Summary
Doom: The Dark Agesdirector Hugo Martin is responding to ongoing player criticism regarding the game’s difficulty level, with some dubbing the upcoming FPS title “Woke Ages.” Less than two months from the game’s release,Doom: The Dark Agesremains one of the most highly anticipated launches of 2025, with fans of the franchise eager to step back into the shoes of the Doom Slayer.
The eighth main entry in the franchise,Doom: The Dark Agesis a follow-up to the 2020 titleDoom Eternalwhile also narratively serving as a prequel to 2016’sDoom. The long-awaited game was properly announced in June 2024, and arelease date forDoom: The Dark Ageswas leakedin January 2025, with fans quickly speculating where in the timeline the upcoming title would be set and what hard-hitting weapons they could expect to wield. While most in the community are gearing up forDoom’s signature fast-paced combat, some have taken to social media to decry the game’s difficulty ahead of its May 15 release, calling the new FPS “woke.”
According to a new report fromComicBook.com, director Hugo Martin has plenty to say about thedifficulty settings inDoom: The Dark Ages. Early in 2025, it was revealed thatThe Dark Ageswould take a more novel approach to difficulty settings, allowing players to utilize a series of sliders to customize their experience. Alongside a standard difficulty setting, fans will be able to tweak things like game speed, enemy aggression, and the ability to make the player and enemies take more or less damage per hit. Some have called this decision “woke,” claiming that it will take away the challenge. “I don’t agree with that,” Martin said. “Really, when you think about options like the sliders, the policy was it has to be good both for the white belts and the black belts. You know, if we’re gonna allow you to slow the game down, we have to enable you to speed the game up.” The director also explained that the sliders don’t only have the ability to make things easier, but they can make the game much more difficult as well.
Doom: The Dark Ages Director Hugo Martin Addresses Concerns Regarding Game’s Difficulty Level
Since the game’s announcement, many longtime fans have worried that the upcoming title would be the last entry inDoom’s reboot trilogy. In January, however, Martin confirmed thatDoom: The Dark Ageswould not be the last game in the series, further commenting that he would be happy to work on the franchise for “a long time.” 2020’sDoom Eternalsaw incredible success, pulling in over 100,000 concurrent Steam users on launch day and earning over $450 million in revenue less than a year after its release.
Recent rumors indicate thatDoom: The Dark Agesmay also be a Nintendo Switch 2 title, though this remains unconfirmed. Those eager to learn more about the upcoming console will want to tune in to a special Nintendo Switch 2 Direct on April 2 to find out more about the games headed to the system at launch.
