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Doom: The Dark Ages will focus on being grounded than acrobatics, similar to retro entries

Microsoft showed off quite a bit of Doom: The Dark Ages at its Xbox Developer_Direct showcase today, putting the medieval Doom Slayer front and center as he rips through hordes of demons. Check out a sizzle real of the gameplay above.

The studio described this version of the Doom Slayer as a tank, while saying it dropped the fast-paced "fighter jet" that was the Doom Eternal's Slayer behind. A more grounded experience is awaiting players in this prequel experience, which will lead the story upto the Doom reboot that began in 2016.

Combat will focus on three things: the guns, the shield, and the melee weapons. The studio is touting the most powerful weapons ever in this entry, letting players parry, block, crush, blow up, slice up incoming demon hordes, among so many other options. However, the pace will be much slower, with players even being able to sidestep projectiles much like in the classic entries.

Doom The Dark Ages

The gameplay will be taking place in massive battlefields where the player can decide what challenges to face and what underground dungeons to crawl through. This is a major departure from the series' usual linear campaigns.

"It’s all about engagement; creating a loop or “dance” that’s intuitive, innovative and loaded with depth – fun on the outside smart on the inside,” says game director Hugo Martin. “An appealing power fantasy that’s new but familiar – who hasn’t wanted to feel like an iron tank in the middle of a medieval war against hell?”

The mech and the cybernetic dragon flying scenes that id Software teased last year were mentioned again too. Instead of being one-and-done options, these were said to be fully fleshed out gameplay mechanics, letting players experience being a giant mech fighting giant demons and fly around on top of a dragon, taking out enemy emplacements for "fantasy-style airborne combat" across multiple areas of the map.

The classic Doom Slayer, the Atlas mech, and the Cybernetic Dragon all come with upgrade trees to build a fully customizable experience.

doom the dark ages

Doom: The Dark Ages has now been confirmed to launch on May 15, 2025. It is coming to PC, Xbox series X|S, and PlayStation 5, while also being a day-one Xbox Game Pass drop. Both standard and collector's edition versions are incoming as well.

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