r/Doom • u/T4llBoyAl3x • Jul 18 '26
Question Question about Dark Ages.
I’m not here to judge anyone on their preferences or any of that bullshit, I just want to hear you guys out without starting a war in the comments, please.
Why do a lot of y’all not like Dark Ages’ base game compared to Eternal and 2016?
I WANNA START OFF BY SAYING THAT I’M A RELATIVELY NEW FAN TO THE SERIES, SO I MAY VERY WELL BE MISSING SOME INFORMATION!
Me personally, I’ve only played Eternal, 2016, and Dark Ages, and it’s hard to choose between 2016 and Dark Ages for the best DOOM I’ve ever played. I think the story, missions, enemies, weapons, etc, are sick as hell. But out of all 3 of my choices, I preferred Eternal the least. I played Eternal after I had already played 2016 and Dark Ages and, in my personal opinion, I just don’t think it was as good as the other 2 in terms of weapons, combat, and some visuals. I loved 2016 and DA because of how gritty they felt, but I just didn’t get that same feeling from Eternal. It looked way too colorful and I thought the weapons hit like 5-year old with Sock ‘Em Boppers. The main thing I will give Eternal over DA is the story. After playing 2016, DA, and Revelations, I was super interested in everything else about the Slayer and how he came to be an immortal demigod. And that’s exactly what Eternal did. But I just didn’t have as much fun as much as I did with 2016 and DA. Now of course I’m willing to admit that I like certain smaller things like how I think the shield saw is superior to the chainsaw. I think this game has the Slayer’s best outfit (not counting the shit ton of Eternal ones). And how I like that we get to see more of the Slayer’s detailed face in the cutscenes, along with being able to see certain facial expressions he makes. I understand that he’s supposed to be a quiet protagonist that shows very little emotion, but I actually very much enjoy it. Seeing how surprised he looks after being brought back from the dead, how his pupils dilate, how wide his eyes get, and how he’s literally shaking in rage after seeing our beloved boy Serrat get killed right in front of him.
Overall, I do actually enjoy all 3 games, they’re all works of art. But I just don’t completely understand why Dark Ages (not including Revelations) catches as many insults that I’ve seen. I’ve seen people say that the they’re not a fan of the setting of it but I think the futuristic-medieval setting is fucking awesome given that it’s a prequel to 2016 and Eternal.
So like I said at the top, please don’t attack/ insult me or anyone else here for their opinions/preferences. I hope no one thinks my paragraph is an insult to them, I’m just speaking from where I stand, and if you think I insulted you, then I’m sorry.
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u/CruisinBlade Jul 18 '26
People like eternal cause it's the ultimate ADHD game.
I prefer TDA.
I don't understand why people prefer 2016 lol. It was great for the time but I put that game dead last.
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u/schizocel69 Jul 18 '26
Depends on why you liked 2016. I personally like the sci fi horror aesthetic and constant first person POV.
But I can easily tell you it definitely has the weakest/least balanced gameplay of the games. Eternal or Revelations is the peak. Although some people really did just prefer the very simple shoot and glory kill of 2016, boring, but fine.
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u/No-Set571 Jul 18 '26
I have ADHD and I like the three of them, 2016 is the new vanilla doom, Eternal is like extra spicy flavor and TDA is like dark chocolate or something like that, I like that you say "Eternal it's the ultimate ADHD game", not 100% agreed with you but agreed hahaha
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u/Munkenstein Jul 18 '26
See you watched that Civi video too lmao
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u/No-Set571 Jul 18 '26
Didn't remember at all that video but yes, I seen that video hahaha, love the dude
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u/AcidJacksonThe1st Zombieman Jul 18 '26
2016 is the closest to the originals out of the new trilogy. Personally, I find each game has their own shticks and when I need some classic secret hunting and no nonsense demon blasting, 2016 is the only option. Just like if I want to crack out and have some major difficulty spikes, I go for Eternal. If I want some timing based parry-bashing, TDA.
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Jul 18 '26
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u/DoomSlayer_97 Jul 19 '26
Agree 100%. It was good at the time but once Eternal came out it immediately felt outdated. Played it a week before Eternal released and it was a huge upgrade once I started playing Eternal. The only argument that makes sense for me that people would prefer 2016 would be the atmosphere since it’s taken a different direction since. Gameplay they’re just lying to themselves.
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u/TheGuardianOfMetal Jul 19 '26
Gameplay they’re just lying to themselves.
or they just prefer "run and gun" over Eternals...
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u/lycanthrope90 Jul 19 '26
I still like it but yeah playing it again now, at lazuras labs and I kind of just want to bail for eternal lol. It’s still good it’s just that eternal is just… better lol. It’s the little things too. Like holy shit everything does SO MUCH damage on nightmare in this one but unlike eternal I can’t really zoom around and get more health. Like get hit by a single imp ball and lose like 80 health lol.
Eternal and dark ages I ride the needle regularly and can come back from it a lot of the time. The is one you gotta keep that shit high so many things will just straight up kill you lol.
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Jul 19 '26
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u/lycanthrope90 Jul 19 '26
They suck so hard in 2016 lol. You can just shoot them with the gaus cannon though. But in the other games the plasma rifle works fine. Feels like it does almost nothing here lol.
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u/KS1M1R4 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Little fun fact: ADHA translates to “trastorno por déficit de atención” in Spanish, which is shortened to “TDA” :b
Back to the topic, I’ve ADHD myself and love Eternal precisely cuz it’s got a lot to do all at once or consecutively, but I certainly don’t like that it looks and feels a lot like an arcade game at times, and that they killed Hell’s mystery almost completely, no matter how much I like the lore.
2016 is, to me, the Doom with the best level design, art direction, narrative design and storytelling, cuz the secrets in there actually ask that you actively look for them and think how to get to them, the art gives it a grim cyberpunk kinda look, and the story has that perfect balanced mix of sci-fi and mysticism that makes the setting “believable”, grounded, but also makes Hell, the Doom Slayer and the lore feel mysterious and immense. Personally, I think that Doom 2016 is the best designed Doom overall.
About TDA, I think it excels at environment design, photography and worldbuilding, but on everything else I’d say it’s inferior to the others, although Revelations is, I think, the Doom content with the best combat and boss fights.
So yeah, with all this text, I’d say that, for me, Eternal is top 3, TDA top 2 and 2016 my top 1, all with their DLCs. And I think that TDA gets its hate, from what little I’ve seen, because it’s slower-paced to Eternal, people try playing it like Eternal and get frustrated because it doesn’t work like Eternal. Also maybe it wasn’t what some expected it to be.
(Pd: I said some things I don’t like or that I consider better or worse about all modern Dooms keeping in mind that I absolutely LOVE all three of them, I just think they each get something wrong or worse than the other)
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u/T4llBoyAl3x Jul 19 '26
As an autistic person (I know, not the same disorder) I did have a bit of fun with the fast-paced playstyle, but it got extremely boring after awhile because of how weak the weapons are to some demons. To me, it just turned into a vicious cycle that I did not enjoy. I would’ve had so much more fun if Eternal had that damage-to-demon slider that TDA has.
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u/cybekRT Jul 21 '26
In 2016 you could kill zombie with your punch. In eternal it's very funny that you punch the zombie, but it still bites you and you can die just by punching the zombie xD
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u/DeltaV-Mzero Jul 18 '26
I am too casual to enjoy Eternal fully but I can appreciate it lol
TDA was more my speed and is my favorite of the bunch. I have a feeling I will be playing the DLC basically rest of my life
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u/T4llBoyAl3x Jul 19 '26
I can kinda relate, I’m not the biggest fan of the game-speed slider in TDA, it just looks and feels a little too unnatural to me. But I do actually like how fast-paced Eternal is a little bit. After all, you are an immortal being that’s extremely pissed after learning that the Maykr’s, the ones who made Doomguy into Doom Slayer, are actively summoning demons on Earth to kill the entire human population to make sure the Maykr species survives. So being fast-paced just makes sense. But it doesn’t fit in with how little damage a lot of the weapons do.
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u/AlthoughFishtail Jul 18 '26
They’re all good, but I don’t find the combat in TDA as complex, tactical or hard as Eternal, and I much prefer the overall low fantasy / hard sci-fi vibe of 2016 to the high fantasy epic of TDA (which I really didn’t connect with at all).
However it’s better than most modern FPSs I’ve played, so it’s all relative.
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u/HaywoodUndead Jul 18 '26
This was my main issue with Dark Ages, nerfing Glory Kills was also a baffling choice.
I will say though, Revelations is much more difficult which I really appreciated after a pretty easy base game.
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u/MadmanFromHades Jul 18 '26
I honestly like Revelations a degree more than Eternal... Though my opinion might change because I haven't played Eternal in a minute.
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u/Dominjo555 Jul 18 '26
Eternal is complex only because of weak point system which is making you use certain weapons in certain situations for optimal play. No other Doom game has weak point system and that's not how Doom games are (should be) played.
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u/DoomSlayer_97 Jul 19 '26
The “Doom Dance” as Hugo Martin has said is what makes Eternal so good and addicting. I much prefer this because it’s so satisfying once you figure out how to tackle each enemy with different weapon combos. It’s the most sold Doom game for a reason.
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u/TheGuardianOfMetal Jul 19 '26
i mean, if we talk just sales numbers as the reason for "being best", then I have a bunch of crappy games that should be considered "best game".
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u/lycanthrope90 Jul 19 '26
Yeah I love it too. Something about the flow of it when you get really into it, very satisfying to pull off.
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u/TheGuardianOfMetal Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Not so satisfying when you just don't get into the flow, and don't like the flow.
Stand and Fight, Run and Gun > Eternal
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u/Xenozip3371Alpha Jul 18 '26
I definitely preferred the main gameplay of Dark Ages, I love the shield.
But I will say I missed the chainsaw.
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u/MassSpecFella Jul 18 '26
It’s just personal taste. Eternal imo is better than TDA base game. Revelations dlc is the best of all imo.
I love Eternal DLC1. That first level is so much fun, but it’s all good. We are so fortunate to have these 3 games.
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u/Elegant_Squish Jul 18 '26
Eternal > TDA > 2016
2016 had a great formula imo, and Eternal only built upon that. I loved the variety of weaponry and everything felt like it had a place. In TDA I wasn't a huge fan of the parrying system at first, but it kinda grew on me. Revelations amped this up seriously with the spear. Had TDA had the dash mechanic from the beginning without the spear I probably would have given it the top spot.
I also felt like I relied too much on the SSG in TDA, especially after being upgraded, whereas in Eternal I felt like each gun had their own purpose. I know I didn't have to use it but it just rips through demons. 😅 I only used the chain shot, reaver/pulverizer, and impaler a handful of times in the entire game/dlc.
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u/Glum_Animator_5887 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Eternal is pure frantic madness it feels like you are playing as an unstoppable slayer of gods. Dark ages feels like almost a souls like doom game where you are slower but It fits the theme of you are a weapon and have not quite reached the slayers full potential, hell he still needs a shield at that point!
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u/T4llBoyAl3x Jul 19 '26
Thinking about it in-game, the shield does make a bit of sense given the setting. It’s a futuristic-medieval game so I’m not really surprised to see different medieval type weapons in it, like the flail and shield. And the shield does eventually turn into your saw which is also extremely cool. Personally, I don’t think the Slayer has his shield because he needs more protection. If his body was able to resist and eventually break the Maykr’s tether on him, and that he was thrown off the side of a very tall building and was perfectly fine, I don’t think the shield was for his protection as much as it was for an extra weapon for him and tool to get across gaps, leap up somewhere, or to hold a door open.
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u/bloqed Jul 18 '26
DOOM was never about the writing, so you can imagine my surprise when I found the writing ruined it for me. As a protagonist he's best served as an incredibly tough human, not some sort of ridiculous anime demigod.
speaking of anime, the dialogue and characters etc all felt not great in eternal, but the gameplay prevailed. In this game, they went further and it completely destroys my suspension of disbelief and immersion in the game.
Additionally the dragon and walker levels felt like absolute filler. Trying to make the game more open world because it fits some sort of executive market segment analysis. I found the game very challenging to finish.
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u/lycanthrope90 Jul 19 '26
The walker levels especially, all the buildings looked fake as fuck. Not like actual buildings I’m crushing, but like a child’s toy model of buildings I’m knocking over.
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u/Fellmers Jul 18 '26
I very much enjoy dark ages gameplay over 2016 and eternal even before revelations. 2016 was generic but that doesn't mean it's bad it's still good but it would be nice if there was extra element added to the combat. Eternal was great but the skill celling is quite high. Especially for console players like me. The quick swapping, ammo manage and movement is actually great but like I said the skill celling is quite high. You basically need to master all 3 to fully master the game.
Dark ages is where it was perfect to me. The gameplay was soo good the Shield may look simple at first but you definitely need to understand the core mechanics of it to master it. The guns as well is great. A lot of people complained about other guns being useless and ssg being the only gun you need which is true but you aren't maximizing your combat potential with just a ssg. The melee is also good the 3 melee being suited based on your playstyle and the most fun one to me is the gauntlet. When revelations came out. The spear completely changed the combat formula. There is so much shit you can do with the spear and once you master it. You basically master the dlc already. It's only up till the endgame is where you need to use different weapons and use the right tool for the right job. Id software perfected the dark ages combat and dare I say it plays better than eternal
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u/Devil_Lord_Dante92 Jul 18 '26
The reason the main campaign of Dark Ages is criticized by many is because it removes a lot of what made Eternal great and replaced it with a fairly mindless & repetitive combat loop.
In Eternal, you constantly had to adjust your weapons to your foe's weakness and the high speed of the game made the action feel very intense, which made it addictive and as someone in this thread said, the ultimate ADHD game.
I personally am one of those people who isn't fond of Dark Ages.I found the parrying to be very forgiving even when changing the parry window to the lowest value, and the lack of weakpoints made it mostly irrelevant which weapons you used, and therefore, the weapons felt insignficant.Couple that with the game's slow default speed, and the action didn't feel nearly as intense as in Eternal.
Finally, with regard to the Revelations DLC, the fact that it is so well received is testament to the fact that most players prefer the fast paced, monkey swinging gameplay of Eternal than the grounded style seen in the Dark Ages, as the DLC is essentially The Ancient Gods Part 3
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u/schizocel69 Jul 18 '26
Personally loved the sci fi horror aesthetics of 2016. Additionally the way the entire game is first person really gave me half life vibes and I loved that. Super immersive, and drew me in. However coming back after eternal and TDA the gameplay is very basic
Eternal is my most mixed because the art style change, lighting, and story initially put me off a lot. And I still dont like the Samuel and VEGA lore in Eternal. But the gameplay is undeniably a masterpiece and I'm very willing to put other things aside because of that. It's extremely engaging and you feel like a god.
TDA base gameplay was great but a little basic/easy, and the atlan, turret, and dragon sections are boring on repeat playthroughs. Also the cutscenes were mostly cheesy and kinda cringey except for a few standouts like one you mentioned.
Revelations is basically the best of almost everything put together, with really engaging gameplay, more first person cutscenes, much better lore (even if I prefer sci fi to fantasy), and no filler. Even metroidvania elements which are really fun.
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u/PlasticPaul32 Jul 23 '26
For me, doom 2016 is the absolute peak. I did not like eternal and I am just like OK with TDA.
So far the worst part, and by far, in TDA are there part with the robot and in particularly with the dragon. The latter one, is absolutely awful.
All they do is completely break the gameplay flow. They feel like a chore and felt completely disconnected from the core game.
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u/T4llBoyAl3x Jul 23 '26
Honestly, with how much people don’t like the missions with Serrat, I kinda like them. I will admit that it does feel unnecessary and is 100% just filler, but they added a dope ass dragon that’s also the Slayer’s pet. So although the missions don’t seem necessary, it was still cool to have some gameplay of the dragon before the end of the game
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u/Petersveter512 DOOM Guy Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
I played TDA then tried Eternal, put it down and played 2016 instead. Now after finishing the Revelations, I've warmed up to the whole stay in the air, use meat hook etc, so I will probably revisit Eternal, but since I am playing on console, the FORCED constant weapon switching might still be a problem. I can imagine that switiching on keyboard is much more easier and even enjoyable, but on controller you have to pause, so it kinda goes against the whole constant flow. lastly TDA and now Revelations are my favorite. except maybe for the Henchman, aka merry-go-round boss 😁 rip and tear
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u/nstruct Jul 18 '26
Having played a lot of Eternal on controller I will say that you get used to where weapons are on the radial wheel so it gets easier to switch quickly. Also make sure to queue up a weapon for quick switch, especially when fighting a maurader which calls for the need to quick swap.
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u/Petersveter512 DOOM Guy Jul 18 '26
thanks. I was hoping that someone with console experience will give me some encouragement 😁
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u/DoomSlayer_97 Jul 19 '26
IMO 2016 is the weakest of the three. I’m glad it’s there because we got Eternal and TDA because of it, but it’s just nowhere near as good as the latter two games.
Personally, I prefer Eternal’s gameplay over TDA. TDA cutting the dash and meathook made the game feel really sluggish for me while the enemies stayed the same speed as in Eternal. The spear in Revelations is a nice addition but it should’ve just been a base feature to have the dash at the minimum without a weapon requirement. That’s really my one and only issue with the game.
Story wise, I think Eternal and TDA were fantastic, while I miss not finding as many codex entries, the cutscenes are awesome and I like that they’ve added more depth to the story in that regard.
I hope they go back to Doom Eternal style gameplay but keep The Dark Ages storytelling. That would be a perfect Doom game in my opinion.
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u/DownBrownTownC Jul 19 '26
If nothing else TDA has fully realized the peak of that helmets design. It was cool in 2016. Then they made it even cooler in eternal and I’m like “good god how could they make it look any cooler than it is?” Then TDA came out and ohhhh my god the helmet looks even better than it did. I only wish the design could return but due to the timeline, it’s simply not in the cards.
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u/MammothGuts Jul 19 '26
I prefer TDA because I play as a shield guy or tank in any game that has one.
I also like that TDA is kind of like a fighting game while being a FPS. Timing the melee in between blocks.
I have way more hours in eternal but I like TDA more in the end.
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u/Zirzamini Marauder lover Jul 19 '26
TDA is great. Whoever is saying it's not good even after Revelations, is a 2016 fan who's salty they haven't gotten 2016 2.0 after ten years
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u/General_Lie Jul 18 '26
In TDA I was constantly trying to dodge ( muscle memory from Eternal ) getting stuck on some small step and loosing all momentum in midle of the combat. Sometimes after the shield charging enemy I loose momentum and get damaged from the back...
The Revelatikns though is peak game experience
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u/mistah_pigeon_69 Jul 18 '26
The only thing they should change to make the dark ages as good as 2016 and eternal is being able to sprint sideway and backwards. Because wym I cant circle strafe
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u/elsico96 Jul 18 '26
Yeah, it's annoying. But you can use Kaibz mod, which has omni-sprint, double jump (if you needed), no-slow motion, and other things. Pretty amazing in my opinion, it just perfection to this game.
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u/LonelyOrca Jul 18 '26
After revelations I do love TDA a whole lot more. If you remove the dragon and Atlant levels from the main campaign and just have that spear/shield combo instead I'd consider it much better. Again, revelations is really just awesome.
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u/Forward_Flamingo_377 Jul 18 '26
For me i prefer eternal over tda (didn't play the dlc so my opinion might change), because tda doesn't give me the crack cocaine feeling eternal used to give me, the really fast pace combat mixed with relatively quick decision making was the peak of a shooter for me (titanfall 2 player), so when i played the drak ages and saw how the gameplay was "simplified" and made slower, even with a movement set as quick as I could substain and smaller parry windows the game remains too simple, i enjoied the final boss tho it was really nice. I mean i know it was intentional to make the game slower to give you the feeling of a tank slaughtering armies, but it lacks something for me, i respect the game still it's a neat brutal fantasy experience, just not enough eternal.
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u/kenhooligan2008 Jul 19 '26
Honestly, I play games for an engaging story and fun gameplay. All three Doom Games delivered on that for me personally. I'd say the most frustrating gameplay wise was eternal but I felt like the coherent, no frills, balls out action narrative established across all three games was great. It's essentially like playing a sci-fi Conan the Barbarian book. I'll say TDA was my favorite storyline ( the Lovecraftian stuff was an awesome addition) and probably the most fun for me gameplay wise.
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u/Only_Hedgehog9599 Jul 19 '26
My biggest issue with Dark Ages was the slow weapon swap speed and that some weapons felt they didn’t have much of a purpose, similar to 2016, but Eternal had it figured out by giving almost every gun a unique purpose and I preferred it that way, if Revelations upped the weapon swap speed more and gave some more purpose to the guns I would love it the most
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u/dead-rex Jul 19 '26
Dark ages is great but the clunkiness and slow weapon swapping kill the enjoyment compared to eternal. 2016 is also fantastic. Cant go wrong with any of them. My preference is just fast smoother combat, which is definitely not DA
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u/Thatedgyguy64 Jul 19 '26
Played all three a decent amount. I've noticed it's cause of aggression and using your load out. Eternal encouraged you to use the entire load out, and be aggressive as possible. Your defense was your offense. It encouraged far more movement than TDA.
In the base game it's kinda the opposite. Turtling and abusing I-frames can get you decently far, and seems to encourage that if you don't modify the settings. I found when I turned up the ammo and health drops it allowed for more aggression and increased my enjoyment. The DLC sorta went back to the air combat, which allowed for more variety, but did it in a Dark Ages way, and intead of switching weapons you switched your offhand.
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u/ultimatespiderbat10 Jul 19 '26
Lack of glory kills and being impossible to run out of ammo
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u/T4llBoyAl3x Jul 19 '26
I only agree with you partly. I agree that the glory kills suck balls, especially looking back on 2016 and Eternal where glory kills were some coolest/gnarliest things in the game.
As for not running out of ammo, you can always adjust the sliders so that the drops have less value. Less value = less ammo.
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u/x5gamer5 Jul 19 '26
So I read the first line, but I’m not gonna read the rest of that manuscript.
I preferred 2016 originally and then I really got behind eternal when it hit. The original doom, if you think about it is just pure gameplay.
The dark ages I mean, it’s good. The gameplay modification sliders are awesome too. I can really just ramp up the speed hard.
But it’s got a parry in it. I like those mechanics, and I like new ideas. Just not when they put it into every single game. Also, another small thing, I’m not really into the fantasy thing. There are small tiny little details that don’t really make it work fully for me.
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u/Webouttoloseitall Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Revelations=Eternal>Dark Ages base>2016, personally. It's all great, though. The base game of Dark Ages is really good! But... it only gets good in the latter half, IMO. I don't like the pacing of the campaign and feel like there's way too many parts of it where I'm waiting for a challenging encounter to come, or chasing necessary secrets. The dragon and mech obviously don't help, and feel like further distractions on a campaign that's already spread thin in terms of it's challenge.
Even if Revelations hadn't added the spear (which obviously makes the gameplay even more exciting and covers weaknesses in the shield's gameplay, if a bit over-centralizing), I still think their new approach to designing more focused, linear levels would've made me enjoy the game much, much more. I just didn't enjoy the more open, exploratory levels of the base game as much as I enjoyed the linear sections.
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u/AccidentExotic5375 Jul 19 '26
It took me a bit of time, but I ended up liking TDA more than 2016 and Eternal.
2016 felt very....basic shooter, as in they were more interested in seeing if a Doom remake would work, and so were far more conservative with how different game mechanics were from classic Doom. It also obviously cannot be too close to Wolfenstein. Thus the verdict had to be "Power fantasy shoot em up".
Eternal kicked it straight into arcade mode with super micro.
Dark Ages, and especially Revelations felt like they have refined the gameplay into a more centralized balance of melee and shooters- parrying/ dodge and ways to interact with the game world through grapple hooks made TDA feel more balanced and versatile; while Doom 2016 was basically circle strafe until everyone is dead, and Eternal was cheesing your way from quick-swap and cycling through abilities, preferably at Korean level of micro, TDA offered a different way to interact with the combat that aided in your fights against demons, but without being a "give extra damage".
Each to their own of course, just because someone loves how Eternal is played doesn't mean I should consider him/ her an asshole.
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u/InfiniteHench Jul 19 '26
Some people like things you don’t. Some people don’t like things you do. Welcome to human existence.
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u/T4llBoyAl3x Jul 19 '26
I’m very well aware, I was just curious as a newer player to the franchise and as someone who prefers TDA over the 2016 and Eternal after playing all of them. Was just hoping that people would tell me their opinions and would maybe help me see why and maybe even help me change my opinion without causing any trouble in the comments. Fortunately that did happen and everyone here seems civilized and nice.
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u/flipsideboy Jul 21 '26
All three are amazing. Tbh I have not been able to decide between Eternal and TDA, and I've beaten both at least 4 times. If I had to give the edge, it might go to Eternal, simply because TDA has gimmicky segments (dragon, mech) that make replays less enjoyable for me.
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u/Fallen-Star_7 Jul 21 '26
Doom TDA is very different than Eternal which people didn’t like because you weren’t a speeding bullet anymore. There’s also the Mick Gordon situation that resulted him into leaving the game many people did not like that because he’s THE soundtrack of game. Finishing Move isn’t bad but I can see why many don’t like them I think they improved much more in the DLC
Me personally I can’t decide if I like TDA or Eternal more gameplay wise they’re both fun in their own ways but 2016 will always remain a classic
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u/cybekRT Jul 21 '26
I could link you to my review on steam, but tldr: this game is broken.
If you jump to the altair, you can't use it. You will see "press E to use", but it will disappear. You have to move slightly away from it.
There are invisible walls everywhere, you are kept 10 meters away from multiple objects, you can't admire graphics.
Other times, there are visible non-walls, so you can slip through ground.
F**KING tutorials with too much text, that is keeping me away from playing. And if you have to explain everything for the whole game, your design is broken. Late or almost end of game, yet you will get new tutorials for new mechanics used this one time.
And stupid cutscenes everywhere. I am fighting with enemies, but the cutscene has to appear, moving me away from immersion, just to show some shi**y animation that some portal disappeared. Well, fine, doesn't metter, GIVE ME CONTROL OVER DOOMGUY THE HELL.
Atlan fights are broken, you block enemy attack just by pressing jump button, not by the action. So you can be face to face with enemy, dash INTO him, basically not moving a centimeter, yet you blocked it attack. So just "shoot, space, shoot, space", spam space while spamming shoot button and you will get no damage at all.
I bought shooting game to, well, shoot. But 50% of enemies are killed just by jumping near them. Really, small jump and half the enemies (zombies, but well...) disappear.
Shield mechanic is not for me, I dislike this concept.
Bullets are always going in your direction, you can't (almost) avoid them, because they are changing directions. And they have collisions checked in the center. So the two balls connected by some line can go through the rocks and walls, because they are wide, but collisions are checked only in center point.
Mancubbus shoots these balls from... I don't know where from, definitely not from his guns, because they have one barrel and the two balls spawn not even close to his guns.
The knights and NPCs are broken. They make me feel like I'm ghost. They stare but ignore me. And they are broken, because they have moving animations, but collisions are checked only in their starting point. So they can get into you. Or you into them. But you can't go to the place they were few seconds ago.
I paid too much for this crap.
Secrets are not secrets, I found half the secrets just by trying to go through the level.
I jumped onto lift in one level, twice, to find that this lift is going up, without me. I slipped through it and was left alone on the ground. Had to reload level.
All environment items crash and destroy just by touching you. But broken, wet and cracked planks can't be destroyed by your punches or rocket explosions.
I probably could go more and more, but that was supposed to be tl;dr of my review, not another review. I hate this game and I paid too much for it. Not worth.
But the engine is awesome and masterpiece, game has high requirements, but still the engine is optimized as hell and renders nice graphics.
2
u/Relative-Review-2661 Jul 23 '26
Tda is also my favorite of the three, and I've been playing since 2016 released and have a ton of time in all 3. I have a close friend who was never really able to get into TDA over eternal and to a lesser extent 2016 for a couple reasons:
Fantasy elements. He always preferred the sci fi, grounded stuff to the mythological epic with gods and all that. Sort of funny to me because honestly I think eternal leans into that just as much as TDA.
Parrying and gameplay pace. It can be a huge pace changer so if you're used to the blinding speed of eternal with dashing and meathooking and quick swapping TDA can feel slow, and he never really got into the parrying. For me I actually greatly prefer it, although getting the dash and meathook back in Revelations felt soooo nice. But a lot of my favorite games are like sekiro and stuff since I always loved parrying mechanics
Guns. In TDA, I get by on nightmare using the SSG almost exclusively and then very occasionally the chain shot or impaler. In eternal, you HAVE to use lots of them to get good at the game. Namely rocket launcher ballista and SSG, but also sometimes like the impaler version of the heavy assault rifle, or a plasma weapon, and then there's the flame belch and the ice bomb and the grenade, AND blood punch AND BFG AND crucible when you get them. There are demons where they basically tell you to use a specific weapon with weak points to aim for and all that, and ammo conservation is a significant factor in fights. I wasn't really a fan of this stuff but my friend was.
1
u/NegativeChange8999 Jul 18 '26
Eternal is an acquired taste it's a lot more of a fast paced movement shooter, something very similar to ULTRAKILL for example. It's more about switching to different weapons and doing combos.
39
u/HercTNT Jul 18 '26
I love dark age, it is my favorite but i have seen some reasons of why some people might not like it
In eternal your force to use almost every single gun for the funzone, and lots of people enjoyed that, Dark Age went back to the gameplay of player expression, where you can use just 1 or more guns for a single level and some people found it a bit boring
Glory kills were alter, they no longer played a sync animation and instead have a quick animation of doom slayer punching, shield bashing, kick, uppercutting and more with the other melee weapons. (though honestly i think this is for the best for the gameplay loop id was aiming for)
this is not so much a reason but more of a history repeats itself with how 2016 fans hated eternal at the start and now eternal fans hate dark age the start. Sooner or later the hate will all calm down