DOOM: The Dark Ages | Official Trailer 1 (4K)

Meh. I was really hoping they'd go back to the sci-fi aesthetic of 2016 but instead they've doubled down on the weird high fantasy with guns thing.

It's like they actually wanted to reboot Heretic/Hexen but they couldn't get the license for it so they've just shoehorned it into Doom instead.

Sorry it's not going in the direction you hoped. I'm personally super into this vibe. Feels bizarre and different. Hopefully they capitalize on the theme and do something cool with it. If the "dragon" flight part is as tight and fun as recent Doom mechanics, it could be really fun.
- Agreed. I am not a fantasy fan for games really at all (with very few exceptions) but this looks so rad. The combination of tech and fantasy looks like a wild ride.
To me it feels like they're leaning into more of a Quake 1 aesthetic, which I really like.

Funnily enough I never really liked that the quake sequels doubled down on the sci-fi so hard.
- Yeah honestly Eternal should've been a Quake reboot using the new engine rather than a Doom sequel. Everything about it felt like Quake.
- Yeah i really prefer the lovecraft aesthetic of Quake 1 over the tech, body horror of the sequels. Science coming into contact with something that defies science and reason is one of my favorite genres of fiction. The Myst, Event Horizon, Doom (especially Doom 3,) and the newest Rimworld dlc all really scratch that itch of coming into contact with something outside of reality, outside of reason and understanding. Really wish for more of that.
Yeah, I kind of agree. I wish they'd make a new Quake or something, Doom is cool and all but this barely resembles it. Eternal was fun, but too goofy and campy, Doom 2016 did it perfectly.
sure, go ahead and remake hexen but pretend its doom to appease the copyright overlords
Damn, rebooted Heretic or Hexen would be cool as hell.
- Isn't that basically Dusk?
  
  https://store.steampowered.com/app/519860/DUSK/
- Amid Evil totally scratched that itch, plus it's a huge game so there's hours of quality content too.

Anyone remember when Doomguy was a Space Marine?

Yeah, the gameplay looks awesome. But the story seems dumb. But then again Doom did come from a dungeons and dragons campaign.

In the end the gameplay has always been the more important part of the Doom games.
- Yes but also: this looks cool as hell
Reboot Doomguy hasn't been a space marine for almost a decade now. He's always been a Titan sent by gods.
- There’s at least one audiolog in Eternal that suggests he is, against all odds, mostly human. I don’t know if they might be retconning that.
- That explains it. I grew up with the old stuff where he was just angry
Well, I mean he still resembles some Space Marines I know of.
He still is, but as he's become a kind of mythical figure in gaming history he has also become so in universe.

That skull crushing weapon is so satisfying to watch.

Judging from the trailer it looks like we will see more open arenas. Good to see they won’t try to make a repeat of Eternal and instead try new ideas. Looking forward to see how it plays out.

Speaking of not repeating Eternal, I didn't see the chainsaw or any colorful pickups dropping from enemies, which is nice.
- Technically the shield is a chainsaw

Once it started showing off the shield, it stopped looking like Doom and started looking like a first-person Rygar game.

I liked the gun that crushes up and shoots skulls tho. That's metal as fuck. But God damn do I wish they would truly go back to the roots of Doom with the labrynthine map design instead of the linear arenas.

And no monster piñatas. And no trap rooms. And no pointless upgrades. And no nausea-inducing jumping puzzles.

Classic doom, pretty graphics, crazy weapons, new monsters, and steal music from 90s hard rock and heavy metal again.
- You’d probably like Prodeus, it’s certainly scratched that itch for me.
- And no nausea-inducing jumping puzzles
  
  I take it you're not a Rise of the Triad fan. 😆
Something that I think doom 2016 and doom eternal failed spectacularly in for me is enemy counts. I wanna open a closet and be greeted by 40 revenants, 30 Chaingunners and 30 Barons. Gimme that Plutonia experience.
- Have you tried nuts.wad?

For sure Mick Gordon esque music but definitely not him, it's missing his specific touch

The difference in music between Eternal and Ancient Gods was too big for me. I didn't feel compelled to play the Ancient Gods at all, instead just replayed Eternal.
- Tag1 was really good and is worth a shot if you want some really difficult doom. Tag2 suffered hugely from being developed during the pandemic.
Definitely will wait for the full soundtrack to release before checking out the game. That trailer music sounded pretty weak.

I'm going to upset someone and I apologize. This game feels cheap to me. Like someone took too many liberties with the game style. I like the doom games so I hope this doesn't fall on its face.

You sound like me talking about Eternal, just wasn't the Doom for me.

I'm hoping they move away from requiring specific weapons or mods to counter specific enemies. Stoked to learn more about Sentinel Prime.

This wasn't a requirement in eternal. Using the correct damage type (not specifically one weapon) would make certain weak points break faster but if you wanted you could use anything it would just take longer. It made you think and change while playing
- It was huge in the Ancient Gods 1 and 2. That one ghost enemy that would possess and power up others you had to hit with the microwave beam for example.
- There’s the stone imps who can only be damaged with the full auto mod (or super weapons).

Aside from the gameplay of the recent Doom games being top tier I really enjoyed how they tied the original story into things. Was really cool to come to learn the tie in as I progressed through the game. This looks great I’m ready to rip and tear

Goddamnit I'm loving this third era of DOOM.

I have only played the 2016 game, would you say previous titles have aged well?
- Play the OG games if you want. There are a lot of mods that make it more tolerable by modern standards. If you haven't played Eternal yet, though, you definitely should if you enjoyed 2016.
- Definitely not Doom 3, lol.

I really liked the first reboot, but felt Eternal overcomplicated it and made it like a memory game of working out which gun was best for each enemy, which isn't really what I wanted from it. Too much finicky precision (like shooting the goddamn turrets off things), and not enough wanton carnage.

It took the story way too seriously as well, and the most enjoyable thing from the first game's story was somebody starting some exposition, followed by Doomguy smashing the radio.

Just wasn't feeling it as much as I was with the first. It was only the soundtrack that got me through it tbh, and with Mick Gordon very much not on speaking terms with id Software, I'll keep my expectations lowered for this.

I trust ID to make a fun game, I do not trust Microsoft however so we'll see how hands off they've been. Hopefully it was too far along for Microsoft to meddle with anything.

Probably gonna have a season pass and battle royale mode
- Doom 2016 and Eternal had multiplayer season stuff, but it could easily be ignored.

While I don't really like to play newer Doom games (still would rather play original Doom or Doom 2), they really look great and metal as fuck.

I'll just keep my excitement at bay until Micrisoft proves they didn't fuck it up by something like requiring a constant online connection for the single player campaign like Black Ops 6.

Coming to Nintendo Switch - 2028

Looks like more doom which is all right in my book. Now If they can keep out the always online and live service bullshit out of this one and focus on single player it might turn out to be yet another good doom game. Not sure about the dragon and mecha though, I would rather not have any vehicles, mounts and anything like that in Doom games.

Fuck yeah. Absolutely loved the first 2, absolutely gonna love this. Time for another Eternal playthrough

The first 2? You don't mean Doom and Doom 2, do you? Fuck, I'm old.
- I actually meant Doom: The Board Game and the Doom movie starring Dwayne Johnson

I’d venture to say that ID has not yet released a bad DOOM game, however they did almost make Call of DOOM. Under Microsoft’s leadership I’d say they’re at risk of making the worst DOOM game ever, but we’ll have to wait and see

Looks like we're finally able to use the mech!

Awesome!

Was expecting this to be Xbox/PC exclusive but looks like it’s getting a PS5 release too.

wasn't being crossplatform one of the things Microsoft promised during all its buying up of the games industry?
- It thought those pledges were just for Activison / blizzard stuff. The Bethesda purchase was before regulators started taking an interest. The new Indiana Jones is an Xbox exclusive Bethesda game for example.

Any chance for Heretic/Hexen easter eggs?

Looks fucking sick

Edit: sick as in awesome

🤘

Poor Bob. That looked like it hurt.

He obviously got over it though.

Looks like we need him again.

Ooooof I'm fuckin in.

Aww fuckyeah!

I don't think we need transformers and flying in doom tbh, but it looks like we'll have to deal with it now.

Otherwise this joke on a hexen reboot is the ultimate meme of the reboot. And is much more intriguing than doing "doom eternal plutonia experiment".

The ancient holy wars part of the lore that you read in sentinel prime is the most intriguing part of the doom guy's story. Links back to seraphim too. Walking through sentinel prime and reading all those things I really felt like I'd like to have seen those days. Oh boy, here we come!

DOOM: The Dark Ages | Official Trailer 1 (4K) | Coming 2025