You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here Just like how Eternal was a huge shift from DOOM 2016, DOOM: The Dark Ages is a drastically different shooter experience compared to its predecessor. The upcoming prequel has massively increased enemy counts, more open environments and a focus on more Bullet Hell-style gameplay. More pressingly, it’s removing the series’ now-iconic Glory Kill system. In 2016 and Eternal, Glory Kills were a very satisying way of dispatching a stunned enemy with a gnarly pre-canned animation. For the previous two games, this system was core to the experience with players able to receive a cool health boost for taking out foes with a quick press of the melee key. For The Dark Ages, they’ve been removed. Why DOOM: The Dark Ages removed Glory Kills In a recent explanation, game director Hugo Martin explained why the new prequel doesn’t have the expected Glory Kills system. In short, with increased enemy counts and wider arenas, the act of systematically taking out enemies with the melee system was becoming too tedious for players. “It’s all about player freedom,” Martin told players in a recent developer talk. “There’s more enemies on screen than we’ve ever had before, and If we’re asking the player to stop and play a synced animation for every one of those, it was getting very, very tedious.” DOOM: The Dark Ages’ new system allows for “multi-glory kills” which turns the system into a more player-focused one. Now, your weapons can stagger multiple enemies and it’s up to the player what melee weapon they want to use to take out a horde of whimpering foes. “We wanted, for this game, to allow you to do multi-glory kills,” Martin explained. “You know that scene in the… Hot Gates of 300, the Zack Snyder Film, when Leonidas breaks the phalanx and it’s that beautiful side shot… that was a major touch point for us. We wanted to make you feel like that in this game.” Martin explained that the studio has tried for the “past 10 years” to find a way to make multiple glory kills satisfying. In DOOM Eternal, there was even an option for faster Glory Kills to make chaining them together more satisfying, but it never quite clicked. “It didn’t really fit in the other games. A lot of times you’d have two characters staggered right next to each other and you’d perform the one glory kill in 2016 or Eternal and by the time you turned to the other guy he’s already out of the stagger and it felt kinda disjointed,” Martin said. “In this game, by unsyncing them, they’re more like executions, you’re able to move from one guy to the next,” he continued. “So, it is a system… there’s a bucket of melee animations that we’re pulling from. The ragdolls aren’t just ragdolls… and then depending on the melee weapon you have selected, sometimes it’ll play a Glory Kill animation using that melee weapon. And it’s also sensitive to the enemies there.” Martin explained that the point of the system is to “avoid repetition”. While the past two games had a tonne of animations depending on what direction an enemy was being Glory Killed from, Id found that 90% of the time players attacked from the front which resulted in the same animations being seen over and over again. “Put it this way, if it didn’t feel good it wouldn’t be in the game,” Martin continued. “But, really, it’s about creating a new experience for you guys. That’s what’s really important, right? We don’t want to just do the same thing again.” Subscribe to our newsletters! By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime. Share