New Doom: The Dark Ages gameplay details have surfaced online from a reported behind-the-scenes gameplay demo at QuakeCon 2024.
Bethesda held QuakeCon 2024 over the past weekend, and it was a pretty quiet affair bar one big showing for Doom: The Dark Ages. Unfortunately, the gameplay demo wasn't shown as part of the livestream, but was instead shown exclusively to attendees, multiple of whom have now come forward to describe what they saw.
Take the YouTuber below, for example, or this Reddit user, both of who claim to have had a look at Doom: The Dark Ages. One big feature from the supposed gameplay demo is a change for the glory kill system - in short, id Software is apparently revamping the system to be more about player choice and less of a focus on scripted animations.
There's also supposedly less "verticality" in The Dark Ages than Doom: Eternal. Jumping apparently feels heavier than the previous Doom entry, with the YouTuber above likening it to how Power Armor feels in Fallout 4. That might be good or bad news, depending on who you're talking to among Doom fans.
There are also allegedly three new melee weapons in The Dark Ages: a flail, which collects ammo; your fists, which generate chain lightning; and a mace. It's worth pointing out that the former ability is a continuation of systems from Doom: Eternal, like how the chainsaw-generated ammo or the flamethrower-generated armor.
The new shield saw was one exciting feature when Doom: The Dark Ages was revealed earlier this year, and the attendees claim that this can be used to traverse the in-game map in various new ways. The towering mech was also an intriguing possibility, and the QuakeCon footage supposedly showed that it fights using fists and a cannon, and can also perform special glory kills.
Doom: The Dark Ages is out next year in 2025 for PC and Xbox Series X/S. It's also coming to PS5 though, because Microsoft decided Doom was simply too important to skip out a PlayStation launch.
Check out our Doom: The Dark Ages preview for our interview with id Software from Summer Games Fest earlier this year.
