The more things change... Doom: The Dark Ages wants to be more like the original Doom Preview: A more grounded game than Doom Eternal in more ways than one. Kyle Orland Jan 23, 2025 2:00 pm | 29 Who's ready top rip and tear? Credit: Bethesda Softworks Who's ready top rip and tear? Credit: Bethesda Softworks Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThe modern Doom games have been a master class in reviving a beloved retro gaming series. Both 2016's Doom and 2020's Doom Eternal paid homage to both the look and feel of the original Doom titles without being slavishly devoted to older gameplay conventions that can feel dated decades later.Yet by the end of Doom Eternal, you could feel the modernized gameplay system threatening to burst at the seams a bit. Managing your limited ammo, health, and armor resources in Eternal meant expertly juggling a bewildering array of chainsaws, flamethrowers, grenades, and melee-based staggers into powerful, pre-animated "glory kills." That was all on top of the frequent weapon-switching needed to take advantage of the weaknesses of the varied enemies surrounding you and the double-jump-and-dash movement system that required expert use of all three dimensions.Something had to give. So for Doom: The Dark Ages, the team at id Software has committed to a more streamlined, back-to-basics system that limits complexity while maintaining the same overall difficulty level. That means a "fewer strings on the guitar" approach to controls that narrows almost every action down to just three context-sensitive buttons, as the developers discussed in a hands-off virtual preview session attended by Ars Technica.Simpler, not easierIn figuring out how to re-simplify the modern Doom formula, id Software Creative Designer Hugo Martin said he found himself going back to the '90s Doom games for inspiration more than any others. "The original Doom, and why it has stood the test of timeis it's one of the most accessible FPS single-player campaigns ever made," he said. "When it comes to combat, it's really incredibly streamlined, and that's why it's fun to this day."Flattening the controls was key to that return to old-school Doom accessibility, the developers said. In The Dark Ages, that starts with the standard weapon trigger and melee buttons, though now you can pre-select which of three different melee weapons will be activated by that single input. That shieldsaw in your left hand can do a lot with just a single button press. Credit: Bethesda Softworks That shieldsaw in your left hand can do a lot with just a single button press. Credit: Bethesda Softworks Then there's the shieldsaw, a round buckler with a revved-up chainsaw edge that's ever-present on your left forearm. The shieldsaw is controlled with a single context-sensitive button that changes functions depending on your specific situation. That means pressing the same button will block and parry melee attacks, deflect enemy projectiles (stunning them in the process), throw the saw for a ranged attack, activate a "shield bash" for a grappling-hook style lunge towards the thrown shield, and more.The idea, Martin said, is for the controls to feel intuitive enough that "when we pressure the player, they're not reaching for buttons they're not familiar with." But making the controls simpler doesn't make the game easier overall, he said. On the contrary, Martin argued that "when you streamline your control scheme, you can actually make things harder.""Some people said Doom Eternal was too hard," Martin continued. "I think it was too complex. The complexity of the control scheme led to unnecessary difficulties. You want to be fighting the demons, not the controls."The developers said they want The Dark Ages to recapture the feeling from the original Doom of being "an easy game to get into, harder to master... really accessible but very challenging." Narrowing the control options helps lead to a game that "feels more like classic Doom than any game we've made up to this point," Martin said. Demons come in many sizes. Credit: Bethesda Softworks Demons come in many sizes. Credit: Bethesda Softworks And when it comes to managing that difficulty, The Dark Ages also promises an array of sliders for more precise and flexible tuning of specific elements like enemy speed, weapon damage, and the timing window for parries. These can be adjusted down for players who are new to shooters or cranked way up for an experience that goes beyond the usual "Ultra Nightmare" ceiling.This kind of difficulty tuning was previously limited to arcane console commands, id Studio Director Marty Stratton told us, but is now being given to all players for the first time. "When you can dial up game speed and then dial up difficulty for the parry windows, change the damage done to you... you can create a very challenging experience," he said.Feet on the groundAnother big part of recapturing that OG Doom simplicity is returning to "a more grounded slayer" compared to the aerial focus of Eternal. "There weren't a lot of places to go after Eternal," Stratton said, referring to the high-flying gameplay focus in the last Doom game. "We couldn't go more vertical. [It was] about as intense as you could get... [and] we don't want to repeat ourselves."In place of Doom Eternal's "jump and shoot" gameplay loop, The Dark Ages focuses on more of a "stand and fight" mentality, the developers said. If Doom Eternal was like flying a fighter jet, then The Dark Ages is more like controlling a tank, they added by way of analogy. Less fighter jet, more tank Credit: Bethesda Softworks Less fighter jet, more tank Credit: Bethesda Softworks That means a "flatter" game space, where the old-fashioned "strafe-to-aim" strategies work more effectively than in recent Doom games, with less need to be constantly floating through the air. The developers say they're returning to the slower projectile speeds of the original Doom games, too, allowing players to more easily weave between them in a sort of first-person take on a shmup pattern. At the same time, your own projectile weapons tend toward the medium to short range, the developers said, encouraging you to take the fight close to the enemies.While staggering enemies to set up instant Glory Kills is still a core part of The Dark Ages, the developers said the system has been redesigned to avoid taking control away from the player for extended, repetitive canned animations. The new Glory Kill system allows for instant, physics-based attacks that can be activated from any angle without interrupting the gameplay flow.The more things changeThe Dark Ages developers also promised a more open design, where the usual more linear corridors are interspersed with larger playspaces that let you decide which direction to go and which objective to pursue in what order. And the standard shooting action will be broken up into specific sections where you control a 30-story mech or fly a powerful dragon. *Fleetwood Mac voice* You can go your own way... Credit: Bethesda Softworks *Fleetwood Mac voice* You can go your own way... Credit: Bethesda Softworks But the core game will still include the requisite raft of secret areas and hidden nooks to discover, the developers promised. This time around, though, those secrets are more directly tied to your power progression rather than just being collectible in-game trinkets, the developers said.It's all in service of pushing toward a game that feels "new but familiar," Martin said. The Dark Ages is still about the same sense of exploration and power that all good Doom games capture. But Martin said the development team is comfortable experimenting with what that specific sense of power is, "especially if the change you make brings it closer to classic Doom."But "I want to play a Doom game," he added. "We don't [want to] change so much that it's not a Doom game.Doom: The Dark Ages is scheduled to hit Windows, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on May 15.Kyle OrlandSenior Gaming EditorKyle OrlandSenior Gaming Editor Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, tech, and culture behind video games. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He once wrote a whole book about Minesweeper. 29 Comments