In Doom 2016, there were over 650 secrets to find. Doom Eternal had even more. Whether they took the form of toys, codexes, albums, secret encounters, or slayer gate, you could never really be sure you had found everything in a given area before you passed some sort of threshold or point of no return – locking you out of exploration and often meaning you’d have to play through a whole level again in order to locate everything you wanted to see.
Well, it looks like Id Software and Bethesda have learned their lesson in Doom: The Dark Ages. Whether you’re playing through the more straightforward levels or exploring the well-put-together open-ended areas, the game will throw up a warning whenever you’re about to cross a threshold and leave an area.
This means, thanks to a little icon exactly where the game changes you over into a new area or world state, you will always be able to tell when your last opportunity to nab any secrets in a given area will be. If you’re a 100% fiend (like me) that likes to lick all the gravy off the bones before you move onto a new meal, Doom: The Dark Ages is going to make things a little easier for you.
Even in a short four-hour demo of the game at an event in Germany, this tiny little quality of life change saved my ass two or three times. There is no mini-map (this is a good thing), so if you’re navigating a large area, you need to bring up the big, multi-layered map from the menu. Playing through the more standard linear parts of the game, this feels like needless busywork; the paths are fairly straightforward and if you’ve got a secret-sniffing instinct in your bones, you’ll know when to drop off a ledge or bust down a wall to find that extra loot.
Except even the best noses are sometimes a little off, aren’t they? So, during the second level of the game, I was about to head down some medieval-inspired path, and all of a sudden I get this little logo saying ‘oop, it’s the end of the level!’ I kick up the map and notice one tiny little unfinished bit of the hologram… so I turn about face, head back into the level, and nab me a nice little toy. Success! Thanks, UI designer, you’ve saved minutes of my life.
It’s only a little thing, but in a game as obsessed with secrets and collectibles as Doom is, it shows the developers are as interested in making sure that element of the game has as much attention and production value as the amazing combat. After all, if the devs have pumped hours and hours into making a gnarly little combat encounter in a secret courtyard, it makes sense they’ll do everything in their power to make sure you see it, right?
It’s even better in the massive, open-ended levels. I played through one of these (it took up most of the play session), and knowing that I had free reign to sniff absolutely everything out before the game spirited me away to some ludicrous Atlan-focused set-piece… well, it was great.
I got a little frustrated with finding all the collectibles in Doom Eternal, so I’m really hoping these little touches in Doom: The Dark Ages make the overall experience a little less frictious. We’ll see if it works as well in the final game as it does the demo when Doom: The Dark Ages launches on May 15 for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5.
