Until you get your hands on it, it's hard to comprehend how much bigger Doom: The Dark Ages is compared to its predecessors. Not only are the Doom: The Dark Ages missions generally more open than what we've come to expect, there's also tons of them to complete and heaps (and I mean heaps) of secrets to uncover.
Below I'll go over all the campaign missions in Doom: The Dark Ages so you have an idea of how long it'll take you to beat it. Despite being a prequel to both Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal, I'll also make some comparisons to The Dark Ages' predecessors.
Doom: The Dark Ages missions list in order
There are 22 missions in Doom: The Dark Ages:
- Village of Khalim
- Hebeth
- Barrier Core
- Sentinel Barracks
- Holy City of Aratum
- Siege Part 1
- Siege Part 2
- Abyssal Forest
- Ancestral Forge
- The Forsaken Plains
- Hellbreaker
- Sentinel Command Station
- From Beyond
- Spire of Nerathul
- City of Ry'uul
- The Kar'Thul Marshes
- Temple of Lomarith
- Belly of the Beast
- Harbor of Souls
- Resurrection
- Final Battle
- Reckoning
The vast majority of these missions are the typical chaos and twisting corridors we've come to expect from the modern Doom games, albeit with less parkour than Doom: Eternal. The slight exception to this is the more open, objective-based structure of some chapters, which you'll first notice with Siege Part 1.
The biggest departure in The Dark Ages is the dragon and mech missions, which significantly change the flow altogether. In Barrier Core, you'll be introduced to your Atlan mech, which reappears in a few later missions that are all incredibly quick but explosive sections. Likewise, the dragon levels take the open objectives to new heights, letting you fly around and land on different areas.
Of course, each mission also tends to introduce a new mechanic or weapon, as well as new enemy types, so the combat never gets old. There are also tons of secrets to find and challenges unique to each level, giving you everything from weapon skins to cute action figures, lore pages, and valuable upgrade materials.
How long is Doom: The Dark Ages?
Doom: The Dark Ages is around 18-22 hours long if you're playing rather casually, collecting some of the secrets as you go, but not trying to get 100% completion on every single level.
With 22 missions, you've no doubt done the maths and come to the conclusion that each mission is around an hour long. If you did that, then I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. Some missions, like Siege Part 1, Ancestral Forge, and The Forsaken Plains are much longer, taking place on more open maps where you're free to tackle the objective in any order. On the other hand, missions like Barrier Core and Hellbreaker are incredibly short and linear.
A standard playthrough of The Dark Ages, therefore, only takes a few hours more than Doom: Eternal, despite having almost double the number of missions.
Here's how long it took reviewer Morgan Park to beat the campaign:
Playing Doom: The Dark Ages for review, I rolled credits at around 16 hours. I'm usually someone who only picks up conveniently placed collectibles near where I'm already going, but Doom has a way of bringing out the secret hunter in all of us. Also, most of its "secrets" aren't especially well hidden, so I ended up finding a lot of gold and rubies throughout the campaign (maybe 60%-70% of the secrets in each level).
If you're aiming to get all the Doom: The Dark Ages secrets and collectibles, then that's going to take you significantly longer. Scouring every single level has taken me upwards of 30 hours for a completionist run, as there really is a hell of a lot to find in most of the chapters.
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