Doom: The Dark Ages – Revelations Proves the Slayer Still Has More to Learn

A year after The Dark Ages launched, I returned to Doomguy's boots with a bit of skepticism. The base game was good, but slower, more rigid than Eternal. Some fans, myself included, missed the airborne, aggressive pace of its predecessor. Revelations was meant to be a test of whether id Software could add something more to this formula than just another level and another weapon.

The answer is yes, and in a way that changes how you play the entire title. The Chain Spear, a new weapon replacing the damaged Shield Saw, is the best addition to the Slayer's arsenal since the Meathook. Combat is still brutal and demands precision, but for the first time in a while I felt like I was learning a new combat rhythm, not just repeating familiar combos on a new map.

The spear does three things at once, and all of them work well. As a projectile, it pierces through enemy formations at range. As a hook, it pulls me toward an opponent at a speed that forces me to think about positioning before I even arrive. It also introduces a new movement mechanic: orbiting around a hooked enemy while firing a second weapon at the same time. The best encounters in Revelations made me watch where the chain was hanging at any given moment, rather than blindly chasing damage. It's a subtle but real change in how you read the arena.

The Warlock casts spells that need to be interrupted at a specific point in the animation, otherwise it gets support from the rest of the horde. The Buzzsaw is a demon-machine hybrid that charges in a straight line, and the safest way to deal with it is by deflecting it with the Chain Spear rather than taking it head-on with gunfire. The return of the Archvile and the Cosmic Elemental, visually reminiscent of the classic Pain Elemental, means old habits from 2016 come in handy again. The difference is that the same strategy rarely works twice.

Six new levels, including the sprawling hell hub Purgatorium, are designed like a labyrinth. You have to backtrack to previously visited places once you gain a new ability. This works well for the first few hours. Finding secrets without markers on the map gives a satisfaction that The Dark Ages partly lost due to its overly readable interface. The problem arises when backtracking starts to rely mainly on walking through the same corridors with a new tool in hand. After the third return to the same intersection, enthusiasm starts to fade, even if the reward at the end is worthwhile.

After completing the campaign, Master Arenas unlocks after you finish the campaign. This section makes up about 40% of the expansion's content, set at the highest difficulty level. This is where the Chain Spear stops being an optional gadget and becomes a condition for survival. The most interesting element is the Classic Levels, fully playable segments recreating levels from the first Doom, with the original weapons and enemiesrecreated in The Dark Ages engine. It's fan service, but executed with real care. It's not a one to one copy, just a reinterpretation that makes you look at familiar room layouts in a different way.

Story-wise, Revelations doesn't try to emotionally outdo any of the previous installments. The Slayer, trapped in a frozen Hell after the events of The Dark Ages, confronts a traitor from his own past. The writers stick to this thread without stretching it artificially. It's a bridge story to the events of Doom 2016, not trying to compete with the drama of the base game's finale. It succeeds because it never tries to be more than it needs to be.

Revelations is a rare case of an expansion that improves the base game instead of just extending it. The Chain Spear changes combat dynamics so much that going back to the standard The Dark Ages campaign, the game itself feels slower than I remembered. Ten to twelve hours of content, including a solid endgame and cleverly designed Classic Levels, is more than expansions of this size usually offer.

Not every part lands. The repetitive backtracking in the middle part of the campaign is a real downside, and the story doesn't try to surprise. But for anyone who finished The Dark Ages and wanted more precise, demanding combat, Revelations is one of the best expansions id Software has released since Ancient Gods.