Doom: The Dark Ages

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Title artwork.

Doom: The Dark Ages (stylized as DOOM: The Dark Ages) is the next entry in the Doom series, revealed to be a prequel to Doom (2016). Previously known by a codename of Doom Year Zero, the game will involve a medieval theme, and was first formally announced at the Xbox Games Showcase on June 9, 2024. It has been set for release on May 15, 2025 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, Game Pass, and Sony PlayStation 5. With Mick Gordon's departure after Doom Eternal, soundtrack duties will be taken over by Finishing Move Inc.

Plot

Reveal Trailer

The game appears to be set on various locations of importance to the Night Sentinels during the late stages of the Argenta civil war. A description of the Doom Slayer given in the first reveal trailer describes him as such:

"Before he became a hero, he was the super weapon of gods and kings..."

A description available on the Slayers Club explains that players will see the origin of the Slayer's rage and his "rise from a kingdom's last hope to Hell's greatest fear".

According to an interview conducted with PC Gamer, Hugo Martin has stated that the story of the game will end somewhere short of when the Slayer was trapped in a sarcophagus in the backstory of Doom (2016), leaving room for more prequel material in the future.

Editions

Standard

The standard edition is a box with a disc for Xbox Series X|S or PlayStation 5, or a key for Windows PC. This edition will also be available on Steam and the Xbox and PlayStation stores as a digital download.

Premium Edition

The Premium Edition adds this subset of digital bonuses:

• The Divinity Skin Pack with skins for the Doom Slayer, dragon and Atlan
• The digital artbook and soundtrack
• Early Access to the game up to two days before launch
• A campaign DLC that is to be announced at a later date

Collector's Edition

The Collector's Edition includes the Premium content and further adds:

• A 12" Doom Slayer statue with detachable weapons and cape
• A metal red key card replica
• A SteelBook case

Pre-order bonus

Pre-orders of any edition add the Void Doom Slayer skin.

Mechanics

Early footage and statements from Bethesda suggest the gameplay will be somewhat slower and less aerial in nature than that of its predecessor, with, according to Slayers Club material, "firmly grounded, heavy-hitting clashes" featuring "vicious melee strikes" and destructible demons. Of note is that no jumping whatsoever was displayed in the reveal trailer. This is supported by earlier statements from creative director Hugo Martin that he was considering taking the next game in the Doom series in a different direction where the player would feel more like a "tank" and less like a "Ferrari", and slowing down enemy projectiles to make "running and gunning viable again". The Developer_Direct gameplay videos do, however, display some jumping. The Slayers Club also mentions that the game will be taking into account the influences from the design of the original Doom from 1993.

Enemies

• Agaddon hunter
• Arachnotron
• Demon on a quadruped mount
• Corrupted Sentinels, shield soldiers, and other former humans
• Flying arachnotron or mastermind
• Giant tentacled flying demon
• Hell knight (now has a variant that wears armor and summons throwing axes)
• Imp (comes in two variants: a tall one resembling the classic imp and another resembling the 2016 design with grayish skin and hair)
• Lost soul (now resembling the classic version)
• Mancubus
• Revenant
• Six-legged spider-like cybernetic demon
• Titan
• Unidentified Hell nobles and other demons
• Winged tyrant-like demon

Weapons

• Accelerator
• Combat shotgun
• Flail
• Gauntlet
• Mace
• Rail spike
• Shield saw, which can be thrown with spikes deployed, can deflect projectiles and block melee strikes, and can be used as a ram during dashes.
• Skull crusher
• Super shotgun

Mounts

• Atlan mechs, now including a fully controllable version.
• Wintherin, including a mechanized, rideable mount known as the mecha dragon.

Pre-release

Doom Year Zero

Doom Year Zero was revealed as an upcoming game in the Doom series by an outdated internal ZeniMax Media presentation from 2020, which was mistakenly uploaded by Microsoft to the website of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California for the FTC v. Microsoft case in 2023.

Little else was known aside from the title, release schedule, projected revenue, and it being a console/PC game as opposed to F2P/mobile, all listed on the presentation. The game was internally scheduled for release in fiscal year 2023, and DLC was also scheduled for fiscal years 2023 and 2024, but it has since been delayed or canceled after Microsoft's subsequent acquisition of ZeniMax. It was forecasted by ZeniMax at the time to be one of their biggest releases, as its projected revenue was higher than that of Doom Eternal and the third highest of all games on the presentation behind only The Elder Scrolls VI and Starfield.

Verge hint

On May 8, 2024, Tom Warren let slip in an article on The Verge that, "Microsoft will be banking on some new game announcements lifting the Doom around Xbox" (emphasis by original author). This was interpreted at large as meaning that a new Doom title would be revealed in the near future.

Doom: The Dark Ages

Later that month on May 24, 2024, Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming further collaborated with Tom Warren's reporting that the next Doom game would be revealed at the 2024 Xbox Games Showcase. Henderson stated that Doom Year Zero was the codename/placeholder name for what was now called Doom: The Dark Ages, alongside that the game "was described to me as a ‘medieval-inspired Doom world’."

This description of the setting of Doom: The Dark Ages would correlate to a Polygon interview with Doom Eternal game director Hugo Martin released shortly before the release of Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods - Part Two where Martin described what the future of the Doom series could look like. “Could we tell a story about when [the Doom Slayer] first came to that place with the Sentinels, almost like a more medieval setting, a fantasy setting?” Martin asked. “I think as you play the DLC, too, you’ll see lots of hints of what we could do moving forward. Maybe even in the future. Again, our hero is somewhat timeless — I mean, literally, he’s immortal. So we could tell all kinds of stories.” This can lead to the interpretation that Doom: The Dark Ages may take place in between Doom 64 and Doom (2016) during the Doom Slayer's stay in Argent D'Nur with the Night Sentinels.

QuakeCon 2024

An exclusive presentation was shown to attendees at the keynote for QuakeCon 2024, similar to that previously held for Doom (2016), showing off basic information about the game's weapons and several minutes of gameplay, including footage of the Slayer piloting and attacking enemies with the Atlan mech and mecha dragon. The shield saw was revealed to select from its numerous functions in a context-sensitive manner requiring only one input. Melee attacks were also discussed and it was revealed that the Slayer can choose between three different melee weapons seamlessly, with the flail being one of the three. The retooled glory kill system was briefly discussed with a highlight on the ability to execute fatal moves of the player's choice at any angle and at nearly any timing.

The Atlan mech was shown to possess many attacks, including kicks and punches as well as the ability to equip weaponry, such as a gigantic dual-barreled chaingun.

The majority of content from the previously exclusive QuakeCon presentation was later reused in the Developer_Direct show of January 23, 2025.

CES 2025

Nvidia showed new footage of The Dark Ages as part of their showcase for their GeForce 50 series of graphics processors. A series of locations was shown, including a rainy outdoor area with runic writings, a hallway in a Sentinel structure and an arena in an industrial facility, followed by footage of a group of Sentinels approaching the Slayer.

Developer_Direct

At Developer_Direct 2025, id Software revealed the May 15, 2025 release date and more gameplay details, accompanied by a "gameplay sizzle" trailer and an extensive video presentation. The game will run on the id Tech 8 engine, for which the PC specifications were announced.

External links

• Official site
• Steam page