Doom: The Dark Ages - Revelations

Doom: The Dark Ages’ action was already among the best in the genre, and the Revelations DLC elevates it even further by fusing it with just the right amount of Doom Eternal.

Revelations isn't just The Dark Ages firing on all cylinders, it's modern Doom's magic in a single bottle.

Does Doom: The Dark Ages | Revelations find the right middle-ground, or should this DLC be thrown straight into Purgatory?

I'm personally a little torn on Revelations. It's undoubtedly more of the fantastic DOOM combat that has made all three modern games instant classics; however, I'm not 100% sold on the choice to move back to Eternal-style combat. It definitely took a moment to re-adjust to twitchy, 1000mph mechanics, but once I got the hang of it, it was just as rewarding and engaging as any of the previous titles.

DOOM: The Dark Ages – Revelations is an expansion that ultimately leaves a lingering sense of disappointment. This is by no means a bad DLC: its gunplay remains among the strongest in the genre, its technical execution continues to set an exceptionally high standard, and several narrative sequences provide worthwhile additions to the Slayer’s story and the broader mythology of the series. Yet, for every strength, Revelations is accompanied by choices that prevent it from reaching the same heights as the main game. The decision to introduce greater complexity into the combat system once again, the return of mechanics that have historically struggled to complement DOOM’s strengths and a narrative that moves too quickly through events of considerable importance ultimately hold the expansion back. The Dark Ages succeeded in streamlining the modern DOOM formula without sacrificing its depth, creating a combat system that felt immediate, readable and remarkably satisfying. Revelations, by contrast, occasionally feels as though it is retracing ground that the series had already learned to leave behind. That is ultimately what makes the expansion so frustrating. There is a genuinely compelling story buried within Revelations, and its revelations could have formed the foundation for a far more substantial chapter in the Slayer’s journey. Instead, several important developments are compressed, relegated to the background or resolved with a degree of haste that undermines their dramatic weight. Rather than functioning as a fully self-contained expansion capable of building upon the exceptional foundations established by The Dark Ages, Revelations feels more like a bridge to what comes next. From a broader narrative perspective, that purpose is understandable: the expansion introduces important developments, reshapes elements of the Slayer’s past and leaves the door open for the next stage of the saga. As a standalone experience, however, that same approach becomes its greatest limitation.

DOOM: The Dark Ages – Revelations is an essential expansion that successfully marries the best parts of the modern DOOM era into one relentless package, proving once again that nobody does first-person shooters quite like id Software. The Chain Spear is a wonderfully gruesome tool, the level design and combat are sublime, the nods to prior entries in the series are a treat, and it looks glorious on the PlayStation 5 Pro… what more could you want?

An expansion that truly expands on the base game and adds immensely to it. This Doom revival has truly given us very different experiences that nonetheless are excellent in their own ways.

All things considered, Doom The Dark Ages Revelations gives up the wider maps, the dragon and the mech, and I don't mean that as a complaint at all, because I had enjoyed those detours in the right doses, yet it's clear that what's left here is just the Slayer with no frills, which happens to be exactly what everyone who came away from The Dark Ages disappointed had been asking for at the top of their lungs. To those people I'd say go and get it, because they'll find precisely what they were looking for, even if it remains curious that the lesson was only understood at the expansion stage. On the ending I can't push any further, since there's a moment that anyone who played Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal will feel land like a punch to the gut, and there's a destination reached that clearly opens the road to the next chapter. I hope that road really does get travelled, because in the meantime the studio has lost key figures and Hugo Martin's reassurances about the team's current size aren't enough to erase the names that walked out the door. What's left, thankfully, is an expansion made with heart, made with soul, and made above all with the Slayer's rage.

DOOM: The Dark Ages – Revelations feels more like a true evolution than a simple expansion, introducing the excellent Chain Spear while delivering an even faster, more dynamic, and satisfying combat experience.

Doom: The Dark Ages | Revelations is a superb addition to an already excellent game, expanding on the narrative, lore, and mechanics in a way that’s almost worthy of Sequeldom.