Despite 2025 delivering no shortage of critical darlings and blockbuster successes, DOOM: The Dark Ages emerged as the year’s biggest triple-A anomaly. It crossed three million players and averaged a far bigger launch than DOOM Eternal yet with far less buzz – and not just because of the meeker but still positive critical reception. Say what you will about the weaker elements of The Dark Ages, some of the larger levels that leaned ever so slightly toward semi-open world, and the weapon selection, id Software’s more grounded, defensive gameplay drew as much ire as it did support.
So you would think Revelations is an attempt to correct that – to bring back some of that aerial combat that Eternal fans knew and loved without sacrificing the defensiveness that defined The Dark Ages. The result is an expansion that finds a balance, delivering the carnage befitting the Slayer, broken down or otherwise, while providing those frantic moments filled with possibilities. And in many ways, it’s a fitting send-off to a trilogy that began in 2016, providing some much-needed conclusions while still leaving room for future entries.
“The Chain Spear is the exception, and it’s easily one of the most fun additions to the game.”
In the aftermath of everything that happened during The Dark Ages, with the Slayer securing his freedom, Revelations answers a few questions about the character’s past. If you’re not up to date on what happened in Eternal – and the events that ultimately led to the fall of the Sentinels – then some elements will doubtless go over your head. Nevertheless, it’s fun to finally get some clarity on key events, even if several remain open to interpretation.
In other ways, it really feels like id Software tried to dig deep into other elements of the Slayer and expand upon them further. Case in point: the confirmation of the Slayer’s real name from before the chaos on Mars, which further reinforces his deep-seated guilt. It also kind of loops back to Daisy, his pet rabbit, that kickstarted his vendetta against Hell. All in all, it’s a notable sideplot, and brings things full circle for the character (for those who care).
Of course, as with the previous games, the real reason you’re playing Revelations is for the combat. The extensive slaying of foes in extravagantly gory ways, fighting to the brink of death and executing some poor fool, their life essence fueling your path of destruction for a little longer. The expansion doesn’t bring any new guns – everything from The Dark Ages is here and pretty much fully upgraded (save for the Shield Saw, which returns a few hours in but lacks its Runes). The Chain Spear is the exception, and it’s easily one of the most fun additions to the game yet.
Beyond just slicing through hordes of fodder like it’s nothing, it can latch onto any target like the Super Shotgun’s Meat Hook in Eternal and let you swing around. Pick up a few upgrades, and you can actually execute clean orbits with increased hangtime while also burning them and gaining some bits of armor in the process. Empowerment is the new hotness, as parrying green projectiles and executing enemies will enable charges for the Spear, which in turn enable abilities like Stab, Slam and turning it into a javelin to lodge in some poor sod’s head. All of these have upgrades in turn, from Stab being used to break superheated armor on enemies to Slam generating health orbs.
“While the jury is out on whether Revelations represents the genre’s best work yet, I traversed these environments without stopping, eagerly anticipating what came next.”
Of course, when starting with it for the first time, the Chain Spear can feel a bit awkward. Your swing is the parry, with a timing that’s ever so slightly different from the Shield Saw. Furthermore, the Meat Hook is prepped by holding down the right mouse button (or your equivalent control) and then releasing it. Couple that with holding it down again in mid-flight to orbit, and it can take some practice to unlearn what The Dark Ages has taught you.
The lack of upgrades early on, especially the means to consistently maintain Empowerment, can also make the transition challenging. It also doesn’t help that the returning Archvile is one of the more annoying enemy types in the game, generating shields to protect itself, dishing out tons of projectiles in every direction, endlessly summoning minions, and teleporting all over the place. On Ultra-Violence, it proved a difficult affair, just by sheer virtue of how much damage it could deal. The fact that it doesn’t shoot any green projectiles, instead forcing you to channel Empowerment from everything else in the arena, makes it all the trickier to deal with. By comparison, the Warlocks feel more “fair”, empowering existing enemies but still being relatively easy to locate and lock down to deal damage.
When you start unlocking more upgrades and get into a rhythm with the Chain Spear, it sings like few others. Hooking onto an enemy, sailing across the room while overloading them with bone fragments before executing them; dodging green melee attacks from a Hunter to poke them with Stabs; and best of all, flying up into the air before slamming down with authority – all of this feels so immensely satisfying. Even fighting the new Buzzsaw can be fun, as you weave between its projectiles and get in close enough to bait out its melee attacks while slowly overheating its shield. When you’ve cleared out a room of threats, the adrenaline coursing, it’s difficult not to stop and shout “Are you not entertained?!” to no one in particular.
If there’s one complaint, it’s that swinging with the Meat Hook can get awkward when there are pillars or walls in the way. This results in the Slayer moving while still in place, until you tap in the other direction. It’s more hilarious than problematic, but can sometimes throw you off.
The other big appeal of Revelations is its level design. While the jury is out on whether Revelations represents the genre’s best work yet, I traversed these environments without stopping, eagerly anticipating what came next. And besides the big arena fights against numerous enemies, it also meant some interesting puzzles, particularly those that required embedding the Shield Saw to create a platform while using the Chain Spear to pull walkways. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed the forboding walls of Chasm of Xal’Goroth. Osseus is probably weaker than the Chasm because its main appeal – the giant bones decorating the landscape – feels a little too ancillary.
“Revelations isn’t what DOOM: The Dark Ages should have been at launch. Instead, it shines on its own, delivering a compelling, if once again straightforward, experience and an excellent new tool in the Chain Spear.”
Once you finish the campaign (and its admittedly sick boss fights), the end-game opens up. I was initially skeptical about this approach, but leave it to id Software to know what they’re doing. New pathways open up in existing levels, which house new activities, like Rituals of Power, where completing an objective as fast as possible can net different medals. Gold will reward a piece of the Astral Key, which is necessary to face tougher foes; Silver awards Blood Iron for those last upgrades on your armor and Chain Spear. I like these because they’re as much about plotting the optimal route to complete objectives as saving time in how you’re slaying enemies. That Glory Kill may feel satisfying during regular gameplay, but it could end up costing precious seconds here.
The end-game has more to offer when you restore the Runes on the Shield Saw and start unlocking abilities that encourage switching between it and the Chain Spear. Or exploring Chasm and Osseus, and unearthing its many secrets, or even challenging its difficult areas. And yet, even with so much to do, there’s rarely any fluff or uninteresting moments (aside from possibly traversing through old pathways from the campaign to clean up any collectibles).
Revelations isn’t what DOOM: The Dark Ages should have been at launch. Instead, it shines on its own, delivering a compelling, if once again straightforward, experience and an excellent new tool in the Chain Spear, which in turn benefits from tense encounters against various foes. Throw in the incredible tech prowess that id Software is known for, combined with a strong soundtrack (which I found better than the base game), and this is from a simple add-on. It’s a standalone experience that’s worthwhile for almost any fan and one that should stand as a testament to the genre’s legacy.
This game was reviewed on PC.
