Doom Enters Its Halo Era with Dark Ages

During a hands-on demo of *Doom: The Dark Ages*, I was unexpectedly reminded of *Halo 3*. Picture this: I'm perched on the back of a cyborg dragon, unleashing a barrage of machine gun fire across a demonic battle barge. After taking out its defensive turrets, I landed atop the ship and stormed through its lower decks, reducing the crew to a mere puddle of red. Moments later, I burst through the hull and leaped back onto my dragon, continuing my relentless assault on Hell's machines.

Fans of Bungie's iconic Xbox 360 shooter will recognize the similarities to Master Chief’s assault on the Covenant’s scarab tanks. While the helicopter-like Hornet has been replaced by a holographic-winged dragon and the giant laser-firing mech by an occult flying boat, the essence remains: an exhilarating aerial assault leading to a fierce boarding action. Interestingly, this wasn't the only *Halo*-like moment in the demo. While *The Dark Ages* maintains Doom's core combat, the campaign's design echoes the late-2000s shooters with its use of elaborate cutscenes and a focus on novel gameplay elements.

Over the course of two and a half hours, I played through four levels of *Doom: The Dark Ages*. The first level, the campaign's opener, mirrored the tightly paced, meticulously designed levels of *Doom (2016)* and its sequel. However, the subsequent levels introduced me to piloting a colossal mech, flying the dragon, and navigating a vast battlefield filled with secrets and formidable minibosses. This departure from Doom's typical focus on mechanical purity felt more akin to *Halo*, *Call of Duty*, and even old *James Bond* games like *Nightfire*, which are known for their scripted setpieces and unique mission-based mechanics.

This direction is intriguing for *Doom*, especially considering the series once pivoted away from such elements. The cancelled *Doom 4* was intended to resemble *Call of Duty* with its modern military aesthetic, emphasis on characters, cinematic storytelling, and scripted events. Id Software eventually scrapped these ideas, opting for the more focused *Doom (2016)*. Yet, in 2025, *The Dark Ages* seems to be revisiting these concepts.

The campaign's fast pace is interspersed with innovative gameplay elements that echo *Call of Duty's* most memorable novelties. My demo began with a lengthy, cinematic cutscene reintroducing the realm of Argent D'Nur, the opulent Maykrs, and the Night Sentinels. The Doom Slayer is portrayed as a legendary, nuclear-level threat. This deeply cinematic approach, familiar to *Doom* enthusiasts from the prior games' codex entries, feels fresh and reminiscent of *Halo*. The presence of NPC Night Sentinels throughout the levels adds to the sense of being part of a larger force, much like Master Chief leading the UNSC Marines.

The extensive character work in the opening cutscene raises questions about whether *Doom* truly needs this level of storytelling. Personally, I appreciated the subtle storytelling of the previous games, conveyed through environment design and codex entries, with cinematics reserved for major reveals, as seen in *Eternal*. However, the cutscenes in *The Dark Ages* are used sparingly, setting up missions without disrupting the game's intense flow.

Yet, other interruptions come in different forms. Following the opening mission, which transitioned from pure shotgun combat to parrying Hell Knights with the Slayer's new shield, I found myself piloting the Atlan mech, engaging in battles reminiscent of *Pacific Rim*. Then, I took to the skies on the cybernetic dragon, attacking battle barges and gun emplacements. These tightly scripted levels introduce significant shifts in gameplay, reminiscent of *Call of Duty's* notable sequences, such as *Modern Warfare's* AC-130 gunship mission or *Infinite Warfare's* dogfighting. The Atlan feels slow and heavy, while the dragon is fast and agile, offering a drastically different experience from classic *Doom*.

Variety in gameplay is a hallmark of the best FPS campaigns, as seen in *Half-Life 2* and *Titanfall 2*. *Halo* has thrived on its mix of vehicular and on-foot sequences. However, I'm uncertain if this approach will suit *Doom*. *The Dark Ages* offers a complex shooting experience that demands constant attention, weaving together shots, shield tosses, parries, and melee combos. In contrast, the mech and dragon sequences feel less engaging, almost like on-rails experiences with combat resembling QTEs.

In *Call of Duty*, switching to driving a tank or operating a gunship feels natural because the mechanical complexity is similar to on-foot missions. But in *The Dark Ages*, the disparity between gameplay styles is stark, akin to comparing a middle school guitar student to Eddie Van Halen. While *Doom's* core combat remains the star, I found myself longing for the ground-level action with a double-barreled shotgun during the mech battles.

The final hour of my demo introduced another shift with the "Siege" level, which refocused on id's exceptional gunplay within a vast, open battlefield. This level's design, with its shifting geography and multiple pathways, reminded me of *Halo's* blend of interior and exterior environments. The objective of destroying five Gore Portals echoed *Call of Duty's* multi-objective missions, but it was the grand scale and the need to adapt weapon ranges and strategies that felt truly *Halo*-like.

Expanding *Doom's* playspace risks losing focus, as I found myself backtracking through empty paths, which slowed down the pace. Integrating the dragon, similar to *Halo's* Banshee, could have maintained momentum and made the dragon more integral to the experience.

Despite my reservations, I'm fascinated by *The Dark Ages'* resurrection and reinterpretation of ideas once deemed unsuitable for the series. The cancelled *Doom 4* was reported to have many scripted setpieces, including an obligatory vehicle scene, which aligns with the Atlan and dragon sequences in *The Dark Ages*. Id Software's Marty Stratton confirmed in a 2016 Noclip interview that *Doom 4* was more cinematic and story-driven, closer to *Call of Duty*. It's intriguing to see these elements return in *The Dark Ages*, with its boarding action setpieces, lush cinematics, expansive character roster, and significant lore reveals.

The core of *The Dark Ages* remains its visceral, on-foot combat. Nothing in the demo suggested that this would not be the focal point, and every moment I played reaffirmed it as another brilliant evolution of *Doom's* core gameplay. While this alone could carry the campaign, id Software has other plans. Some of the new ideas feel mechanically thin, potentially more disruptive than refreshing. However, there's still much more to explore, and only time will reveal how these demo missions fit into the broader narrative. I eagerly await May 15th to not only experience id's unparalleled gunplay once more but also to see if *Doom: The Dark Ages* delivers a cohesive late-2000s FPS campaign or a disjointed one.