Doom: The Dark Ages changes the formula in three major ways – and the series will be better for it

A couple of weeks ago, we were invited to Germany for a hands-on preview of next month's Doom: The Dark Ages, and if you're a Doom fan, there are plenty of reasons to be excited.

We can think of three major things that have changed — combat, upgrades, and level design — and they've all changed for the better.

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Let's not beat around the bush and just get straight to the combat – you're here for Doom, after all.

Since the first glimpses of gameplay, there has been plenty of speculation that the Doom Slayer's new shield indicated a slower, tankier playstyle.

And while you're certainly tankier than you were in Doom 2016 or Doom Eternal, one thing you certainly are not is slow.

Combat in the previous two entries placed a heavy emphasis on movement – blitzing around a room, avoiding enemy attacks, and swapping between weapons to kill certain enemies.

And while movement is still key in The Dark Ages, the game places much more emphasis on the mechanics you use and the way you use them – and the key to all of this is your shield.

The shield initially seems like just another new weapon, but it actually makes more sense to think of it as a set of abilities to use in tandem with your weapons.

You can block, parry, shield charge and shield throw, all of which have their pros and cons, working better against certain enemies, and also comboing better with certain weapons.

Perhaps more important than the shield's offensive capabilities is its parry. Glory kills are much less prevalent in The Dark Ages, and instead, you're encouraged to make use of parries and melee attacks to heal.

Against certain enemies, parrying also deals heavy damage and stagger. Early on, you can get away with not using this, but against stronger enemies it's effectively a must – especially on higher difficulties.

Lastly, there's also a new melee attack that deals massive damage. It has limited uses but can be recharged with a successful parry, encouraging you to stay up close and personal.

Doom: The Dark Ages also greatly expands upon the upgrade system of the previous two entries, to the point where you can now effectively make specific builds tailored to how you want to play.

One of the guns you receive early on fires stakes that embed themselves in the enemies you hit.

In tandem with this, one shield upgrade causes your shield throw to detonate the stakes, dealing huge damage, while another upgrade causes your shield to bounce off the staked enemy, pinballing around for more crowd control.

In 2016 and Eternal, the upgrades you chose gave your weapons a big boost, but rarely had much impact on the way you actually approached combat.

The upgrade system in The Dark Ages, on the other hand, encourages you to choose your upgrades wisely and develop entirely new playstyles depending on what you go for.

Rather than just changing weapons to counter certain enemy types, you're now changing weapons to deal with entire scenarios.

This approach to progression makes the combat in The Dark Ages feel significantly more strategic and purposeful, and even in our brief time with the game, it was obvious how much it does to keep things fresh across an entire playthrough.

Level design is another area that has seen some improvements over Doom 2016 and Eternal, and while they aren’t quite as drastic as the changes to combat and upgrades, they certainly make a difference.

The game is still split into distinct levels like before – Doom isn't going all open world on us yet.

The levels in Doom 2016 and Eternal were all pretty linear – make your way from A to B and pick up a couple of secrets in a hidden room or two along the way.

That's still true, but there's a lot more scope for exploration in The Dark Ages. Many rooms now give way to multiple paths that wind around the map, sometimes looping back on themselves once you've explored enough of the area.

This is turned up to 11 with Siege.

Rather than your standard linear level, here you're dropped into an honest to goodness battlefield. A few objective markers are thrown up on your screen and from there you're left to your own devices, free to wheel around the map completing them in whatever order you see fit.

Beyond the combat, the level is brimming with secrets, gold and upgrades, so you're really encouraged to search every nook and cranny while you're busy demolishing demons.

The only aspects of the game I wasn’t entirely sold on were the titan and dragon sections.

These were gimmicky portions of the game where you control a giant mech and ride a dragon, reminiscent of the drone sections from Doom Eternal.

But it wasn't so much that these sections were bad, but more that I was enjoying the actual combat so much that I found it frustrating to be dragged away from it, albeit briefly.

id Software has already proven that it knows exactly how to craft a modern Doom title, so my hopes for the next instalment were sky high going into this event.

Flying home the next day, it was safe to say Doom: The Dark Ages had exceeded my expectations, and my only tangible complaint was that I would have to wait another month and a half before I could play it again.

Doom: The Dark Ages launches 13th May for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. You can order your copy now.

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