During the events of QuakeCon 2024, Hugo Martin and Marty Stratton took the stage to talk about all sorts of new stuff in the Doom franchise. That inevitably included new info on Doom: The Dark Ages, but it wasn’t something you’ll see on the internet anytime soon. Much like when the deep dive for Doom 2016 was shown at QuakeCon, the Doom leads asked the community to put down their phones and simply take in the brutal mayhem of what’s coming. And while I can’t show you what I saw, I can tell you that it was ridiculously cool and continues to build the hype for what we’re getting when Dark Ages comes out in 2025.
Rip, tear, and crush
Source: Bethesda
Some of the first and most important things include new weaponry and ways to slay your foes. We’ve seen things like the skull fragment gun and Shield Saw, but during the QuakeCon presentation, we saw these and newly revealed implements in action. The Shield Saw seems like it’s going to have a variety of crowd-clearing and damage-over-time options. At one point, Doom Slayer embedded it into a heavy enemy where it kept spinning and doing damage. We also got a fresh look at its ability to be thrown through multiple enemies in an area-of-effect attack to kill off lots of small fry at once. Finally, the devs confirmed that the Shield Saw can parry any green projectiles from enemies back at them.
We also saw a few different styles of melee. The spiked mace has been on display before, but we can also light enemies up with powerful punches and a chained flail, different from the mace. It seems the mail will be our Chainsaw option, returning ammo for kills. The punch has chain lightning properties where if you hit a foe, the attack will bounce to nearby enemies. We didn’t get to see the mace in action, but it seems like it’s going to be the most long-range option of the three.
As for guns, one of the most interesting things I saw was a new double-barreled plasma rifle. The weapon would fire projectiles that featured similar properties to the power punches, where hitting the target hit would chain the damage to nearby enemies, allowing you to melt groups in short order. Simply put, the weapons and offensive options are looking great so far.
Board some brutal beasts
Source: Bethesda
During the deep dive, the Doom Slayer found himself on an expansive battlefield where giants about the size of the Icon of Sin in modern Doom games were slugging it out in the background. Turns out these are more than just window dressing. We saw only a glimpse of controlling these entities in the first trailer, but QuakeCon gave us a much deeper look at them. The giant mecha is called an Altan, and it was confirmed that we’ll get to ride and control it in massive-scale combat. At one point, Doom Slayer boarded the Altan, introducing us to a new HUD to work with (the action stays in first-person), and letting us loose to get into knockdown drag-out brawls against other giants, knocking their blocks off with devastating punches and dismantling them bit by bit in an avalanche of gore.
That wasn’t the only rideable entity we saw. There was also a dragon with cyber light wings that made an appearance and Doom Slayer was able to jump onto its back and take control. From there, we could fly around the battlefield using its back-mounted chaingun to devastate foes on the ground and other flying enemies in air-to-air combat. We could even strafe the aforementioned giants and pick them apart.
These aren’t one-off set pieces. Hugo Martin and Marty Stratton signaled that we’ll have access to the Dragon and Altan mounts at several points throughout Doom: The Dark Ages’ campaign, so buckle up for a few epic-scale battles in addition to your boots-on-the-ground demon-slaying fun.
Going medieval on them
I wish I could share exactly what I saw at QuakeCon 2024 beyond, but I, like many of the community, respect the mystique Stratton and Martin have going here for Doom: The Dark Ages. I wasn’t as wild about Doom Eternal as I was about Doom 2016, but with Dark Ages, it’s looking visceral and vibrant from a variety of angles. The Dragon and Altan mounts look like they’re going to be a blast, and the Shield Saw keeps looking more and more magnificent in combat. Throw in those new weapons and melee and the vast and violent battles we’ll be taking part in, and Doom: The Dark Ages keeps looking better and better. Stay tuned to the Doom: The Dark Ages topic as we keep covering to see for yourself.
This preview is based on a hands-off demonstration shown at QuakeCon 2024. There were no recordings of the event. Doom: The Dark Ages is expected to come to Xbox Series X/S and PC sometime in 2025.
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Shacknews
replyTJ Denzer posted a new article, Doom: The Dark Ages had a spectacular secretive deep dive at QuakeCon 2024
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A couple of Shackers were at Quakecon, post your impressions!
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