There’s been some controversy surrounding a few upcoming features forDoom: The Dark Agesrecently, but the game’s director has quickly put some rumors to rest by clarifying what the team has planned for the game’s QuakeCon update and how these upcoming changes will affect gameplay. ThoughDoom: The Dark Agesisstill quite new, it has already received a variety of patches that have brought several tweaks to certain weapons, enemies, and gameplay mechanics, and the game’s developers have made it clear that they plan to bring much more to the title in the future.
Fans in theDoom: The Dark Agescommunity were split after game director Hugo Martin recently discussed some planned upcoming changes to the game in a livestream with popular YouTuber Under The Mayo. Martin talked about continuing tofine-tuneDoom: The Dark Ages' difficultyin a number of ways, including by reducing the ammo capacity of certain power weapons like the rocket launcher. However, most of the controversy stemmed from the developers' plan to adjust certain enemy attacks to become unparryable in a future update. With the slogan forDoom: The Dark Agesbeing to “stand and fight,” the game involves many new mechanics not present in previous titles, chief among which is the ability to parry and block attacks with the Slayer’s new shield saw.
Some in the community were quick to voice their reservations about future balance changes making it impossible to parry certain attacks from the Agaddon Hunter demon, but Martin was quick to respond to feedback in a Reddit post of his own. Martin immediately debunked the misinformed rumor thatThe Dark Ageswill soon be receiving a 2.0 update. “2.0 implies a fundamental change to the game’s design, that is not what we are doing,” he wrote. Instead, Martin explains thatDoom: The Dark Ageswill simply be adding new contentfor free in an upcoming QuakeCon update in the same way previous games, likeDoom Eternal, have in the past.
The Future of Doom: The Dark Ages Focuses Less on Changes and More on New Content
Martin continued his post by shedding some light on how the developers currently intend to adjust the Agaddon Hunter’s attacks in the future, stressing that the enemy’s main combat loop will not be changed. While every melee attack thrown by this particular enemy can be parried inthe latest version ofDoom: The Dark Ages, the team plans to make one of the enemy’s attacks - its charged melee attack thrown from overhead - unable to be parried in an upcoming update. Hugo further clarified that players will still be able to block this particular attack normally, and doing so will not immediately break the player’s shield.
Still, some players argue that certain parts of the game, such as enemy attack patterns, shouldn’t be adjusted after players have dedicated time learning the intricacies of the high-octane FPS title. Whatever the case, players should rest assured that the team behindDoom: The Dark Agesdoesn’t make gameplay tweaks lightly, and plans to adjust certain features may change in any number of ways by the time future patches are ready for release.
