Doom The Dark Ages comes with multiple difficulty options and accessibility features that will help cater to both Doom veterans as well as those who are new to the franchise. Doom games are known for their insanely high level of difficulty; however, with the new options as well as with the new Difficulty Modifier settings, you will get to tailor your experience in the shooter the way you want.
The different difficulties in Doom The Dark Ages affect parry windows, as well as the amount of damage you deal and receive. In the lowest difficulty setting, you will have a much easier time completing the various missions and challenges that the chapters have to offer.
Here is a guide on everything that you need to know about the different difficulty settings in Doom The Dark Ages and which one you should be picking.
All Difficulty settings in Doom The Dark Ages
There are a total of six difficulty settings that you will be able to enjoy in Doom The Dark Ages. You will be able to select from one of them right from the very start of the narrative. Here is a list of the options as well as what they bring to the table:
| Difficulty Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Aspiring Slayer | This is the easiest difficulty setting, where you have a very high Parry Window along with the Enhanced Targeting and Empowered Attacks ability. These skills will allow you to disrupt enemies much more easily while having a better time aiming. Moreover, enemies will also be less aggressive, and they will deal 50% less damage to you. Enemies will also have a 50% longer dazed time, giving you more room to execute them Finally, you will receive more health, ammo, as well as armor when you pick up resources during missions. |
| Hurt Me Plenty | This is the normal difficulty setting. Enemies will be a bit more aggressive, you will have a smaller Parry Window, and now have access to Enhanced Targeting and Empowered Attack by default. Enemies will do the normal amount of damage (that they are supposed to) and will recover from dazed a lot quicker. |
| Ultra-Violence | Ultra-Violence is when you activate hard mode. Enemies are much more aggressive and will deal 200% damage. The Parry Window is pretty small at this point, and the Dazed duration on them will be reduced to 75% from 100. |
| Nightmare | Enemy aggression is dialed up to the max when you put the difficulty on Nightmare. They will also deal 250% of their base damage, and the parry window will remain extremely small. The resources that you gather from missions will also be very limited. |
| Pandemonium | Pandemonium is similar to Nightmare with one key difference. In Pandemonium, your run will come to an end as soon as you run out of Life Sigils. |
| Ultra-Nightmare | Similar to Pandemonium, however, your run will come to an end as soon as you die, even once. |
Note: You will be able to change the difficulty between the four major settings at any time during your run. However, if you started a run on Pandemonium or Ultra-Nightmare, you will not be able to switch back to one of the four major settings during that run.
Which difficulty setting is right for you in Doom The Dark Ages?
If you are new to the Doom franchise, we do not recommend that you go for anything besides Aspiring Slayer. This mode will teach you about some of the various combat mechanics, including parry, execution, and help you slowly adjust to Doom’s incredibly fast-paced tempo.
If you are more of a casual FPS enjoyed, then Hurt Me Plenty might be the setting that you decide on. The default setting is fair to newcomers as well and will give you a bit more breathing room when you are constantly being swarmed by enemies.
For veterans of the series, however, we recommend Nightmare. This is the perfect setting if you are looking for a challenge, and you can make things even more interesting by putting the difficulty on Pandemonium or Ultra-Nightmare. These will make it some that if you die even once or run out of Life-Sigils, you will have to ruin the entire mission all over again. These final settings are for those who are looking to be complete masters of demon slaying.
Doom The Dark Ages Difficulty Modifiers explained
Difficulty Modifiers is a feature that will let you customize the different difficulty settings in Doom The Dark Ages. It allows you to tailor the experience the way you want, by changing certain aspects of gameplay.
You can increase the amount of damage that the monster does, but increase the parry window in return, so that you can make combat challenging but also much more manageable.
Difficulty Modifiers can be applied to all six settings, even Pandemonium and Ultra-Nightmare. So you can make the runs the way you want them.
