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Doom: The Dark Ages is a flop

I still think the game isn't horrible by any means, but it's easily my least favorite of the new DOOM games.

I really think they should've revisited something between the sequels. I'd prefer Quake over anything else, but it would've been cool to see a new Heretic or something.

But after Dark Ages (and its DLC) they need to give DOOM a break.
 
TDA's problem for me is that its the least replayable one. All chapters are laid out the same, with all secrets being readily visible on the map. The encounters are all the same too, with a lower skill ceiling than Eternal and even 2016. Its cool that ammo isn't being cockblocked, and every weapon is viable, but in the end I ended up abusing the chainshot for armor, rockets with splash heal or just the plasma red autofire while whoring armor with shotgun fire blasts. And its a parry fest on top. You're fishing for attacks or green orbs.

Every chapter had a cutscene I didn't really follow.

Still a really fun game, solid perf, IQ.. a godsend between UE slop. And tons of customization not locking you into a certain difficulty, gamespeed etc. But I'm happy i didn't bought it day one.
 
Pretty disappointed with the games performance on PC but from the intro level I did play before refunded it, it seemed like a fun game.

Can't judge it to the others based solely on an intro however
 
I was going to buy it back in the day, but since they did the equivalent of the Switch 2 Keycards on Playstation, then it can rot in hell... The same goes for Star Wars Outlaws.
 
StueyDuck said:
Pretty disappointed with the games performance on PC but from the intro level I did play before refunded it, it seemed like a fun game.

Can't judge it to the others based solely on an intro however
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It was just worse than the previous two dooms in my opinion. Added story I couldnt give a shit about and changed the core gameplay for the worse. I admit it needed changing after eternal though. So respect they tried something.
 
I was bored after only the 3rd level but i forced myself to finished it , one the worst skill tree I've seen in a video game , weapons are generic and very similar
 
I didn't hate it, but I did hate paying full price for what we actually got.

It's nowhere near as good as Eternal or 2016.
Then again 2016 is about as close to perfect as you can get, so it was a near impossible task to start with.

Dark Ages is entirely forgettable. I have no desire to go back to it.
 
I really disliked it, felt more like an puzzle/hack & slash gameplay wise than a shooter, should have kept theses mechanic for bosses, this should have been a similar game to Painkiller (OG) but they messed up.
 
They needed to cut out like 1/3rd of the levels and polished the rest more.

Big levels that were a slog to get around that had the same dumb repetitive obejectives and puzzles.
Gimmick levels with bad gameplay.
Story was trash and the music was mid.

Worst doom/10
 
I hate it and haven't even played it lol. Game looks too slow for DOOM and the color-coding makes it look like Simon Says.

Big step down from Eternal imo.
 
El Hee-Ho said:
I hate it and haven't even played it lol. Game looks too slow for DOOM and the color-coding makes it look like Simon Says.

Big step down from Eternal imo.
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That's a big thing they could have made better. The color coding giant arcadey icons. These were needed in Eternal because it was so fast paced. The subset of gamers who've traded their blood for high fructose cholesterol could not keep up with the speed in Eternal because of brain atrophy, so a loud movement to make Dark Ages slower & simpler was born. id gave them what they wanted, but in doing so they didn't bother to change the arcadey icons Eternal needed for legibility. Getting rid of these loud colors could have done wonders for Dark Ages overall mood and aesthetic. But again, this game just doesn't show any signs of developer passion like Eternal and 2016 did. This was just a project completed for a paycheck.

I do still prefer Dark Ages to Doom 3. Maybe that's my gaming hot take. Doom 3 sucked then and sucks now. Very few redeemable qualities. The weapon feel just removes any potential enjoyment. id did not get nearly enough flack for that release. In some ways, it started the slop movement.
 
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simpatico said:
That's a big thing they could have made better. The color coding giant arcadey icons. These were needed in Eternal because it was so fast paced. The subset of gamers who've traded their blood for high fructose cholesterol could not keep up with the speed in Eternal because of brain atrophy, so a loud movement to make Dark Ages slower simpler was born. id gave them what they wanted, but in doing so they didn't bother to change the arcadey icons Eternal needed for legibility. Getting rid of these loud colors could have done wonders for Dark Ages overall mood and aesthetic. But again, this game just doesn't show any signs of developer passion like Eternal and 2016 did.
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My hype went from 100 to 0 when they dropped the trailer with actual gameplay in it. I agree, it completely destroys the mood.

simpatico said:
This was just a project completed for a paycheck.
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Honestly I want to give id the benefit of the doubt and my headcanon is that this was going to be a cool new Quake game but MS forced making it DOOM and making it easier than Eternal so it had more market appeal. If that's true, big mistake, they should have stayed true to their niche.

simpatico said:
I do still prefer Dark Ages to Doom 3. Maybe that's my gaming hot take. Doom 3 sucked then and sucks now. Very few redeemable qualities. The weapon feel just removes any potential enjoyment. id did not get nearly enough flack for that release. In some ways, it started the slop movement.
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DOOM 3 isn't really a DOOM game imo. Once you understand that you'll see it as a horror shooter that's not all that bad. Still my least-favorite DOOM game, Dark Ages not taken into account ofc.
 
El Hee-Ho said:
DOOM 3 isn't really a DOOM game imo. Once you understand that you'll see it as a horror shooter that's not all that bad. Still my least-favorite DOOM game, Dark Ages not taken into account ofc.
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Even through an AA SciFi FPS lens, I can find better games to spend my time with. I love the terminals and resolution of the text on the screens. That was a big "next gen" moment for me the first time I played it, but the combat is among the worst in any modern FPS. None of the weapons feel powerful in any sense. Pea shooters, the lot of them. I've got a tradition of forgetting this knowledge, installing Doom 3 and finding some basic QOL mods, only to get 2-3 hours in and find myself without the will to carry on. Funny note, I actually installed Doom 3, Doom 3 BFG Edition and Doom 3 Phobos over the weekend! Going to test my theory once again it seems. Maybe our exchange here will talk me out of it, and I can use my 3 hours of spare time on better games.
 
I really enjoyed the game. I played it on Gamepass but I will double dip on steam with a good sale. I loved the perry mechanic. It was so nice to pick a couple of my favorites weapons, like in 2016 and enjoy playing the game. Eternal I used weapons mods and ammo mods. I hated playing that game without mods. I game to enjoy myself.
 
Heimdall_Xtreme said:
I was going to buy it back in the day, but since they did the equivalent of the Switch 2 Keycards on Playstation, then it can rot in hell... The same goes for Star Wars Outlaws.
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Thats just American publishers in a nutshell. I am still hoping for Hoggwarts Legacy PS6 release that plays without a day one patch. Rockstar is the only major American publisher that releases physical releases where you can play the single player without day one patch. There is some sort of quality control in Sony to only print physical copy once the game is in a playable state without day one patch. Bethesda used to be good, but after they got bought look at Indiana Jones. The one good thing about Bethesda is that they are still allowed to release all their games on GOG. I consider GOG purchase to be ownership of game like physical copies. Indiana Jones is on GOG and Doom:The Dark Ages will probably also release on GOG.
 
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Dark Ages was fun. I like that each of the three modern Dooms was significantly different from each other. It means that the sequels didn't make the previous ones redundant and never will (unless a future Doom changes that).

If you want a straightforward run-and-gun power fantasy: Doom 2016
If you want a kinetic action-shooter-puzzle game with a high skill ceiling: Doom Eternal
If you want a slower-paced wide-linear shooter with a melee/parry focus: Doom: Dark Ages

I have a hard time saying which is my favorite since they're each unique.
 
2nd best game in the new trilogy, although the bar was set pretty low after the extremely mid Eternal. The original Doom 2016 is by far the best game. Kept it simple like the OG games and it is so much better for it. TDA is good but drags on far too long, and really wasn't all that exciting or fun to play as it went on.
 
Got this as a birthday present, played the first chapter and I gotta admit its pretty cool, but Im treating it more like a Serious Sam / Quake mix than Doom
 
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