With Doom: The Dark Ages, the iconic shooter series is getting a new installment in 2025. During the Xbox Direct on January 23, we finally received new details about the highly anticipated title – including new information on gameplay and the release date.
What do we know about the new Doom? The latest installment of the Doom series is called Doom: The Dark Ages and will be a prequel to Doom 2016, telling the origin story of the legendary Doom Slayer, where you fight in a medieval war against Hell.
The release is on May 15, 2025, for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. Furthermore, the shooter will be available to play via subscription through Game Pass.
By the way, there will be no co-op or multiplayer mode in Doom: The Dark Ages. The team wanted to focus entirely on the single-player experience. This ultimately allowed them to incorporate features that had been on their wishlist for a long time.
Power instead of Acrobatics
What do we know about the gameplay? The developers emphasize that the gameplay of Doom: The Dark Ages will significantly change compared to the most recent installment, Doom Eternal. There, the combat system was very fast, and the Doom Slayer was nimble and acrobatic. While in Doom Eternal you were more like a fighter jet, in Doom: The Dark Ages, you should be like a tank, powerful and strong. The motto of the game shifts from “Jump and Shoot” to “Stand and Fight”.
In line with this, the so-called Shieldsaw will join your equipment in Doom: The Dark Ages, which is a shield with a chainsaw. This shield can be thrown and thus used as a weapon. Alternatively, you can use it knightly to block and parry attacks.
Of course, there will also be powerful firearms, which, according to the developers, are inspired by torture devices – they should fit into the medieval setting. Additionally, there will be melee weapons such as a morning star, electrified gauntlets, and a mace covered with nails that you can swing alongside your powerful shield.
Here you can see the new gameplay of Doom: The Dark Ages:
In addition to the basic equipment – that is, the shield, melee weapons, and of course your guns – the latest Doom will feature some specialties that we already discovered in the first trailer:
- a giant Atlan mech with which you can beat up towering demons
- a fire-breathing cyber-dragon with a Gatling gun on whose back you can fly through hellish landscapes.
Both the dragon and the mech are said to have various abilities as well as minibosses that you can crush with them.
How difficult will the new Doom be? In order for you to experience the game as you find most enjoyable, Doom: The Dark Ages will have new difficulty settings. These will appear in the form of sliders with which you can individually adjust the difficulty. For example, you can extend or shorten the time window for parries or lower or increase the aggression of enemies and the game speed.
For example, parrying is meant to be generally easier and more intuitive than in Soulslike games like Elden Ring, but you can shorten the time window for parries to the extent that they become absurdly difficult.
According to MeinMMO editor Dariusz, Doom: The Dark Ages is among the most interesting shooters to be released in 2025 – and the new information has further reinforced this impression. To find out which upcoming shooters you should keep an eye on, click here: 10 new shooters that are particularly interesting in 2025 – Mark these releases in your calendar
