With Doom: The Dark Ages release approaching, Digital Foundry recently spent several hours with the game on a high-performance PC. Despite content demonstration restrictions, the new installment in the cult shooter series and its technological foundation idTech 8 already look stunning, offering an impressive array of technical innovations and significant gameplay changes.

Unlike Doom Eternal, The Dark Ages substantially alters the combat system approach. Battles have become more dynamic and fluid — minor enemies die faster, sometimes from just one or two shots, while the glory kills system has been almost completely redesigned and doesn't take control away from the player. The chainsaw mechanics have also changed — there's no longer a need to slice through enemies to replenish ammunition.

The developers paid special attention to physics and environmental destructibility. Wooden structures can be shot until they collapse under their own weight, and the debris can be further shattered into smaller pieces. This makes arenas more dynamic — the environment changes in real-time during combat. In later levels featuring a giant mech, this feature becomes even more prominent, allowing players to demolish entire city blocks.

Technically, the game demonstrates a huge leap forward compared to previous entries. The number of enemies simultaneously present on screen has increased to unprecedented levels—more than 30 opponents at once at the beginning of a mission.

Visually, The Dark Ages impresses with its detail, use of ray tracing for reflections and global illumination, and realistic animation of numerous environmental elements — from fluttering flags to raging storms and pouring rain.

Key technical and gameplay features:

Technology and visual effects

• idTech 8 engine offers realistic graphics, similar to Indiana Jones from Machine Games

• Ray tracing includes RT reflections and global illumination (RTGI)

• Virtualized geometry — analogous to Unreal Engine Nanite technology, minimizing pop-in effects

• Destructible environment with advanced Crysis-style physics, absent in previous installments

• Improved water effects with geometric ripples and atmospheric underwater mode

• Living environment with numerous secondary animations — swaying trees, flags, rain, storm clouds

Combat system and gameplay

• Faster battles — minor enemies die quicker but remain dangerous

• Minimized glory kills — finishing moves almost completely removed for ordinary opponents

• No mandatory chainsaw use for ammunition replenishment

• Shield as the main innovation — can attack, throw, block and parry attacks

• Parrying system resembling Returnal, but without scripted animations

• Flexible difficulty settings — can adjust game speed, enemy aggressiveness, damage and projectile speed

Gameplay variety

• Classic levels with key-card searches like in the original Doom

• Mech missions, where players can destroy entire city buildings and fight gigantic demons

• Dragon flights with free 3D movement, reminiscent of transport missions from Halo or Titanfall 2

• Semi-open map with additional tasks, collectibles and new weapons

• Greater focus on story with cutscenes at the beginning and end of missions

Drawbacks and controversial elements

• No option to center weapons in classic Doom style

• No dot crosshair, which some players prefer

• Soundtrack doesn't reach the heights of Doom and Doom Eternal, though individual tracks are good

• Overly bright colors for power-ups and effects, not always fitting the environment

• Annoying red filter on the entire screen at low health

• Ultra-fast loading on PC makes loading screens almost meaningless

Despite some controversial elements, Doom: The Dark Ages has every chance to become the best of the three modern games in the series. The combination of cutting-edge technology with 60 FPS performance and an updated approach to the combat system creates an impressive experience that more closely resembles a hybrid of classic and modern Doom.

DOOM: The Dark Ages releases May 15, 2025 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series.