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- Setting and lore
- The Timeline
The setting of Doom The Dark Ages and the game's lore and timeline are worth understanding before you snatch up your shotgun and shield. Doom The Dark Ages has a slightly confusing relationship both to real history and the actual Doom timeline, as it doesn't exactly match with what we know about the same period of human history.
We'll explain everything you need to know about the Doom The Dark Ages setting, lore and timeline below in a totally Spoiler-Free guide, meaning that you don't need to worry about anything in the game itself being ruined for you!
What is the setting and lore in Doom The Dark Ages?
Fire and Water in Doom The Dark Ages
Struggling with the game's puzzles? Check out how to solve the Doom The Dark Ages fire pipe door in Hebeth, or discover how to navigate the Doom The Dark Ages rotating room in the Kar'Thul Marshes!
Doom The Dark Ages covers a war called The Unholy Crusade, referenced in Doom 2016 and elaborated on more heavily in Doom Eternal, but never shown before now. That war was between the demons of Hell and the alien world of Argent D'Nur, led by King Novik and their greatest warriors, The Night Sentinels.
As shown in Doom Eternal, the Doomguy accidentally ends up on Argent D'Nur during his battles with the demons, and after proving himself in the gladiator arena would become one of their most legendary warriors. In fact, he was so effective that their masters, the angelic Maykrs, will bestow Doomguy with superhuman abilities and turn him into the Doom Slayer (you can play Eternal for more info on this).
But this is where The Dark Ages takes place: Doomguy is now the Slayer, fighting to keep the demons off Argent D'Nur in allegiance with the Maykrs and Night Sentinels. The reason it looks like the medieval period (and is called The Dark Ages) is because the culture of Argent D'Nur is a mixture of Viking, fantasy and medieval mixed with science fiction technology (this is why nearly all Doom The Dark Ages weapons look the way that they do). The game isn't actually set in Earth's Dark Age period, though it is clearly inspired by it and the mythology around it.
What year is Doom The Dark Ages set in? The Doom Timeline Explained:
Doom The Dark Ages isn't set in a specific year as we know it, as it isn't set on Earth, but instead the alien world of Argent D'Nur, so a specific year date wouldn't help to clarify anything. It would be more illustrative to say that The Dark Ages is a sequel to the original Doom games, but a prequel to the Doom 2016 reboot. That means the chronological order of all Doom games – aka, the Doom timeline – goes as follows:
- Doom (1993)
- Doom 2
- Doom 64
- Doom: The Dark Ages
- Doom (2016)
- Doom: Eternal
- Doom: The Ancient Gods Part 1
- Doom: The Ancient Gods Part 2
Ready to start playing through the Unholy Crusade? We've got the solutions to the toughest puzzles, the Doom The Dark Ages Wolf Statues, right here! Or if you're wondering what's ahead of you, find out: how long is Doom The Dark Ages? It might be more than you think…
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Joel Franey
Guides Writer
Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.
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