Microsoft and Bethesda have confirmed a May 15th release date for the highly anticipated “Doom: The Dark Ages” with the cross-platform title coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox on that date.
The news came as part of a Developer Direct video showcasing the game that serves as a prequel, taking players to locations from The Doomslayer’s past and ‘worlds beyond’. This allows for a medieval-style setting complete with a “fire-breathing, gattling-gun-toting cybernetic dragon”.
The title will NOT have a multiplayer component. Instead, it will be an entirely single-player release with a greater focus on the story, which ID Software claims will be the studio’s “best yet.” They also dubt it a “new story and the perfect entry point for new players” with events leading directly into the 2016 reboot.
Difficulty options will be much more adjustable, and combat will be made more approachable via a series of modifier sliders adjusting things like damage, enemy projectile speed, enemy aggression, parry window length, enemy dazed length, and resource values, along with one controlling the overall game speed.
Speaking with VGC, another big change is the overall approach of the game which is more a m. Director Hugo Martin explains:
“In Doom, it was run and gun. In Doom Eternal, it was jump and shoot. In Doom: The Dark Ages, it’s stand and fight…. In Doom Eternal, you felt like a fighter jet, in Doom: The Dark Ages, you’ll feel like a walking tank.”
Whereas the previous games were all about frantic movement and gun combat, this one is much more about power and force, players brutally smashing through enemies with an all-new melee system and weapons like a spiked iron flail, a spiked mace, a Shield Saw and an electrified gauntlet.
Another element is Atlan, a 30-story mech that allows you to smash through buildings, crush regular enemies underfoot, and rip apart almost everything. The glory kills have changed; they are no longer canned animations but are more fluid and much faster.
The release date was announced during the latest Xbox Developer Direct presentation, during which developer ID Software gave a closer look at the game in action.
Though “Doom: The Dark Ages” is coming to all platforms on that May 15th release date, Xbox and PC players will be able to access the game Day One on Game Pass. Check out the developer video below, or the first footage from the title released last year which can be seen here.
