Tech
Doom: The Dark Ages preview: I am a rhino with a gun
The release of the original Doom in 1993 was a pivotal moment in video game history. Widely considered one of the most influential first-person shooters (FPS), Doom's relatively sparse plot followed an unnamed marine (dubbed "Doom Guy" by fans) fighting demons on Mars.
Several decades have passed since then, and expectations for games have significantly evolved. Even so, there are some classic truths that have stood the test of time. One of these is that the joy of mindlessly plowing through demons and exploding them like bloody piñatas remains eternal. In this, Doom: The Dark Ages aims to deliver.
I recently spent a couple of hours with an early PC build of Doom: The Dark Ages, previewing a handful of chapters in the normal "Hurt Me Plenty" difficulty mode to get a feel for the gameplay. While the original Doom was almost exclusively demon-demolishing action, Doom: The Dark Ages makes an effort to incorporate more plot via cinematic cutscenes, taking players well beyond Mars in this prequel to 2016's Doom reboot.
Even so, if you ignore the details, the crux of what I saw was relatively straightforward enough for even newcomers to Doom's lore to grasp. You are the "Slayer," kept as a mind-controlled "super weapon of gods and kings." Your mission? Kill demons. Kill them dead.
Taking on Hell with guns and hubris
Credit: Bethesda
Developed by id Software and published by Bethesda, Doom: The Dark Ages hearkens back to the original '90s game in many ways, complete with floating green armour packs, blue health pickups, and even the Doom Guy's face in the bottom centre of the screen offering an indication of your health. (Doom: The Dark Ages' holographic visage will turn from blue to red when your health is getting low, and begin to take on a distinctly more skull-like appearance.)
Unsurprisingly, this also includes the game's focus on FPS gunplay. Doom: The Dark Ages offers a selection of different weapons which vary gameplay and encourage you to switch up your playstyle. For example, you can shoot a plasma shield with a plasma gun to overcharge it, or fire at metal armour to overheat it before shattering it with a throw of your shield. Choosing the right gun for each situation did have a notable impact on its effectiveness, with different demons more susceptible to different strategies. Watching a plasma shield blow up and take out surrounding enemies is undeniably satisfying.
Fortunately for those who prefer their mindless violence even more mindless, I also found the "just keep firing until it stops moving or you run out of ammo" strategy was also entirely valid.
Personally, I largely favoured charging in with my shield like a rhino, locking on to my paper bag enemies and rocketing across the battlefield to bash them into satisfying gory explosions. Zipping between demons like a deadly ping-pong ball also had the added benefit of bringing me close enough to administer a Super Shotgun to their sturdier colleagues' faces, or a Gauntlet to the gut.
My shield-focused strategy was subsequently improved when chainsaw blades were later added to its rim, creating the most family-unfriendly frisbee ever. This enabled me to throw it to cut down demons like a grimdark Captain America, or even embed it in stronger enemies. Happily, there was no fiddly aiming which might have slowed down the bloody mayhem. I merely needed to lock on to one of the demons before letting my shield deliver death via express post. Finesse has no place in a viscera-soaked battlefield such as this.
Opens in a new window
Aside from the plot and gunplay, Doom: The Dark Ages also expands beyond the franchise's typically linear gameplay to include some maps that are more open. Even so, the open segments I explored in my preview session weren't anywhere near as expansive as the phrase "open-world" might have one imagine. Rather, they merely offered a little room to choose the order in which you tackle battles, or explore to discover resources in secret areas. In one instance, I grew frustrated with a tough fight so wandered off to take out a few easier groups of enemies before returning.
According to the cutscenes, the Slayer's captors have erased everything from his mind except "hatred for demons." Even so, he apparently still retains a working knowledge of commerce, being capable of collecting gold to exchange for weapon upgrades.
Fortunately, you don't have to spend your hard-found gold on ammo, shields, or health. Aside from the aforementioned pickups found around the map, enemies will also drop health upon death if you're wounded. Murdering demons with up close melee attacks can yield ammo as well, encouraging players to keep fighting even against dire odds. Even so, I did find myself frantically running in circles to collect health and ammo packs on at least one occasion, kiting a surprisingly sturdy mini-boss as I gathered the resources to chip away at their health.
Doom: The Dark Ages' mecha made me a big chunky murder baby
Credit: Bethesda
Running, gunning, and punching demons in the face isn't the only chaos you can unleash in Doom: The Dark Ages. Some chapters also allow you to punch giant demons in their giant faces with a giant humanoid Atlan mecha, or engage in aerial combat atop a Mecha Dragon.
The Mecha Dragon is relatively agile, locking on to stationary enemies and swivelling around that point to dodge incoming fire. In contrast to both this and Doom: The Dark Ages' non-mech assisted gunplay, combat in the Atlan takes a more sluggish pace, requiring you to lumber up to your opponent before taking a swing like kaiju duking it out in the streets of Tokyo.
It's an interesting change of pace, and made me feel less like a rhino with a gun and more like a giant toddler inadvertently ruining everything. And just like a toddler, I also felt absolutely no guilt about any of it.
Credit: Bethesda
Doom: The Dark Ages generally doesn't include friendly fire (a fact I discovered after immediately attempting to mow down the first cowering soldiers I encountered). However, the Atlan mecha does allow you to decimate your allies by knocking down bridges they're standing on and stepping on their tanks. The unfriendly destruction is so complete in fact that one could reasonably argue that deploying the Atlan does more harm to the war effort than good.
For my part, turning my allies into pancakes was largely not deliberate — at least, not at first. Sometimes there's just a bridge in the way of your journey, and unfortunately the mecha's designers didn't feel that the ability to step over objects was a necessary function to include.
However, this is also where I found Doom: The Dark Ages' plot a little bit more important to my gameplay experience. I'd have felt a lot worse about killing my allies if they weren't keeping me as a mind-controlled murder slave. Once I remembered this factoid, I had no qualms stomping them like grapes.
Doom: The Dark Ages blends old and new
Credit: Bethesda
Doom: The Dark Ages didn't always keep up the frantic pace I'd expected. Even aside from cutscenes and mecha sections, there were only a few moments during my preview where I got that locked-in focus and flow synonymous with mowing down a seemingly neverending horde of demons. I also remain largely unconvinced that Doom: The Dark Ages' cutscenes and focus on plot are entirely necessary, particularly as the franchise's primary appeal has not historically revolved around its story. It will be interesting to see how this impacts the pace of the game in its final release.
Even so, I found demolishing demons in Doom: The Dark Ages nostalgic, refreshing, and fun, hearkening back to simpler times while still working to add features befitting modern video game standards (including robust accessibility settings). As everything in the world seems to grow increasingly complex, the simple joys can feel increasingly hard to find.
Doom: The Dark Ages is a simple joy, offering a cathartic, mindless escape from complicated problems that can't be solved by indiscriminate violence. There are no moral debates here, no difficult questions or philosophical dilemmas to keep you up at night. There is only evil, and there is gun.
This I can appreciate. Sometimes you just need to work out your anger via a simple demon-busting power fantasy. In that, Doom: The Dark Ages may have you covered.
Doom: The Dark Ages arrives May 15 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.
Hurdle Word 1 hint
To creep around.
Hurdle Word 1 answer
SNEAK
Hurdle Word 2 hint
A long-legged bird.
Hurdle Word 2 Answer
STORK
Hurdle Word 3 hint
To throw.
Hurdle Word 3 answer
CHUCK
Hurdle Word 4 hint
More accurate.
Hurdle Word 4 answer
TRUER
Final Hurdle hint
They show when one smiles.
Hurdle Word 5 answer
TEETH
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
This summer, FX's Alien: Earth latched onto my brain like a Facehugger latches onto a new host.
Now, with the release of the show's Season 1 finale, you'd think that Facehugger would drop off and leave me be. You'd be wrong! Instead, the Season 1 finale leaves viewers with some major questions we'll be puzzling over until the show's potential return.
Here are the five biggest questions we have for Alien: Earth Season 2.
What does a Neverland run by hybrids look like?
Season 1 of Alien: Earth ends with the group of hybrids known as the Lost Boys in total control over the Neverland research facility. They've imprisoned Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), Morrow (Babou Ceesay), Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis), and Atom Eins (Adrian Edmondson). Now, with the adults out of the way, Wendy (Sydney Chandler) declares it's time for the hybrids to "rule."
But what will their rule entail? Will they stay on Neverland, or will they try to extend their authority to the rest of the world? Will they remain fast allies, or will they turn against one another and go full Lord of the Flies on their new island kingdom?
How will Weyland-Yutani and Alien: Earth's other corporations react to Boy Kavalier's plight?
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
By the end of Alien: Earth Season 1, Weyland-Yutani is closing in on Neverland in order to take back the specimens Boy Kavalier stole. But will Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) change tack when she realizes her rival is being held captive? Will she leave the island alone or try to stage a hostile takeover? Perhaps her priorities will change entirely, shifting from trying to capture the alien specimens to trying to perfect Boy Kavalier's revolutionary hybrid tech. Either way, her looming presence does not bode well for the newly independent hybrids.
Weyland-Yutani isn't the only other major corporation on the board in Alien: Earth, though. There are three other corporations we haven't truly met yet: Dynamic, Lynch, and Threshold. Could they be joining the party in Alien: Earth's future?
Don’t miss out on our latest stories: Add Mashable as a trusted news source in Google.
What's next for the loose orchid and eyeball aliens?
While the Xenomorph may be under Wendy's control, there are still several alien threats running wild on the island. In the Season 1 finale, the orchid alien (aka D. Plumbicare) revealed that it could turn into a floating, octopus-like creature and got loose in Neverland. I would not want to be walking around the island with that out there, that's for sure.
But that's not all: Alien: Earth's breakout star, the eyeball alien T. Ocellus, found a new host in the corpse of Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl). We've seen T. Ocellus take over a cat corpse and a human body, but now we get to see it go full zombie mode in what might be Alien: Earth's coolest development yet. But what's T. Ocellus's plan while in Arthur's body? Will it try to find a new, stronger host in, say, a hybrid? (And what would that look like?) Will it finally have a conversation with its biggest fan, Boy Kavalier? And how in the world will Dame react when she sees her beloved husband with a massive new eyeball and a burst-open chest? Bring on the zombie shenanigans!
Will the Xenomorph continue serving Wendy, or will it rebel?
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
For now, Wendy and her Xenomorph seem pretty tight. But what happens if the Xenomorph goes through a rebellious teenage phase and decides it doesn't want to serve its human mother figure anymore? Could the hybrids lose their grip on Neverland if the apex predator at their disposal decides to turn on them?
Wendy's Xenomorph also isn't the only Xenomorph on the island. There's also the specimen that burst out of Arthur's chest. As it grows, will it become territorial with Wendy's Xenomorph, or will it join the hybrid-Xeno family and view Wendy as its queen? If so, what are the odds Wendy tries to build a whole Xenomorph army?
How will Alien: Earth tie back to Alien?
The question hanging over any prequel is "how will this tie back to the original?" and with Alien: Earth, that question is especially pressing, given that it takes place two years before the events of Alien. By that point, there are no mentions of hybrid technology, nor are there any mentions of them in the sequels. So what will happen to the hybrids between then and now to render them obsolete? It's a daunting question, but it's one that Alien: Earth will certainly have to contend with as it closes in on the original films.
Alien: Earth is now streaming on Hulu.
After eight episodes of terrifying new creatures, Alien homages, and existential questions about the future of humanity, Alien: Earth Season 1 has come to a close. And what a close it was.
The finale, titled "The Real Monsters," flips the power dynamic that's been in place for the entire season. By the end of the episode, the hybrid Lost Boys, led by Wendy (Sydney Chandler), have gained total control over their keepers, including Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) and Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis). This power shift has been in the cards since Alien: Earth's first episode, but how do we get here? Let's break it down.
Alien: Earth's hybrids finally realize how strong they are.
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
From the first moment Alien: Earth introduces Wendy in her super-strong, super-fast, super-durable hybrid body, it's clear that she and her fellow Lost Boys could absolutely wreck Prodigy's Neverland security team if they wanted to. That idea doesn't cross their minds, though. Instead, the Lost Boys are still children in consciousness, and they believe Neverland to be a safe paradise for them.
However, this idea erodes over the course of Alien: Earth's first season, as the Lost Boys lose confidence in the people they've been told to trust. They're endangered and experimented on. Nibs' (Lily Newmark) traumatic memories were manipulated. Isaac (Kit Young) died while tending to the alien specimens. Morrow (Babou Ceesay) threatened to kill Slightly's (Adarsh Gourav) family. Each horrifying incident wears away at the Lost Boys' childlike innocence, turning the idyllic Neverland into a hell on Earth.
Ironically, these incidents only increase the Lost Boys' feelings of powerlessness, even though they're the most powerful beings on Prodigy's remote island. But it's also in one of those scenes of powerlessness — when Prodigy forces corner Nibs, Wendy, and her brother Joe aka Hermit (Alex Lawther) on their escape boat in episode 7 — that the Lost Boys begin to realize their power. Nibs fully rips a soldier's jaw off, leaving Hermit to shoot (but not kill) her. Here, a horrified Wendy learns two things. First: Humans, including her brother, are terrified of the hybrids. Second: They have good reason to be. The hybrids are extremely dangerous. So why not embrace that?
That's the realization Wendy comes to in Alien: Earth's Season 1 finale. "All this time, we've been afraid of them," she tells the Lost Boys as they sit trapped in a Neverland cage. "But I think they should be afraid of us."
The Peter Pan allegories come to a head in the Alien: Earth Season 1 finale.
Credit: Patrick Brown/FX
Embracing the Neverland staffers' fear of them is the final stage in the Lost Boys' loss of their childish innocence. Or, in terms of Boy Kavalier's relentless Peter Pan references, this is them finally "growing up." However, that's exactly what the Prodigy founder and the rest of Neverland don't want to happen. As Wendy puts it, "We're all in this cell because we can't be kids anymore, but they won't let us be adults."
Nibs has another suggestion for what they are, one that's especially fitting after seeing the graves of their dead human bodies. "We're all ghosts," she says.
So what do these ghosts do? They turn Neverland into a haunted house, with Wendy using her in-built connection to the facility to manipulate video feeds, elevators, and doors to terrify every last soldier and scientist. Of course, having a Xenomorph at your beck and call helps too.
The entire episode serves as both a liberation for the Lost Boys and an identity crisis for Wendy, otherwise known by her human name, Marcy. She tells her brother, "I don't know what I am. I'm not a child. I'm not a grown-up. I'm not Marcy. I'm not Wendy. And I can't be what everyone wants me to be."
(Earlier in the season, Joe even questions whether Wendy truly holds his sister's consciousness, yet another blow to one of the pillars of Wendy's identity.)
Wendy's statement reflects the binaries in the world of Alien: Earth. Child and adult. Human and synthetic. Hybrids exist somewhere in between, blurring boundaries and creating a new kind of personhood. Wendy and the Lost Boys have spent the entire series having not just new names but entirely new identities imposed on them by exterior forces. Now, they get to make their own. Fellow hybrid Curly (Erana James) embraces her former name, Jane, as Wendy reminds each of the Lost Boys of theirs — a move the late Isaac, formerly Tootles, only enjoyed for an afternoon.
Wendy's identity crisis also explains her affinity for the Maginot aliens, whom she considers "honest." These creatures are wholly themselves, unlike liars such as Boy Kavalier. As Wendy points out, he considers himself Peter Pan, but he was never truly a boy. He was always a "mean, angry little man," just like his abusive father. Ouch. I'm not sure he'll be picking up a copy of Peter Pan any time soon after that.
"Now we rule."
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
"The Real Monsters" ends with Wendy and the Lost Boys holding all of the authority figures in their lives hostage in the same cage they were formerly incarcerated in, prompting Wendy's declaration that, "now, we rule." Even Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), their Prodigy synth senior, and Morrow, their cyborg antagonist, now answer to them.
The hybrids finally taking control is undoubtedly worthy of Alien: Earth's last hard-rocking needle drop. But it's certainly not the end of the Lost Boys' story. After all, the Weyland-Yutani forces are still encroaching on the island with numerous Prodigy forces still left, hinting at more conflict ahead. Plus, the alien orchid is loose, and T. Ocellus has found a new host in the chestburst corpse of Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl). That's a lot of threats for these still-young hybrids to deal with. How will they be able to fight off their enemies and learn how to rule their island?
That question of what it will look like for hybrids to "rule" hints at an intriguing new literary reference point for a possible Alien: Earth Season 2. If Season 1 was the Lost Boys growing up in the style of Peter Pan, then Season 2 might just see them learning to survive on an island in the vein of Lord of the Flies. With that in mind, who's Piggy, who's Ralph, and will the Xenomorph's head somehow wind up on the end of a pointy stick?
Alien: Earth is now streaming on Hulu.
21 Thrift Store Gems You Can Cash in On
How to Collect Social Security While Working (and Jobs to Consider)
Hurdle hints and answers for September 24, 2025
New Kid and Family Movies in 2025: Calendar of Release Dates (Updating)
Brooklyn Mirage Has Been Quietly Co-Managed by Hedge Fund Manager Axar Capital Amid Reopening Drama
The best sexting apps in 2025
-
Entertainment6 months agoNew Kid and Family Movies in 2025: Calendar of Release Dates (Updating)
-
Entertainment3 months agoBrooklyn Mirage Has Been Quietly Co-Managed by Hedge Fund Manager Axar Capital Amid Reopening Drama
-
Tech6 months ago
The best sexting apps in 2025
-
Entertainment5 months agoKid and Family TV Shows in 2025: New Series & Season Premiere Dates (Updating)
-
Tech7 months agoEvery potential TikTok buyer we know about
-
Tech7 months ago
iOS 18.4 developer beta released — heres what you can expect
-
Tech7 months agoAre You an RSSMasher?
-
Politics7 months agoDOGE-ing toward the best Department of Defense ever