Just like The Ancient Gods DLC that was added to 2020’s Doom Eternal, the Revelations DLC for last year’s Doom: The Dark Ages is DLC done right. What it adds to the Doom experience is worthwhile and isn’t just more of the same content as DLCs for other games often tend to be (such as The Two Masters DLC for last year’s Ninja Gaiden 4). Picking up soon after the events of Doom: The Dark Ages, the Revelations DLC has the Doom Slayer continuing the good fight against the forces of Hell on behalf of the people of Argent D’Nur, but the injury he suffered at the hands of Ahzrak from the main game is beginning to take its toll even on him. And a schism seems to be forming amongst Argent D’Nur and the Maykrs they worship as Hell’s forces seek to drive them further apart and destroy them from within.
Beginning with the Doom Slayer’s full arsenal of weapons from the main game, we destroy more demons in satisfyingly bloody fashion. But upon finally encountering the High Council of Hell known as the Order of the Six, the Doom Slayer is weakened and surprisingly defeated by the Order’s empowered Henchman. He is then dropped into Purgatory, a prison of the mind meant to keep god-like beings such as himself under lock and key for all eternity. The Doom Slayer is found in a crumpled heap by the Architect, the one who created the Purgatory prison eons ago and was subsequently trapped in there as well. After having his wounds tended to, the Doom Slayer finds that his armor and Shield Saw have been destroyed, and the BFC weapon is missing. Fortunately, the Architect gives him the new main weapon he will rely on to destroy his enemies: the Chain Spear. This weapon allows the Doom Slayer to unleash slash attacks to damage enemies and also deflect “Hell Surge” attacks back at them. Later upgrades grant the Chain Spear with the ability to stun multiple enemies with a ground slam (similar to the Sentinel Hammer in The Ancient Gods DLC) and greatly damage single targets with a devastating stab attack that can also temporarily ground pesky teleporting enemies, among other abilities.
But the Chain Spear’s main feature is its ability to launch an extendable chain that allows the Doom Slayer to reel himself into his targeted enemy more quickly. He can also launch the chain at specific grapple points to reach higher areas or navigate through battle arenas more efficiently and gain higher ground or better vantage points to give him the edge in more crowded battles. This lends Revelations a greater sense of verticality than the main game, and combined with the dash ability it grants the Doom Slayer that lets him avoid enemy attacks and even perform perfect dodges that grant him empowerment charges to fuel the Chain Spear’s special attacks, and you’ve got a DLC that combines Doom Eternal‘s focus on fast-paced, run n’ gun gameplay with the melee features of Doom: The Dark Ages. The Doom Eternal influence is further felt about halfway through this DLC when the Doom Slayer regains his Shield Saw, though it is still damaged and has lost most of its perks from the main game. Nevertheless, at this point in the game, you will be able to switch between the Shield Saw and the Chain Spear on the fly, and switching between both weapons along with your different guns to gain an advantage over the many enemies you face really makes this DLC feel like the perfect fusion of gameplay elements from Doom Eternal and Doom: The Dark Ages.
I have to admit that relying solely on the Chain Spear in the first half of the DLC was quite the adjustment for me since it’s the polar opposite of the Shield Saw. The Chain Spear requires you to haul ass and focus on avoiding or deflecting enemy attacks, whereas the Shield Saw lets you take the more direct approach by getting in your enemies’ faces to take them down up close. Being able to switch between both main weapons certainly gives the player more options in battle, but it also made it a bit difficult for me to keep up with the constant change in combat style when switching between these weapons. More than once during some of the tougher battle sequences in this DLC, I found myself frantically trying to unleash a Shield Saw attack, only to realize I had the Chain Spear equipped instead, which caused me to launch an attack that was entirely different from what I had in mind. Using both special weapons in tandem took some getting used to, but it eventually came together for me and allowed me to take down large groups of powerful enemies like the nigh-indestructible badass the Doom Slayer is supposed to be.
Some new enemies are added into the mix to heat things up, the most annoying of which are the Warlocks. These enemies can use demonic magic to buff other enemies, create a dark fog around the area to obscure the player’s vision, launch projectiles, and teleport all over the place like the irritating flies they are. Cosmic Elementals, which are pumped up Pain Elementals, are one other new-ish enemy type added into this DLC, and the Archviles return as well, and they might possibly be even more difficult to deal with here than they were in Doom Eternal. Some enemy encounters will put you up against all these new enemies along with the other ones in the main game, making them particularly deadly encounters to deal with. The overall challenge level of the Revelations DLC is definitely higher than the main game, but it’s not quite to the same degree as the jump in difficulty from Doom Eternal to its own DLC.
There’s good progression in Revelations as well, with the Doom Slayer able to gather platinum and other resources to upgrade his armor, health, and ammo capacity, along with the previously mentioned new abilities for the Chain Spear. Unlike the previous games and DLC, which feature separate linear missions to go through that can be replayed upon completion, Revelations features the Purgatory prison as the main hub area, and from there you go to each new mission through a portal. Each mission will have certain areas that will be locked until completing the main story, at which point you will start the endgame. Only upon reaching the endgame will you be able to return to previous mission areas through the now permanently active portals in Purgatory to access those locked areas, as well as to find any collectibles or resources you likely would have missed the first time around. You’ll also regain the Shield Saw’s full list of perks in the endgame and even be able to find the BFC weapon in one of the endgame mission areas. Furthermore, new resources will grant the Doom Slayer with extra perks for his Chain Spear and extra upgrades for his armor, health, and ammo capacity. You’ll need them.
With regards to collectibles, their locations don’t appear on the map until after you collect them, so if you happen to miss a couple of collectibles on your first time through a mission, then trying to track them down when you return to that mission area can be quite the chore. The more entertaining part of the endgame content includes special timed challenges that have you either killing a certain number of enemies or destroying specific targets. Other challenges include really tough enemy encounters or playing through reimagined classic Doom levels similar to the hidden ones found in Doom (2016). Completing all these challenges rewards you with a secret weapon and grants you access to a secret boss fight. Naturally, this secret boss was the toughest one I’ve faced in any Doom game. Seriously, that bastard put my multitasking skills to the test. But that’s just me.
Finally, the Revelations DLC has one other feature that is overall superior to the main game: a better story. More codex entries are included that reveal very interesting background info on the Doom Slayer and his troubled past from when he was a space marine named [REDACTED]. We even go through a few playable flashback segments of a mission the Doom Slayer undertook during his space marine days where he shoots through enemy soldiers with the classic shotgun from the original Doom games. If you were a fan of Doom: The Dark Ages or Doom Eternal before that, playing this DLC will be time well spent for you.
Developer: id Software
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release Date: 7th July 2026
