DOOM: The Dark Ages Only Featuring A Single-Player Campaign

DOOM Eternal is one of Bethesda's most successful games and among the best DOOM games in the franchise. But unlike previous games in the line that featured multiplayer options, this latest Doom, DOOM: The Dark Ages, will only pursue a great single-player campaign.

Even though DOOM Eternal's multiplayer became massively popular and is all about continuously changing multiplayer activity, the forthcoming DOOM: The Dark Ages is taking a slightly different approach.

The game's director, Hugo Martin, discussed this choice in an interview with GR. He said the team decided early on to cut multiplayer altogether. Rather than dividing their energy between several mediums, they wanted to give their all to make the top solo experience feasible.

Martin mentioned that they had a lot of great ideas to execute with Doom Eternal, which stretched out resources across the campaign and multiplayer, leaving little room for either to really sparkle. id Software started developing DOOM: The Dark Ages by deciding straightaway to concentrate exclusively on perfecting the single-player game.

Still, it's not just about conserving development resources. Martin also noted how present multiplayer games have become huge live service initiatives, in particular, the Helldivers 2. Given fans' current expectations, slapping on a little, half-baked multiplayer mode would not suffice; multiplayer must be done thoroughly. That would, however, entail giving up the quality of the solo campaign, something the team was not prepared to do.

"Let us therefore concentrate 100% on delivering players an amazing campaign," Martin said. "You can't just put a small multiplayer mode on. Should you do it, you have to fully dedicate yourself, and that would cost the single-player experience." One of the best features of DOOM: The Dark Ages is that id Software is changing the gameplay. Martin said in an earlier PC Gamer interview that gamers could truly finish the whole game without ever firing a single shot.

Certainly, it will be rather difficult, but it demonstrates the versatility of combat in this game. You have possibilities; that sounds really nice. Its simplicity as a single-player game has me even more excited. DOOM: The Dark Ages is scheduled to release on May 13, 2025, and we're all eager to find out how this one goes.