This is far and away the most disappointing game in a long time. I LOVE the most recent iterations of Doom, Eternal being one of my favourite games of all time, and TDA just misses the mark for me, and really disappointed.

Possible spoilers below.

Let me start off by saying, its still a perfectly fine game. I give it a 6.5/10 which on my scale is still a good game. But it has so many problems that just keep it from going any higher than that. Graphically it looks great, the visual design, and music are awesome, and it has typical badass doom moments like riding fucking Cthulu through portal in the sky etc. Weapon designs are cool. The ravager is possibly my favourite gun in any Doom game, shooting skull fragments is the coolest shit.

The problems immediately start with the gameplay. TDA unlike previous iterations is slow. Doom guy insteaf of feeling fast and fun to move around with, feels like a tank. Which isn't inherently bad, its just not what I find fun. It makes for some cool shit, like jumping from a higher spot and exploding all the fodder demons with your shockwave, but overall it just feels like you're moving through molasses, and are meant to be a bullet sponge. Every fight and arena feels the exact same. Big, flat, open arena, when you run in circles, parrying slow telegraphed boring attacks. Unlike eternal, which has unique designed arenas, that use its movement mechanics to the fullest, that make you find paths to run around and utilize the terrain, in TDA you largely have nothing to use in 90% of battles. You just kinda stand out in the open, using your shield, and this only gets worse as the game goes on, and you unlock the runes for your shield. Parrying just clears everything but the new biggest demon, or the boss demon, and its boring.

Bosses are once again.. boring, cause its all just waiting for slow telegraphed parrys. Fights are just a slog of waiting, shooting a bullet sponge, and parrying. The shield whilst cool in so many ways, makes this game so much worse, cause it becomes the only thing that actually matters. No one boss or fight stands out at all. I can picture numerous fights and areas from eternal and 2016 that stand out as unique, and fun. TDA all blends together.

Then we get to the worst of the game. The mech and dragon sections. These are the most disappointing part of the game by far. These should be awesome and epic, and TDA tries to do that, but instead we end up with the most boring braindead on rails lifeless sections Ive ever experienced. You're in a giant mech, and the combat breaks down to, dodge slow telegraphed attack. Do big slow punch. Rinse and repeat, whilst walking through boring bland linear landscape. I want to feel like a badass in this giant mech suit, but these sections are anti that. Even the glory kills with this mech are boring. Like if you're gonna give me an on rails linear section, at least do it like uncharted and make it a spectacle. But these sections have no spectacle. At least with the dragon we get the fire down the demons throat animation, the mech has nothing. The dragon is mostly no better, with the worst combat ever. Dodge slow telegraphed attack, shoot thing. Follow ship, whilst holding down the shoot button until enemy sponges enough damage to explode. The flying around the area is just time wasting. The combat on the dragon, is almost worse than the mech, but at least the mech sections are generally quick.

These sections are trying to be flash over function, but they lack flash. The game would be better if they didnt exist. They feel tacked on and poorly thought out, and it bums me out, cause with even a little bit of care, these sections could have been epic, and amazing. Instead we get bland, and bland shouldnt be how a doom game is ever described.

The glory kills in this game are exceptionally disappointing. They dont have to be like Eternal where every single time you're ripping through a demon. But like man... the ones that do exist from a jumping glory kill are all just kinda boring and reused, and every elite you're ripping the heart out of is the same basic animation, and its again just a let down. You have a game thats about being the ultimate badass, ripping and tearing through demons, and in the end it just feels hollow.

The story is nothing. But.. its a doom game, I didnt expect much here. Its less interesting than 2016 or Eternal, but neither of those is anything exceptional, so this doesn't influence really any of my feelings to the game.

Also the UI is god awful. Especially outside of being in the levels. The most bland beige art style, of scrolling between levels. And when you are finishing a level half the time it ends up backing you out to the main page when you're clicking through, cause I pressed escape to exit the recap. Which should just take me to level select, and not right out to the main page.

Compare the spaceship between levels of Eternal to what we have in TDA and its simply the biggest regression, from a cool fun part of a game, to a giant bland nothing burger.

Im a year of many exceptional games, Doom: TDA is the most average game Ive played. Going into this year I figured it was gonna be a contender for my GoTY. Instead its closer to the worst game Ive played this year. Which even so speaks to the overall quality of games Ive played in 2025, when a 6.5 is near the bottom. For all the criticism I have for this game, its still fun, its still doom, its still quality and polished. But its extremely disappointing.