The DOOM franchise has been around since the early 90’s. Considered one of the pioneering first person shooters, along with Quake, Unreal and a few others, the DOOM franchise holds a special spot in a gamer’s heart. Known for bleeding edge technology and fast, visceral game play, DOOM is a legacy franchise. The newest game in the series, DOOM: The Dark Ages, offers players a different side of DOOM. A side that is welcome and left me wanting for more.

DOOM: The Dark Ages is a prequel to the DOOM reboot from 2016. Normally you would play as the DOOM marine, but in this dark medieval world, you are the DOOM slayer. A powerful war machine, you have been dispatched to deal with the onslaught of demons spawning from Hell. Your human allies are afraid of you. Speaking in whispered tones, they are in awe of you. The demons fear you. Everyone knows your power. Get ready for a rip-roaring time!

One of the most important aspects of the game Is the weapons. DOOM has always been about weapons, and this one doesn’t disappoint. Some of the weapons like the shotgun and super shotgun, are familiar. Then you have new weapons like the ravager, a gun that uses human skulls as ammunition. There are 12 guns to unlock, and you also have a shield that can be hurled at your enemies. Some attacks, marked by a green color, can be parried back at your foe, dealing massive damage. They are all fun to use and you’ll have a hard time picking your favorite. When you’ve weakened your opponent to a certain point, they turn purple. That’s when you perform and glory kill that destroys the target a give you valuable health and ammunition. You’ll have to play around with them to see what works best for the situation you are facing. For example, enemies with glowing shields are vulnerable to your shield toss. There are a lot of different enemy types as well. Everything from imps to Agaddon hunters, they vary in size, shape and damage that they can do. Don’t let them gang up on you. You’ll have to make sure that your aim is true and that you have enough ammo. There are also a few collectables as well. You can find codex’s and little toy demons as well as gold bars to help you level up.

Visually speaking, DOOM looks fantastic. I’m playing on the Xbox series X and it looks beautiful. Although it’s a dark, medieval aesthetic, the game world is colorful, but not overly saturated as to distract from the game's darker tone. Particle effects look very good, and the weapon animations are good too. I haven’t encountered any bugs/glitches, and the frame rate stays steady at 60fps. The enemy designs are well done too. Some of them are truly frightening to behold. I recall the first time I ran into a Vagary: nightmare inducing.

The weakest part about this game must be the music. Mick Gordon has been swapped for Finishing Move, a music production team who have worked on Halo Wars 2 and Borderlands 3. It’s not that it’s bad, it just doesn’t rock as hard as the previous game. I still like it though.

As good as this game is, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the subject matter of the game. You are fighting demons from hell, in hell. There are loads of satanic symbols throughout the game. I see it as killing demons making you the good guy in the situation. It’s better than massacring people. Going after monsters and demons is a welcome change of pace. I do realize that this game isn’t going to be for everyone. Some are going to bypass this game because of the satanic imagery, and I totally get that point of view. Scripture says that we are to guard ourselves against evil influences. As much as I enjoyed this game, I must admit that many will be turned off.

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” You must be careful about what you indulge in. I’m not saying that playing games like DOOM is bad, but you must be careful. You must be aware of what could happen. The subject of hell is no laughing matter. It’s not to be trifled with. DOOM is a good video game but has its issues as far as that’s concerned.

One cool thing the game does to break up the action is having dragon riding levels and a giant, demon slaying mech. Yes, a mech in DOOM. It’s very well implemented and doesn’t at all seem tacked on. Same goes for the dragon riding levels, they are well done. Out of all the DOOM games, I must say that this is my favorite one. Not disparaging previous versions at all. I just really enjoyed this one. Many would say that DOOM: Eternal is the best one but to me, it’s not even close. DOOM: The Dark Ages is a love letter to old-school DOOM fans. It adds something new while maintaining what makes the series so special in the heart of gamers.

There is plenty of replay value as well. You can adjust your difficulty levels, and you can go back to previous levels to find all the goodies. There is also a new game plus option for you to keep playing. The best part is that if you have game pass, this game is available for free!

DOOM: The Dark Ages is a fantastic first-person shooter. Everything works, the visuals, the game play, the level design, the character design and the gameplay loop it creates is nothing short of fantastic. The only negative (if you consider it one) is that satanic imagery. Once again, you are fighting demons from hell, in hell. If you can get over that, a great game is waiting to be played.