DOOM: The Dark Ages Review

id Software's 2025 prequel deliberately slows the trilogy down. Where Eternal was about aerial mobility and constant target-switching, this is a ground game: the Shield Saw is the central tool, used to block, to parry projectiles colour-coded green, to throw as a returning blade and to dash across arenas. The design brief was standing and fighting rather than jumping and dodging, and the arenas are much larger and flatter to suit it. Melee is a genuine weapon set for the first time - a flail, a gauntlet and a mace with distinct timing - and the shooting leans on a shredder and a skull-fed cannon. Between levels are two set pieces that are essentially different games: piloting an Atlan mech against building-sized demons, and riding a cybernetic dragon. It is more linear than either predecessor with hub-style levels holding optional content, and it launched on Game Pass day one. The Revelations expansion followed in 2026.