Rip and Tyr as Doom: The Dark Ages Brings Heavy Metal to Medieval Times

The DOOM reboot went a little too over the top with the latest entry, DOOM Eternal, and it might be hard to see where the franchise will go next. After all, you’ve already laid waste to a corrupted heaven. Where to next? Well, DOOM still has plenty of ideas in mind. Thanks to the Xbox showcase for Summer Game Fest, we finally have a glimpse of DOOM: The Dark Ages.

As expected, it’s a trip to the past and will offer an insight into the DOOM Slayer before he got tangled up in Heaven and Hell’s politics. It’s thus, an origin story long before the DOOm Slayer became an angry planet-wrecking grump.

However, that doesn’t mean the action will be toned down a bit. Because based on the trailer, it’s about as frantic and as gory as the previous DOOM game, if not more so.

A First in the Franchise

Even the developers are proudly touting this one as ‘nothing like id Software has ever made before.’ That sounds about right as most of the other DOOM titles– even the oldest ones from the 1990s didn’t rewind this far back into their own lore.

There were medieval modifications and spinoffs for some of the DOOM games, such as Heretic or Hexen, but they weren’t as integrated into the lore as DOOM: The Dark Ages. This is sort of a new territory for DOOM.

Previously, we only got a small taste of what took place during the “medieval era” in the DOOM timeline. DOOM 2016 notably delved into the DOOM Slayer and the Sentinels’ past.

As I mentioned earlier, DOOM: The Dark Ages will explore the origins of the DOOM Slayer while he was still a champion of the gods and kings. You’ll be trading chainsaws for shield-saws and spiked flails (how cool is that?). Some of the guns were also replaced with medieval contraptions that function similarly.

Likewise, the highly popular DOOM bestiary and roster of demons are also given the old-school treatment. Some of them now look even more menacing than ever.

Sadly, you will need to wait a bit longer. DOOM: The Dark Ages won’t be out until 2025 unlike some of the other games revealed in Summer Fest. Until then, I suggest we all chain ourselves to our stone prisons to marinate in our rage until 2025.

DOOM: The Dark Ages will be available on PC and Xbox Series X|S in 2025. It will also be available on Game Pass.