Doom: The Dark Ages is the eighth main entry in the iconic Doom franchise and the plot revolves around the rise of the Doom Slayer, the recurring protagonist of the series. A recent rumor that surfaced at the start of the year speculated Doom: The Dark Ages may run on the Nintendo Switch 2. April 2 will likely reveal more details when Nintendo hosts a Switch 2 showcase, and The Dark Ages may be revealed as a launch title or get added to the successor console’s catalog further down the line.
Posted on Doom’s official Twitter account, Martin hosted a short video covering The Dark Ages’ difficulty sliders. Martin emphasized players’ ability to make gameplay “super hard or super easy,” depending on playstyle, and noted this range was a policy of id Software’s, saying, “If we’re gonna allow you to slow the game down, we have to enable you to speed the game up. And that was a really good policy for everything.” Classic Doom games received a fresh coat of paint this year, specifically deploying improvements, bug fixes, and multiplayer mod support to Doom 1 and Doom 2 across several platforms. Those wanting the feel of classic Doom in The Dark Ages, however, are in luck, as the difficulty sliders can also emulate an experience similar to predecessor titles' bullet hell days.
Doom: The Dark Ages Director Reveals Difficulty Sliders Can Channel a Classic Doom Experience
Martin provided an example of the classic Doom experience by discussing projectiles, noting that slower projectiles can cause more damage and emulate the “shmup" of retro Doom titles. “It really enhances that three-dimensional shmup, you know, that bullet hell experience that classic Doom is,” Martin explained. Since the medieval entry serves as a prequel, and Martin previously teased more prequels could follow Doom: The Dark Ages, it’s a nice touch to include nods to earlier games (or later games in timeline order) in id’s portfolio through the difficulty sliders.
Even though the customizable difficulty is designed to provide each player with a tailored experience based on their preferred gameplay style, Martin has also had to defend Doom: The Dark Ages’ difficulty sliders against woke comments. Some Doom fans believe the sliders will make combat easier, removing a lot of the IP’s signature challenges. However, Martin disagreed with those remarks and assured players that while the sliders can indeed make runs easier, they can also make gameplay a lot harder.
