{"id":12841,"date":"2025-04-01T19:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T19:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/doom-dark-ages-hands-on\/"},"modified":"2025-04-01T19:00:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T19:00:15","slug":"doom-dark-ages-hands-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/doom-dark-ages-hands-on\/","title":{"rendered":"DOOM: Dark Ages Hands-on"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p yerinde where <em>The Dark Ages<\/em> truly surpasses expectations is in its bold departure from the norm. The final and most extensive part of the demo drops me into id&#8217;s interpretation of a sandbox open zone, giving me the freedom to tackle it as I see fit. With the sole objective of shutting down five portals that spew forth demons, I&#8217;m left to my own devices to decide how to accomplish this task and what detours I might take along the way. Over the course of an hour, I&#8217;m consistently reminded that this is a DOOM experience unlike any other I&#8217;ve had before.<\/p>\n<p yerinde the sandbox sequence is replete with optional objectives, just as one would hope. Heavily fortified artillery batteries await destruction, caches of gold are ripe for the picking to spend on upgrades, and many more surprises lie in wait. At one point, while I'm merely navigating through the environment, a colossal tentacle bursts out of the ground, attacking without warning \u2013 a moment that's neither scripted nor an assigned objective, but rather another unexpected twist in the journey.<\/p>\n<p\tIn the core objectives, surprises also abound. Unlike the straightforward arena clearance of the first story mission, closing portals in this sandbox takes on a variety of forms. Some portals transport me to a dungeon, requiring me to solve puzzles to reach the energy source that powers them. Others introduce Leader enemies \u2013 formidable, invulnerable beasts that can only be defeated after I've eliminated a sufficient number of their minions, with the reward of permanent upgrades upon victory. Along the way, I discover new guns, expanding my arsenal with fresh options. The experience is tirelessly and unrelentingly innovative, suggesting that id has been eager to infuse the DOOM franchise with new concepts.<\/p>\n<p>The overarching impression from my comprehensive session with <em>DOOM: The Dark Ages<\/em> is that of a development team overflowing with enthusiasm, not merely for the DOOM franchise itself, but for the limitless possibilities of what DOOM could evolve into. I anticipated a new narrative, novel guns, and unfamiliar demons, but I did not expect the introduction of new genres. The anticipation is palpable to uncover what other innovations this team has in store.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xbox.com\/en-US\/games\/store\/doom-the-dark-ages-premium-edition\/9NK3S5DT79LT\/0017\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">DOOM: The Dark Ages<\/a><\/strong> is slated to launch on May 15, 2025, for Xbox Series X|S, PC (accessible via the Xbox app for Windows PC, Steam, and Battle.net), PlayStation 5, and cloud platforms. It will be available on day one with Game Pass.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.xbox.com\/en-us\/2025\/03\/31\/doom-the-dark-ages-preview-story-sandbox-mech-dragon\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source Link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":12842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/DOOM-TheDarkAges_Standard_1920x1080-a2a0bdc5b6a0a045e7f4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}