DOOM: The Dark Ages

My honest reaction the first time I booted DOOM 2016 was mild disbelief that id Software actually pulled it off. After Doom 3 went slow-burn horror and years of development chaos on what eventually became this reboot, the finished product is a relentless, unapologetic action shooter that treats aggression as the only viable survival strategy. You are the Doom Slayer, you are on Mars, Hell has broken out, and your job is to close the portal. The story exists purely to get you into the next arena and it knows it, which makes it weirdly charming. The combat loop is what everyone keeps coming back to talk about, and for good reason. The game forces constant forward movement because standing still behind cover is a death sentence. Glory Kills, the brutal melee finishers you trigger on staggered enemies, drop health pickups on demand, chainsaw kills refill ammo, and the BFG clears rooms when everything goes sideways. Stringing these tools together under pressure is the game at its best. The weapon roster runs from a combat shotgun and heavy assault rifle through to a plasma rifle, rocket launcher, and the Gauss Cannon, each with a secondary fire mod you unlock and upgrade through use. The Praetor Suit system and rune portals layer on top, offering passive upgrades that genuinely change how aggressively you can play. A first run on the default Hurt Me Plenty difficulty takes around 12 hours; bump it to Ultra Violence and those same arenas become a completely different conversation. Arcade Mode, added post-launch, is a fantastic bonus for score-chasers. It strips away progression and drops you into individual levels with a fixed loadout, ranking you on a leaderboard. For anyone who wants to run a single level in 20 minutes and feel smug about their score, it works brilliantly. SnapMap, the built-in level editor, lets you snap prefabricated rooms together and share custom maps including co-op missions, though community activity around it has naturally wound down over the years. The three DLC packs (Unto the Evil, Hell Followed, and Bloodfall) all added multiplayer maps, modes, and weapons, and are bundled in at no extra cost here. Here is the honest part: multiplayer is the weakest pillar. It was developed by a separate studio, feels tonally disconnected from the campaign, and the player base in 2025 is thin to nonexistent depending on your region and server settings. Hackers occasionally surface in lobbies and the matchmaking structure, built around short random sessions rather than a server browser, never clicked with the old-school arena crowd it was trying to court. If you are buying DOOM 2016 for competitive online play, recalibrate. If you are buying it for the campaign, Arcade Mode, and the occasional SnapMap co-op session, you are in excellent shape. The game fully supports a controller, plays well on partial controller setups, and holds up cleanly on modern hardware.

Alex · Scout Team

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