What you need to know
- Rumors have been swirling for a while that the next DOOM from Microsoft subsidiary id Software is on the docket for an imminent reveal.
- Now, separate reports we can corroborate suggest the next DOOM is a prequel of sorts, dubbed DOOM: The Dark Ages.
- We can also corroborate reports that DOOM: The Dark Ages is a multiplatform release for both Xbox and PlayStation.
It has been four years since DOOM Eternal graced our screens, and id Software is showing no signs of slowing down.
Today, separate reports from reliable sources at Insider Gaming and Nate The Hate have given us a glimpse at where DOOM is headed next. We’re about to get medieval.
We can corroborate Insider Gaming and Nate’s reports on DOOM: The Dark Ages. Although I didn’t have the name, multiple sources confirmed to me over the past few weeks that DOOM is heading to the Xbox Games Showcase 2024. The game’s working title was DOOM: Year Zero, originally leaked via the FTC last summer, and it seems that DOOM: The Dark Ages will be a prequel of sorts.
DOOM game director Hugo Martin has remarked on previous streams that he desires to slow DOOM down a bit, to make you feel like you’re a hulking monster truck rather than a deadly race car. It would fit the theme of DOOM heading to the past, before the Doom Slayer acquired many of his modern powers and weapons — although the Night Sentinels of Argent D’nur still had access to guns and things of this nature, albeit with a traditional “knightly” twist. But perhaps the setting will be before Doom Slayer even encountered the Night Sentinels as well.
With the modern DOOM games expanding the lore exponentially to other planets and races, the march of Hell across the cosmos could potentially go anywhere, to any time period. DOOM Slayer will be there to rip and tear, of course, with reckless abandon.
DOOM: The Dark Ages is coming to PlayStation too
I can also confirm Nate’s report that DOOM: The Dark Ages is slated for PlayStation as well. Microsoft acquired Zenimax a few years ago, and with it id Software and the DOOM IP. I remarked in my Xbox Games Showcase 2024 predictions that you might get a glimpse at Microsoft’s evolving multiplatform strategy at the show, and this is partially what I was referring to. Some may lament the opportunity Microsoft had to “pull” DOOM away from PlayStation, but id Software was already set up for building multiplatform titles in parallel — DOOM has always existed on PlayStation too, and as with franchises like Fallout and Minecraft, it doesn’t make any sense to arbitrarily pull it from one of the game’s biggest fanbases. The business is selling games after all.
Naturally, though, you can expect DOOM: The Dark Ages marketing to have a very heavy Xbox slant, alongside Call of Duty Black Ops 6, and various other upcoming games slated for the Xbox Games Showcase 2024 on June 9th, 2024, some of which will also potentially go multiplatform to PlayStation too.
