it's more like 2016 than Eternal to be honest

Eternal didn't grab me like '16. I loved it when I felt "I" was optimising the combat to be most effective by frantically switching weapons but Eternal making that basically a necessity and the core gameplay loop was just exhausting to be honest

I loved it when panic mode set in and I could just whip out the super shotty and widdle enemies down with good movement, as opposed to having to use the most optimal weapons at all times or you're basically shooting spit balls at demons

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

Ok, so it's been officially listed on Steam with a release date of May 15th.

DOOM: The Dark Ages on Steam

DOOM: The Dark Ages is the prequel to the critically acclaimed DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal that tells an epic cinematic story worthy of the DOOM Slayer’s legend. Players will step into the blood-stained boots of the DOOM Slayer, in this never-before-seen dark and sinister medieval war against Hell.

store.steampowered.com

I'm not liking the pricing, but I know across the industry prices are on the increase, if you've seen Switch 2 announcements you'll see it's quite a sharp increase too!

Doom was always a franchise that was priced quite low compared to most AAA's.

So here we go:

Standard version: £69:99

Premium version (just gives you 2 days pre-release access and campaign DLC when it's released and the Divinity Skin Pack): £99:99!!!!

I certainly won't be buying it for a few years yet at those prices! God I'm getting old!

For some context, Doom Eternal was launched on March 20th 2020 for the base game at £50 but there were loads of offers after the first week at £30 and then the Year One DLC was £25. The Deluxe was £60ish, then of course you had the insane collectors edition at £200ish quid or something that included the helmet.

Maybe we'll get lucky and there will be heavy discounts again soon after release, I certainly hope so.

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

YES YES YES YES YES

Hope it's more like 2016 than Eternal to be honest

Eternal didn't grab me like '16. I loved it when I felt "I" was optimising the combat to be most effective by frantically switching weapons but Eternal making that basically a necessity and the core gameplay loop was just exhausting to be honest

I loved it when panic mode set in and I could just whip out the super shotty and widdle enemies down with good movement, as opposed to having to use the most optimal weapons at all times or you're basically shooting spit balls at demons

I know it's rather a lot later, but I hadn't invested enough time into the game then to comment, but I feel very much the same as you.

Doom 2016 I WAS UTTERLY HOOKED ON, I was so engrossed, and even though cut scenes were pretty minimal, I felt there was a definite progression from level to level, and so as a result I just played it from start to finish with very few gaps in between.

Eternal, I just feel it's one level to the next with a bit different scenery, I'm not feeling the story progression in the same way and as a result I just haven't remained connected to it to see it through to completion. I love the gameplay, that's not the issue, just feels a bit meh as a complete game.

With what you say though, I’m definitely dying a lot more and there are parts of the game where navigating wall scales and other things are just so utterly unclear that I’ve had to refer to a guide. I expect that from something like a Fallout game but not from Doom! Maybe that has increased the lack of flow

 

[AgentCooper]

Agree with you both, lads. Eternal altered the vibe for a Quake-like experience which I know some people absolutely loved but it didn’t sit right with me. Dark Ages looks to change up the formula again and it seems more up my street.

I saw a comment from the devs that said something like ‘in Doom we asked you to run and gun, in Eternal it was jump and shoot, now you’re going to stand and fight’

Count me in, I was sold the moment I saw a gun that used crushed skull fragments as ammunition.

 

[lousmaczylo]

You can't beat a nice game of Doom, it makes you feel at home. Ha! I agree with the comments about Doom Eternal, I wasn't that keen on it.

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

Game benches are out.

Remember, this game REQUIRES a hardware Ray Tracing capable card, currently path-tracing isn’t integrated but will be rolled out in a later DLC / Update

With early drivers RX 9070 XT BEATS 5080!

 

[lousmaczylo]

Game benches are out.

Remember, this game REQUIRES a hardware Ray Tracing capable card, currently path-tracing isn’t integrated but will be rolled out in a later DLC / Update

With early drivers RX 9070 XT BEATS 5080!

Does this mean that if you don't have a ray tracing capable card then you cannot play it. It just seems that they are making PC gamers spend enormous amount of money on new PCs. Will this be offered to XBOX and Playstation 5 platforms.

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

Does this mean that if you don't have a ray tracing capable card then you cannot play it. It just seems that they are making PC gamers spend enormous amount of money on new PCs. Will this be offered to XBOX and Playstation 5 platforms.

It will be on consoles at some point

The Standard version will be on game pass.

Yes, if you don’t have a RTX nvidia card or AMD 6000 or newer you can’t play it on PC

PC can be as old as you like, it’s only the graphics card that needs to be within the last 7 years

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

It’s officially out with 86% Very Positive on Steam at £70

DOOM: The Dark Ages on Steam

DOOM: The Dark Ages is the prequel to the critically acclaimed DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal that tells an epic cinematic story worthy of the DOOM Slayer’s legend. Players will step into the blood-stained boots of the DOOM Slayer, in this never-before-seen dark and sinister medieval war against Hell.

store.steampowered.com

 

[AccidentalDenz]

This is truly exceptional from OpenCritic:

If 96% are recommending it, whatever issues the game may have to keep the average out of the 90s must only be fairly trivial!

 

[Scott]

Did a thing with a 5090 and this came free........ 😇

Premium edition too

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

Did a thing with a 5090 and this came free........ 😇

Premium edition too

Did you finish Erernal?

 

[Scott]

Did you finish Erernal?

Don't know if I started it tbh

Just dloaded it on the PS5 so will see how I get on. Been playing a it of GT7 of late. The PS5 does some job with that headset btw, unreal.

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

Don't know if I started it tbh

It's definitely not as good as Doom 2016, but I'm a proper completionist so I always feel I have to play the preceding game first.

Did a thing with a 5090 and this came free........ 😇

Premium edition too

I am proper jealous, both of the 5090 and the game!

 

[Scott]

I have all of them available on PS5 so I got a hold of Eternal and stuck it on.

I genuinely think my adrenaline spiked playing that game. It's a complete mind rush of a game, overwhelming at times. I've got it on baby mode so that I can enjoy it as my FPS reflexes are absolutely garbage. It's such a fun game isn't it.

I might go back to the 2016 release as I do remember playing it a tiny bit. I think it would be worthwhile for me to see if I can get into this style with titles like these. It's like a drug playing it.

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

I have all of them available on PS5 so I got a hold of Eternal and stuck it on.

I genuinely think my adrenaline spiked playing that game. It's a complete mind rush of a game, overwhelming at times. I've got it on baby mode so that I can enjoy it as my FPS reflexes are absolutely garbage. It's such a fun game isn't it.

I might go back to the 2016 release as I do remember playing it a tiny bit. I think it would be worthwhile for me to see if I can get into this style with titles like these. It's like a drug playing it.

I didn’t not enjoy Eternal, the whole series is a total dopamine rush, I can’t play for that long because it’s SO intense, I don’t think I blink properly and my whole body tenses up and feels like a workout!

but eternal had parts to some levels that were more like tomb raider in having to work out how to scale areas that I didn’t really feel fit the series as well as 2016. The story as well I didn’t feel was as polished as 2016

This new game, it looks like they’ve found the sweet spot again. Great games, and you can happily dip in and out of them.

 

[Scott]

Played this for the first time tonight. They have absolutely nailed it for me. I don't know if that's going to be the same feeling for people used to Doom games, my recent memory experience comes from Eternal, which is an absolute adrenaline dump to play though.

The pace of this game is far more like what I would typically expect. In the arena battles it's all out carnage but you get a little time to catch your breath and the odd cut scene for a story.

100% through on the first chapter, I think it's a game I could definitely get properly into and try to complete 100%. I've got it on baby mode right now but given the mechanics I think I could venture into less "couch" assist.

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

Played this for the first time tonight. They have absolutely nailed it for me. I don't know if that's going to be the same feeling for people used to Doom games, my recent memory experience comes from Eternal, which is an absolute adrenaline dump to play though.

The pace of this game is far more like what I would typically expect. In the arena battles it's all out carnage but you get a little time to catch your breath and the odd cut scene for a story.

100% through on the first chapter, I think it's a game I could definitely get properly into and try to complete 100%. I've got it on baby mode right now but given the Themore likemechanics I think I could venture into less "couch" assist.much

This sounds much more like the flow that 2016 offered, I’m all in on this one but will wait for price to come down, although haven’t checked to see if there are any discounts already available.

 

[Scott]

Pricing is a major downside of it. I wouldn't have bought it anywhere near its RRP. Most are playing on Gamepass with less than 1m units sold so far (at the time of writing).