Video Gamers Podcast
Doom the Dark Ages is Metal as...Heck – Deep Dive | Gaming Podcast
Mon, 26 May 2025
Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan, and John grab their chainshields, mount their dragons, and take a deep dive into Doom: The Dark Ages. This isn’t your dad’s FPS—this game throws the Slayer into a grimdark medieval war machine, and we share cover every blood-soaked second. How does this video game live up to the Doom gaming legacy? Let’s rip, tear, and talk about one of the most exciting video games of the year. All your deep dives, gaming updates, and nerdy nonsense right here at Video Gamers Podcast. Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, and Phelps Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/ Follow us on X: https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VideoGamersPod?sub_confirmation=1 Visit us on the web: https://videogamerspod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What game are we discussing today?
Hello fellow gamers and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. It's time for the most metal of episodes, the most metal of deep dives, and the most metal gaming conversations you've ever heard. If you can't tell, today we're covering Doom the Dark Ages, perhaps the most metal Doom we've ever seen. Does it live up to its name, or is it on par with Doom Eternal, or perhaps even better?
Chapter 2: Who are the hosts of the show?
On today's episode, we're going to find out, but first, some introductions are in order. i am your host josh and joining me he's an aspiring slayer nope nope wait that's the difficulty level he played on it's ryan oh man i was gonna come in with like a rock ballad like metal yeah and and uh now i just feel so broken broken inside glad i could crush your soul once again right that's fine
And joining us, he would like us to address the practicality of a chainsaw shield and keep saying, I mean, how do you catch it, though?
It's John. As somebody who grew up as both a fan of Captain America and Warhammer 40,000, where chainswords are a very prominent piece of arsenal, I approve. I have no such questions at all. I just assume the thing works. You know, it works all right.
That chainsaw shield is freaking sweet.
It's on my Christmas list for sure.
Oh, dude. Yeah, we're going to get to that because I know that was a question a lot of people had is like, yeah, but the shield. Oh, we're going to talk about the shield. Guys, we're going to start this episode off with a quick question. One of our Epic supporters, DarkSide900, asked this question. This is a perk that we give to people that sign up to support this podcast.
Under the Epic tier, I love this question, dude, because it's going to give me a chance to nerd out. People have heard me talk about the answer on this before. But the question is, what are some of your favorite gaming controllers or accessories of all time? Ooh. The gaming controller debate is one that has been going on for a long time, man.
It's a silly debate, because it's very, very simple. The Accessories is a whole other ballgame, but controller, PS5 DualSense, it's the best controller ever made. It's a dang good controller, man.
It is a dang good controller. I have nostalgic choices. I was a big Dreamcast fan, and there was a lot of novelty involved with that, and the virtual memory cards with the little game built into it. I don't know if you remember that, but the Dreamcast had a little Game Boy built into the memory cards.
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Chapter 3: What is the premise of Doom: The Dark Ages?
You're not supposed to be jumping and running around and stuff like that. And I kind of went, is this going to be... really slow gameplay. It ain't slow, people. If that's what you're worried about, I can tell you right now, it's not slow. The shield bash, you have to stay mobile. The parrying mechanic keeps you constantly looking around you.
It does not feel slow, but Doom Eternal just hits different, man, and I vastly prefer it over Doom the Dark Ages from that sense of like, I want to feel like I'm zipping around, man. I like that movement.
So, Ryan, what was your, you know, if you could just give an opening impression about how you enjoyed the game?
So, when I typically, like, my most often play style that I enjoy is I just love to face tank. I love to run in and just be so strong and powerful and just smash everything in front of me. Which is wild because on, like, MMOs, I was always a mage. I was a glass cannon. I love to sit back and just blow everything up. But in these styles of games, like...
I love the ability to just bash through everything. Again, run through walls. And I love... This game did such a good job of making you feel so strong and powerful... Without making your enemies feel weak. So I was running through there. I may have not... You still feel quick. Because you have your shield bash. You can jump across the map. I used it so much. That was the first thing I upgraded.
We'll get into the upgrades and stuff like that. But that was first what I went through. And the melee... And I was just messing with everything. I've tried all the different difficulty levels, so I'm kind of knowledgeable on every aspect of how you could play this game as well. To me, this was my style of a Doom game.
I probably, if I was to play Eternal and then play this, I think I would like this more just based on what I enjoy. But yeah, man, it's not slow, but you are just an absolute tank.
You feel like a juggernaut.
Yes, that is the perfect phrase for it. So I agree with both of what you said. Certainly. Stand and fight, I hadn't heard that phrase for this, but that very, very well captures the nature of this game. I mean, you are a juggernaut. You are the definition of a tank. Ryan got it right. You are mega powerful without making the enemies feel weak. I mean, it feels like there's a real threat there.
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Chapter 4: How does Doom: The Dark Ages compare to Doom Eternal?
No. But also, John, you love cake. Is more cake always a bad thing? You're like, oh, this is the same cake as before.
More cake is never a bad thing.
It's still pretty good. It's...
See, that's a really good question. So if we're talking like Costco sheet cake, I would be like, there's a limit to it. You know, we're talking like.
brooklyn blackout cake or like a really good new york cheesecake or like i don't know man i'd probably eat that until i was in the hospital or something like you'd have to pump my stomach because i wouldn't be able to stop myself yeah this uh this game was really interesting so you know you know me i'm i'm a way more probably casual gamer than than either you guys here i'm very much a story driven gamer
story drives my gaming experience. And so this didn't have that, but it definitely did have that arcade feel. Like it felt like area 51 or something where it was like, Oh my gosh, like I'm in the action. Like, Oh, but go, go, go, go. About six chapters in, I was like, this is kind of easy to,
And I was like, it's the first time I remember getting to a game where I was like, I should up the, I never increased the difficulty. Oh, John's growing up. Oh, look at him.
Well, I didn't, by the way.
The last game I increased the difficulty on was Halo 3, I think. But I was like, maybe I should increase the difficulty on this. And then I got through probably chapter 8, 9, and I started to feel like this is kind of gratuitous. The levels all kind of look the same. The enemies all kind of look the same. There's a very distinct pattern that every single enemy has to beat it.
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Chapter 5: What are the standout features of Doom: The Dark Ages?
so but you know but then they rebooted the franchise back in 2016 they kind of brought it into modern gaming and you know a lot of people that loved doom way back in the day myself included instantly went oh yeah like doom um so we got the doom reboot we got doom eternal we got doom the dark ages i think maybe there was another side shoot or something in there somewhere um but i
The premise of doom, the dark ages is literally doom, the dark ages where it's medieval. This is before all of the happenings in doom, eternal and stuff like that. So your dude, like you've got armor, you've got a shield, you've got a flail. And that flail is awesome. Oh, it's so good. Oh my goodness. The flail is so good.
Yeah.
You know, but that is the premise of this game. So when you get into it, if you have played Doom Eternal like I have, Doom Eternal is much more futuristic in the sense of like the weapons that you get and kind of the play style of the game as well. But that's kind of the setting is that it is meant to feel like you are not as technologically advanced.
It is meant to feel like it is before a lot of the happenings in Doom Eternal. And I'm just going to, before we get into some of the monsters and levels and guns and stuff, I got a question for you guys. Oh, yeah. Is there anything more satisfying than the landing sound of Doomguy in Doom the Dark Ages when you jump off a ledge and you hit the ground, dude? Oh, it's so cool.
That might be my favorite part of the whole game, man. It is so cool. Again, it captures power, man. I mean, like you feel so power. I'm like you, Ryan, like in, in games where you get to choose a class, I usually choose the tank. And like when I was growing up and thinking of myself as like a superhero or a WWF wrestler, it was ultimate warrior as a wrestler.
It was Colossus or Juggernaut as a superhero. Like, this captured that for sure. You felt unstoppable as a Slayer, for sure.
Yeah, just the feel of it. Audibly, you just hear... running, and then you land, and even when you just land by other enemies, if they're just weak enemies or adds, they go flying. They die just from you landing. Yeah, you land down and they go, boom, and you're like, haha, yeah, and then you just Run off to the bigger one, you know, and you're going to go kill the other guy.
But they did such a good job on, and I know we say this a lot, and especially me, but the weight, the weight of your character. It is glorious, dude. Everything you do has weight and purpose and meaning, and it just, your shield bashes, like, your charges, your jumps, like, everything about it, it just, you could feel it all.
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Chapter 6: What weapons are available in Doom: The Dark Ages?
Yeah, it was definitely, it almost felt like you were scripted to use that character. You run through, you throw a few punches, kill the guy, blah, blah, blah, it's over, you know, you move on. It was fun, it was enjoyable, like, the moment you get in, you're like, oh, look at me go, and you're this big monstrous, like, robot, but...
after a few guys then it just kind of all right how do i get past this you know so i i agree it was it was really neat and it's a cool feature and i liked seeing it when i'm actually the doom slayer and i see them fighting off to the side was really cool and it was neat um as far as the surrounding goes but overall it was kind of forgettable as far as like a part of the game
Yeah, and I don't understand the necessity. I also, when I first booted it up, I was like, this is cool. It adds some scale to the game. but I don't know why they dumbed their combat down so much. Like it, it went from this very like kinetic engaged, you know, frantic combat. Uh, what, when you're the Slayer to like, now I have like two buttons to push slow and lumbering. Yeah. But I don't know.
Chapter 7: How does gameplay feel in Doom: The Dark Ages?
It just seemed like unnecessarily simplified for some reason. I felt like,
you could change the combat and slow it down to add some scale but not necessarily like like why does dodging have to be a different button now and like now you know i have like i went from like 10 different options to how i kill a guy to now it's literally just right trigger right trigger right trigger right bumper right trigger right trigger right trigger right bumper I don't know.
It's a neat visual thing. It was a neat... Like, it just didn't really... Like I said, the gameplay element of that, for whatever reason, was just probably the lowest point in the game for me. Now, the dragon, on the other hand, I gotta say, Surat, which is the name of the dragon, is my boy. Dude, I... Do you guys, like, talk out loud sometimes when you're playing games? Always.
You know? Always.
Dude, when you get the dragon for the first time, you know you're getting him because the whole level is like, hey, you're heading to, like, the dragon aviary kind of thing. You know it's coming. Dude, this dragon lands, and I just walk up to him, and I'm looking. He's clad in armor. He's got red glowing eyes, got scars on him. He's freaking, like, dragon drool from these massive teeth.
And I literally just laughed out loud. And I went, this is the most metal game I have ever seen, dude. Like, legitimately. It is. I mean, it was just a fun thing where I was just like, I don't know that you can get any more metal. Like, I mean, everything in this game. The guns, the dragon, your gauntlets, the shield. Like, I mean, literally everything is just metal.
It is for sure. And the dragon out of every...
piece of character design in the game was probably one of my favorite it looked like it was like torn straight off of like a 1990s mega death cover or something yes super cool looking that's yeah that's a good spot um so john you play controller right yes so with the dragon because i have a question for you like when you have to auto lock on
to like the turrets to the turrets and stuff like that I ran into a big problem that we can get into if I'm not going to sound like an idiot if you didn't have the same problem so did you have any issue with the dodge like because for me left trigger locked on what was your dodge then
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