Where Doom: The Dark Ages Takes Place On the Timeline

Summary

Doom: The Dark Ages bridges new and old Doom eras, exploring the backstory of the iconic Doom Slayer in the land of Argent D'Nur.
Fans can expect a slower and more methodical combat experience, along with exciting new weapons like the woodchipper gun.
The game offers a deep dive into Argent D'Nur and the Night Sentinels, shedding light on the Doom Slayer's journey and impact.

Fans are understandably excited regarding the recent announcement of Doom: The Dark Ages, with the upcoming standalone game being the first new experience in the iconic and longstanding franchise since Doom Eternal in 2020. The brief reveal trailer for the project was jam-packed with fascinating details and gameplay elements, with the game clearly being centered around huge influences from the Medieval period.

Alongside exciting new weapons and mechanics like mech-suit combat and mounted dragon exploration, Doom: The Dark Ages will tell the story of the Doom Slayer's time in the land of Argent D'Nur. This makes the title a prequel to 2016's Doom, with many references and gameplay sequences based around Argent D'Nur also being present in Doom Eternal. Some players might be understandably confused about how exactly The Dark Ages fits within the massive timeline of the wider franchise, which dates as far back as its 1993 debut release, and The Dark Ages actually occupies a timeline blind spot that has existed for a long time.

A gun that fires bone shrapnel in Doom: The Dark Ages reveal trailer

What Are You Most Excited For In Doom: The Dark Ages?

Apart from the reportedly-revamped glory kill system and the giant mechs, I'm really looking forward to how Id reimagined the combat in Doom: The Dark Ages. It is supposedly slower and more methodical than the previous games. Also, I really want to use that woodchipper gun that grinds skulls and shoots bone fragments.

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Doom: The Dark Ages Offers a Narrative Bridge Between the New and Old Identities of the Franchise

The 2016 release of Doom is considered to be a soft reboot of the franchise, offering an easily accessible story for new fans of the franchise while still maintaining narrative links to the original Doom titles that dominated the gaming industry throughout the 1990s. The Doom Slayer, or "Doomguy," that fans control throughout these rebooted games is in fact the same protagonist from the original Doom trilogy and Doom 64, but the narrative links between these two eras of the franchise have always been a bit cloudy.

Doom 64 was the last that fans saw of the original Doomguy for almost 20 years, with this 1997 title ending with Doomguy willingly remaining in Hell to battle the forces of evil for eternity. This story was finally continued with 2016's Doom, which begins with the franchise's protagonist entombed and trapped in an elaborate sarcophagus. This implies that the demons of Hell somehow managed to contain Doomguy to stop his merciless onslaught, and Doom: The Dark Ages will tell the story of how exactly this happened.

From Doom Eternal, it is known that Doomguy fought in hell for what could easily be centuries, due to the realm's unusual temporal make-up, eventually driving the space marine to the brink of insanity. Somehow, Doomguy was transported to the world of Argent D'Nur, an ancient land of humanoids that owe their existence and powerful technology to ancient God-like beings known as Wraiths.

Doom: The Dark Ages Will Give a Deeper Dive Into Argent D'Nur and the Night Sentinels

Doomguy would quickly be adopted by the Argenta humans, specifically into their warrior-caste known as Sentinels, with Argent D'Nur being embroiled in a ruthless invasion by the demons of Hell. Thanks to his fighting experience and knowledge of Hell, Doomguy quickly rose through the ranks of the Sentinels, being granted ancient powers of strength and endurance and earning the moniker "Doom Slayer."

Doom: The Dark Ages will allow fans to see just how influential the Doom Slayer was in Argent D'Nur's war against hell, and will finally offer a clear narrative link between the beloved earliest entries to the franchise and their modern counterparts. Officially occupying the previously blurred timeline between Doom 64 and 2016's Doom, the upcoming Dark Ages is aiming to offer fans a fascinating insight into fresh forms of exploration, weaponry, scale, and societies that will want to stand out against the wider franchise.

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