Doom: The Dark Ages release date and details revealed at Xbox Developer Direct
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XBOX Developer Direct is focusing on just a few major upcoming games, and one is the highly anticipated Doom: The Dark Ages. Doom as a series isn’t particularly big on story, but The Dark Ages is a prequel of sorts, taking place long before other games in the series.
![[Screenshot of first-person shooter gameplay.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/4K-Developer_Direct-2025-1-9-50-screenshot.png?strip=all&w=960)
The time period isn’t the only change for the series, and game director Hugo Martin explained that Doom fans will have to unlearn their old gaming habits. Rather than the ultra fast-paced combat of Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal, Martin wants us to “stand and fight” rather than run and gun.
![[Screenshot of a first-person shooter game, showing a large enemy surrounded by a purple energy field.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/4K-Developer_Direct-2025-1-9-38-screenshot.png?strip=all&w=960)
It also calls back to the earliest games in the series with strafe-to-aim movement. The Doom Slayer from The Dark Ages feels more like an “iron tank” compared to his more recent iterations. You can move quickly, and dash through enemies with the shield saw, but this Slayer feels anchored to the ground.
![[Screenshot of a first-person shooter video game.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/4K-Developer_Direct-2025-1-7-32-screenshot-1.png?strip=all&w=960)
The Slayer can take down enemies with three different melee options, or eliminate them with a new slow-motion glory kill feature. In previous games glory kills locked you into the animation, but The Dark Ages speeds things up by keeping you in control during the attack.
Martin says: “For ten years now, we’ve been trying to solve the problem of what happens when there are multiple demons staggered at the same time. “By the time you play one synced glory kill, you turn to the other one, and he's already out of his stagger state.
