The Doom Slayer is back with a vengeance in Doom: The Dark Ages. This feudal-flavoured first-person frenzy promises revamped combat and revitalized visuals for current-gen consoles and PCs. In broad strokes, this is a strong technical success but how well does the game play out across PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X and especially the horsepower-challenged Xbox Series S? In all cases, users are getting a good experience, but the premium Xbox console seems to get the smoothest experience overall – even compared to PS5 Pro – while the junior Xbox is still recognisably the same game, but with very low rendering resolutions and a haircut to some visual features.
Overall though, Doom: The Dark Ages is a phenomenal experience: there’s something so satisfying about the raw visual feedback you get when blasting away demons. Chunks of flesh are blown off in an evolution of the destructible demons system from Doom Eternal. Particles bloom and dance as foes are shot and lit aflame. Environment elements disintegrate into physicalised pieces, ripped apart by the wide spread of weapons like the Pulveriser – and this all generally runs at 60fps on every machine, with excellent per-pixel motion blur to keep things looking buttery smooth.
Even when you stop to smell the roses though, Dark Ages continues to excel visually. Doom’s artwork is top-notch, and the rendering systems used to support that artistic vision really deliver. Expect intricate physically-based materials, rich environmental geometry and excellent RTGI-based lighting that makes the game look consistent across a wide range of lighting conditions.
It’s a top-notch effort that deserves considerable praise, especially considering that the scope of the game has been expanded considerably since Doom Eternal, with titanic mech sections, wide-open dragon combat, and larger on-foot gameplay arenas with more foes. We’ve got a deeper analysis of the core technology coming soon, but we came away suitably impressed by what the game has to offer. It feels like a considerable evolution above recent idTech titles and offers an unparalleled demon-destroying experience.
In terms of platform-specific details, let’s start with Xbox Series X, which delivers a pretty version of the game in its sole visual mode. I believe we’re looking at a dynamic 1440p resolution, dropping down to around 1080p in busier scenes. Variable rate shading also appears to be employed, in common with other idTech games on current-gen consoles. Image quality is fine enough, though it can be a touch soft at times and VRS artefacts can be unflattering. In terms of visual settings, I didn’t find the game wanting – except perhaps for the lack of ray traced reflections, which are featured on PC and seem relatively light even on console-class GPUs. The Series X relies on more primitive reflections tech, leaning heavily on screen-space reflections. Also, there’s some occasional harsh shadow pop-in, which is more obvious in larger levels.