Medieval, heavy and bloodier than ever. Doom Slayer is back

Doom Slayer is medieval and postmodern. Not the gymnast of Doom Eternal, it is heavy and metallic, a bloody and truculent tank. Doom: The Dark Ages, the new instalment in id Software's 1993-born franchise, gets closer to its origins. First-time fans will quickly realise this. Doom, historically, is the most frenetic, over-the-top, splatter shooter, perhaps the most self-mocking. The 'rip and tear' is that of the golden age, the aesthetics are dark and minimalist - too much so, perhaps - and the prospect is to bring the series' lore back into line to tell the story and events surrounding the Doom Slayer in a cinematically inspired way. True fans will love it.

You run and jump armed to the teeth, shooting like there's no tomorrow. You slaughter demons waiting to tear them apart in a lake of blood. Doom is not a video game for sophisticates, but it's not a dumb shooter. Not at all. The combat system is not articulate, but it is to be mastered and is, after all, varied. This writer did not like the platforming approach of Doom Eternal, but he is one who is bored with winning the same way every time. That's it, with Doom there is no one weapon or tactic that always applies to all maps.

The shield-motoscope, the electrified gauntlet of arms and the spiked mace. Most of all, the spiked mace, also because it is the stylistic feature of this Doom: The Dark Ages. I liked it because it is a natural 'tank'. Also because finding guts and bits of brains along the way takes me back to when I was younger.

That maybe he didn't feel like going back that far. The prequels always have the limitation of never revealing much of the main plot. This Doom, which is among the most narrative in the series, is the one that tells more of the lore, even if it didn't feel too much like it.