“DOOM: The Dark Ages is a prequel” was basically the first thing we heard about DOOM: The Dark Ages (other than its name, maybe, which also implied the very same), so id Software has obviously given us a basic idea of where in the series’ timeline the upcoming first person shooter is going to be placed. As long-suffering fans will attest to, however, the DOOM timeline is no straightforward timeline- as it is, no one can seem to agree on a single consistent chronology that encompasses every single mainline release (to say nothing of the spinoffs), and the fact that id Software itself has never been too willing to provide an official, concrete answer has only made things that much murkier. So how exactly is DOOM: The Dark Ages going to be tied to other titles in the series?
Let’s do this the sane way and take things step by step, because the DOOM timeline, like many other gaming franchises out there, can drive you up the wall if you let it sneak up on you. Let’s start with what we know with a hundred percent certainty. We know that DOOM: The Dark Ages is going to be a prequel to DOOM (2016), which means it’ll be the earlier game in the series’ chronology that id Software has developed since soft rebooting it with the aforementioned title nearly a decade ago.
“Soft reboot” is, of course, the operative phrase here, because DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal are still very much set in the same continuity as and tied to the older DOOM games. In fact, as confirmed explicitly in DOOM Eternal, the Doom Slayer, the protagonist of the new games, and Doomguy, the old DOOM titles’ protagonist, are one and the same. That was obviously that many had already widely assumed but it was never outright officially made clear until Eternal confirmed that, yes, the Doom Slayer is the same guy who fought through the forces of Hell in the original DOOM, DOOM 2, and DOOM 64.
Of course, that raised some entirely new questions- at least for those who were looking for all the pieces to fit together perfectly where the timeline was concerned. DOOM 64 ended with Doomguy deciding to stay behind in Hell and fight against what he had come to see as his mortal enemies in Hell’s armies. An unspecified time skip later (which may or may not amount to roughly 20 years), DOOM (2016) begins with the Slayer locked in a sarcophagus and being awakened on Mars to fight back against invading forces from Hell. So how did he go from where he was at the end of Doom 64 to where he finds himself in 2016?
Whether we will get that direct tie between those two points with DOOM: The Dark Ages, which a significant portion of the series’ fans are obviously desperately hoping for, remains to be seen, though one thing that we do know is that The Dark Ages is not going to directly lead into 2016. You may have assumed that the game would explain how exactly the Slayer winds up sealed in that sarcophagus, but it turns out that question isn’t something that id Software intends to answer just yet. In an interview with PC Gamer, game director Hugo Martin revealed that DOOM: The Dark Ages won’t end with the Slayer being sealed, with id Software leaving the door open for more games in the series’ medieval arc. Whether we will get direct sequels to The Dark Ages that continue to fill out that window in the DOOM timeline isn’t something that the studio seems to have concretely decided yet (or if they have, they’re obviously not willing to publicly speak about it), but either way, The Dark Ages isn’t going to lead directly into DOOM 2016.
The question, then, is how heavily it will tie into the pre-soft reboot DOOM titles. Will the game be clear about how the Slayer’s story picks up from where it left off at the end of DOOM 64, for instance? We’d imagine The Dark Ages won’t focus on that specific too heavily, because at the end of the day, id Software might not want to make the older titles required reading for the new title’s story to be understood- not least because the studio is billing this as a great starting point for newcomers to the series, and because of the greater emphasis being placed on story and storytelling this time around (at least in comparison to what has usually been the status quo with DOOM). Either way, fans will surely be hoping for at least some of the narrative to talk about connections to the past titles. After all, DOOM Eternal did just that, so why shouldn’t The Dark Ages?
One older DOOM game that we can more or less safely assume The Dark Ages will not tie into is DOOM 3. That game’s placement in the DOOM timeline is perhaps the biggest question mark related to the series right now, but most seem to agree on DOOM 3 being its own separate branch of alternate reality, which means it is, for all intents and purposes, not part of the discussion. Maybe id Software one day figures out how to change that in a way that doesn’t feel forced or convoluted- or maybe that just isn’t something that the developer is concerned with, at least for the time being.
Connections to the new titles will obviously be much more prevalent and prominent. Across DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal, we’ve learned a lot about the world of Argent D’Nur, about its denizens known as the Argent, about the elite soldiers known as the Night Sentinels, about the Doom Slayer’s time there, about how he became a legendary warrior when he joined the world’s fight against the invading armies of Hell. DOOM: The Dark Ages is set to focus on that part of the series’ lore, of the Slayer’s fight, and we’re quite excited about it.
Not only are we going to witness the war between Hell and Argent D’Nur – which we know ended with the latter’s defeat, and much of the planet being sucked right into Hell – we are also going to get to see the Night Sentinels in action, and we’re going to get to learn more about how the Doom Slayer turned into the widely feared and revered legend and hero of an ancient war that he is known as in the series’ present day.
Presumably, the final game of this medieval story arc – however many games that ends up being – will end with crucial events that are already known in the lore- the Night Sentinels being betrayed and destroyed, Argent D’Nur being defeated and subjugated by Hell, and the Doom Slayer being captured and sealed. How The Dark Ages itself will end is a bigger mystery, though what it is promising with its focus on Argent D’Nur, an ancient part-medieval-part-futuristic war, and the Doom Slayer growing into his legend is exciting enough in and of itself. With id Software touting a bigger focus on storytelling than in past DOOM titles, we’re more than a little curious to see how The Dark Ages fares in terms of delivering on those promises.
