DOOM: The Dark Ages – Revelations review

I’ve loved every DOOM game I’ve played, but DOOM: The Dark Ages is perhaps my favourite of them all. It’s largely because of its medieval sci-fi setting, providing dark Gothic structures to explore, and brutal melee weaponry to introduce the the faces of the demons you encounter. What’s more, it has dragons you can ride, and giant mechs you can pilot. The best thing about DOOM: The Dark Ages, though? It has to be the Shield Saw, letting you block and parry enemy attacks and a whole lot more. But I’m sure a lot of people will disagree, and the Revelations expansion for DOOM: The Dark Ages is for them.

As you’d expect of an expansion, Revelations picks up where DOOM: The Dark Ages ends, with the DOOM Slayer continuing his fight against the forces of Hell. After battling his way to face the High Council, however, he suffers a rare defeat at the hands of a particularly powerful foe. It’s the dream scenario for any expansion or sequel: a powerful protagonist losing the brunt of their abilities. Trapped in purgatory, the Slayer must now deal with the demons of his past to achieve his goal, and of course, reclaim some of the power that he’s lost.

In gameplay terms, this means that once you’ve started the Revelations expansion proper, your maximum health and armour will probably be less than what you finished the base game with. You’ll have also lost access to the hugely destructive BFC and, more importantly, the Shield Saw. But worry not, you’re quickly introduced to a new tool for the Slayer to wield with his left hand: the Chain Spear. Honestly, after using the Shield Saw for the entirety of the main campaign and the start of this expansion, the Chin Spear can take some getting used to. Once you’ve got used to it, however, it’s rather brilliant.

If your key complaint about DOOM: The Dark Ages was that the DOOM Slayer was too slow and cumbersome, the Chain Spear is for you. With just a tap of a button, you can throw the spear out at an enemy, using them as an anchor as you then fly at them at great speed. Using the left stick you can change your trajectory, too, swinging to either side or flying over them. On top of that, the spear also gives you the ability to dash, allowing you to dodge incoming attacks and travel greater distances in the air, and striking out with it enables you to parry green attacks and break heated enemy armour.

The Chain Spear carries out many of the functions also facilitated by the Shield Saw, then, but also provides multiple new functions that not only change how you approach combat encounters, but also solving puzzles and traversing the environment around you. By collecting Platinum throughout the new levels offered by the Revelations expansion you can unlock further abilities and upgrades for the Chain Spear, too, such as being able to use it to jab at enemies, and perform a powerful downward slam while in the air.

Despite the Chain Spear being the highlight of the Revelations expansion, you do also get your Shield Saw back pretty quickly. From then on, you can easily switch between the two at will, giving you more option as to how you play. And the five or six hours it takes you to play through the new story content here is an absolute blast, focussing on balls-to-the-wall first-person shooter action ramped up to eleven thanks to the introduction of new enemies such as the Archvile and the Buzzsaw, and existing enemies receiving some substantial upgrades. Needless to say, it will push you to your limits, but when you emerge victorious you will be elated.

One of the cool things about DOOM: The Dark Ages – Revelations is that it offers endgame content, too, with you able to freely explore a hub and re-enter its missions in order to access new areas where more challenging encounters can be found as well as additional rewards. In fact, there’s a complete set of upgrades that can only be found in endgame. Though this leads to the only disappointment with the expansion: these upgrades, and the Chain Spear, can’t be used when replaying mission in the base game, which somewhat limits their usefulness.

Still, it’s a pretty minor issue in the scheme of things, and somewhat understandable given that the original levels most likely weren’t designed with the Chain Spear in mind. In any case, with the Revelations expansion offering at least six hours of additional gameplay, perhaps double that for those who want to see and unlock everything, it offers great value for money, and some of the best gameplay the series has to offer. No doubt id Software will offer something fresh once again for the DOOM Slayer’s next outing, but it’ll be a shame to leave the Shield Saw and Chain Spear combo behind.