While id Software let us know about the upcoming DOOM in 2024, it wasn’t until January 2025 that we finally got the official reveal trailer. For many, Bethesda‘s next game easily stood out of the Xbox Developer Direct, especially because it came with a firm release date of May 15 and a Dark Ages setting. Easily, the biggest talking point of the full reveal was the setting.
Although the long-known title alluded to it being set back in time, the trailer showcased exactly how deep in medieval times DOOM: The Dark Ages will go. Loaded with the ruins of castles and melee weapons, it’s going to be a distinctly different experience from its excellent predecessors.
Dark gothic is certainly making a comeback across entertainment media. So, while a new game was bound to generate a lot of hype upon its reveal anyway, DOOM: The Dark Ages looks to be perfectly timed with a revival of the genre.
DOOM Arriving as Dark Gothic Looms
Across entertainment, people are flocking to the shadows, looming darkness, and thrills of dark gothic stories. Its most prominent showcase of this came on Christmas Day 2024, when Nosferatu arrived at cinemas to amass $84.4 million in the US somehow alone. It swiftly became Focus Features’ second-highest-grossing film.
Online, you’ll also see a bunch of dark and gothic creations surge up the popularity rankings. This is what’s been seen in the world of online pokies. While less dark games like Gonzo’s Quest and Bush Telegraph remain big hits, amongst them now, there’s the metal music infused House of Doom, Demon, The Demon Code, and Gothic.
The slot games continue to amass large audiences because people are being drawn to the dark gothic setting. You can also see entertainment seekers being drawn to TV shows of a similar build. The announcement of the second season of the Mayfair Witches generated a lot of buzz, as did Interview with the Vampire.
It’s this trend that may have also buoyed the popularity of some newer hit video games, especially in the indie space, like Dredge, V Rising, Lies of P, and, of course, the Resident Evil series. In fact, joining DOOM at the showcase was another gothic adventure, South of Midnight, which will launch on April 8.
Going to the Dark Ages Made Sense
Hell has come to invade the medieval era, but the Slayer’s ready to take on its many demons and hell-spawn with the tools of the age. Naturally, being DOOM, there are still guns and projectiles, including a weapon that uses skulls as ammunition before crunching them up and firing the flecks at whatever dares to stand in your way.
According to creative designer Hugo Martin, the goal was to adapt and boil down to more of a back-to-basics approach after the frantic, high-skill ceiling experience of DOOM and DOOM Eternal. It’s a “fewer strings on the guitar” way of building the game, with the medieval era perfectly hamstringing the expanse of weaponry.
In DOOM: The Dark Ages, you’ll be leaning on your shield – which also has a kind of buzz-saw function – as well as melee weapons. The goal was for the controls to be as accessible and intuitive as the original DOOM while also mixing in a lot of modern flair to stay true to the challenge level expected of the series.
Even with a certain infinitely popular game series returning in 2025, given the popularity of the setting and theme, DOOM: The Dark Ages looks set to sell very well and receive plaudits across the board.
