DOOM: The Dark Ages Premium Upgrade (DLC)

I want to be clear upfront: this is not the game. It's the upgrade layer sitting on top of one of 2025's most debated shooters, and whether it's worth grabbing depends almost entirely on how deep you plan to go with DOOM: The Dark Ages itself. So what's underneath this upgrade? A heavy, ground-focused action FPS that deliberately walks back DOOM Eternal's airborne acrobatics in favor of something closer to a siege engine fantasy. The Slayer no longer dashes and double-jumps through arenas. Instead, the combat loop leans hard on the Shield Saw, a trio of melee weapons including the Power Gauntlet, Flail, and Dreadmace, plus a parry system that rewards patience over perpetual motion. Reviewers landed in two clear camps: those who found the slower, weightier combat a satisfying shift, and those who came looking for Eternal's constant-movement frenzy and left disappointed. Both responses make sense. The game's own director described the design intent as going from fighter jet to iron tank, and it commits to that fully. What the base game does exceptionally well is spectacle and variety. Levels are genuinely large by series standards, mixing linear corridors with open-field combat that can run 30 to 60 minutes per chapter. The mech segments drop you into Pacific Rim-scale titan brawls, and the rideable cyber dragon adds aerial sections with a lock-on dogfight system. Neither is as deep as the ground combat, and the dragon handling in particular feels more like a controlled tourist moment than a full piloting system, but both break up the pacing in ways that stop the campaign from feeling repetitive. The arsenal, meanwhile, is a highlight: skull-launching weapons, stake cannons, and the chainsaw shield give the medieval-sci-fi setting real mechanical teeth. One consistent criticism across reviews is the soundtrack. Finishing Move did competent work, but without Mick Gordon's signature sound, the music fits without ever hitting the series' historic highs. Now, the upgrade itself. If you're on Game Pass, this is the obvious path to the campaign DLC (timing TBD per Bethesda), two days of early access that are now baked history, the digital artbook with concept art and soundtrack access, and the Divinity Skin Pack, which covers the Slayer, the Atlan mech, and the dragon in a matched cosmetic set. The early access window has already passed, so you're really paying for the DLC pass, the cosmetics, and the artbook app. If you're the type who reads game art books and likes cohesive cosmetic loadouts across every vehicle and character you control, that's a clean bundle. If you're purely gameplay-focused and the DLC content hasn't been detailed yet in a way that excites you, the upgrade is harder to justify cold. One flag worth noting: the PC launch had a rough first few days with crashes and performance issues for some users. Patches appear to have stabilized things, but if you're performance-sensitive, check current patch notes before committing.

Alex · Scout Team

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