After 30 years of guns and gore this franchise is turning to story

“We’re not really focused on the genre, and the expectations around the genre. I think if you get caught up in that, you’re going to start limiting yourself, cooking with the same ingredients and ending up with something that feels too similar to everything else. We’re just trying to make a really great, fun shooter campaign experience.”

So, how do you build a story with a character that almost everybody knows as silent and extraordinarily single-minded when it comes to killing demons? You build it around him, of course.

The Dark Ages opens on a fight for control of the Slayer and his incredible powers, set after the military installations of the original games but before Earth scientists tried to use him for their own purposes in the 2016 game. He fights for the Maykr, an extradimensional god race ostensibly on the side of the human-like Sentinels in a war against hell. But it will be clear even to newcomers of the series that the Slayer isn’t necessarily a willing soldier, and the Maykrs are uneasy allies.

“He’s this superhuman. He has godlike powers, but he’s a stranger from another world that doesn’t talk. I don’t think the demons are the only ones who are kind of afraid of him,” Martin said.

“And his power is coveted by everyone, that’s kind of how our story begins. As people try to control the Slayer, obviously the balance of power between good and evil will shift. You’re not supposed to control the Slayer, he’s like a force of nature.”

With the new medieval-inspired setting comes a few new gameplay additions too, including a shield that can be used to parry demons’ attacks or thrown Captain America-style (except the Slayer’s shield has chainsaw teeth around the edge, of course). There are heaps of new guns, but several melee weapons too, and entire sections where you pilot a huge Slayer-shaped mech or fly on the back of an armoured dragon.

The game’s executive producer, Marty Stratton, said these elements weren’t simply added to mix up the gameplay. They’re fully-fledged systems inspired by the coolest parts of the lore from previous games that fans have enjoyed speculating about and can now see realised.

“Those things do take massive commitments from us to do well and do right, and to make sure they are that epic experience that people expect,” he said.

“For us, that meant basically not doing multiplayer for this game so that we could just focus on the campaign experience. We could take these really massive, epic experiences of driving a mech and flying a dragon, and do them to the extent that the players will be satisfied.”

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While id was an upstart studio in the early ’90s that became one of the first rock star video game brands, these days it’s a subsidiary of Zenimax Media, which in turn is owned by Microsoft. That means The Dark Ages will join all the previous Doom games on the Xbox Game Pass subscription service on the day it launches. It has to continue the story while also being accessible for subscribers who’ve never played a Doom game, and big enough to keep players occupied until the next big release.

But how will original Doom fans react to the expanded story and mechanics in The Dark Ages?

Martin said the team’s goal was to make a modern, single-player first-person shooter with an ergonomic, streamlined control scheme, that anyone could enjoy thanks to hugely customisable difficulty and accessibility settings. But it was also inspired directly by the feel of the original Doom.

“We wanted to slow down the projectiles, make them hit harder … shorten the range of the weapons to encourage [the player] to fight up close because it’s a medieval game and because classic Doom really encourages you to get in there and fight,” he said.

“So I think that they would be proud, I hope, because it feels a lot like the game they love from the ’90s.”

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For Stratton, the story elements end up strengthening the core revenge-taking action of the series. For practically the first time in the series there is a real adversary in the form of the demonic Prince Ahzrak, who appears jealous of the fear the Slayer can evoke.

“It reinforces how powerful and badass you are. And having that play out through the course of the game – and you know, you’re kind of controlled by the maker gods – it really does add an element of humanity,” he said.

“Fighting against a real adversary, fighting against the subjugation that you find yourself in at the beginning, you really get to take it out on the demons. And it makes it all that much sweeter.”

The Slayer is, after all, ultimately a human. The developers wouldn’t be drawn on whether The Dark Ages touches on that more relatable or cerebral side of the character, as previously grunting and eyebrow-raising has been the extent of his emotional range. But Martin did say that despite all the ancient mystical power and mind control he’s endured, his humanity remains intact.

“No matter where he goes or what kind of evil he fights, it’s always about the will of the Slayer, the triumph of the human spirit. That’s kind of corny, but it is a theme that’s at the core of all the Doom stories,” he said.

“His greatest strength is not his guns, it’s his will to persevere.”

Doom: The Dark Ages launches on May 15 for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC.

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