DOOM: The Dark Ages System Requirements and Recommended Specs

There aren’t a lot of games that can match the exhilarating experience that the recent DOOM games have provided. Leaping through gorgeously ray traced environments at breakneck speeds and mowing down frankly irresponsible numbers of enemies is an absolute treat that’s rarer than it should be in modern gaming.

DOOM: The Dark Ages looks to be continuing this style of gameplay (albeit a little bit slower) and with a medieval twist, so of course PC gamers are keen for this newest instalment, especially since it’s been five years since DOOM Eternal. However, the aforementioned speed and beautifully detailed environments do necessitate a strong PC, so check out DOOM: The Dark Ages’ system requirements below to make sure your specs are suitable.

• OS: Windows 10 / 11 64-Bit
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X / Intel Core i7 12700K
• RAM: 32GB
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3080 / AMD RX 6800
• Storage: 100 GB Available Space (NVMe SSD required)

• OS: Windows 10 / 11 64-Bit
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X / Intel Core i7 10700K
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2060 SUPER / AMD RX 6600
• Storage: 100 GB Available Space (NVMe SSD required)

Helpfully, the Steam Store page for Doom: The Dark Ages suggests that you can expect “1440p / 60 FPS / High Quality Settings” from a system with the recommended specs and “1080p / 60 FPS / Low Quality Settings” from a system with the minimum specs.

Additionally, we can see that the publishers are really pushing that you have a GPU that’s capable of hardware ray tracing. So, if you’re upgrading your PC to play this game, that’s something to keep in mind for sure. They’ve even given a baseline amount of VRAM too. (8 GB minimum, and 10 GB recommended.)

The recent DOOM games have been capable of some incredible performance and visuals, so they’ve required correspondingly incredible hardware to run well. This trend is continuing with DOOM: The Dark Ages. A large part of why these DOOM games need such powerful PCs is the speed at which you fly through the levels.

FPS games like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and CS2 are downright pedestrian by comparison. So, you’re asking the game to render sumptuous environments and detailed visual effects and allow you to bound through it all like a maniac at intergalactic velocities.

So, now you know a bit about why DOOM: The Dark Ages is tough to run, let’s see what you can do about that.

If your PC doesn’t meet either of the spec lists above, a new GPU should be the first priority and after that, a new CPU. Nvidia’s 50 Series are good candidates here, and they might be more easily attainable by the time this game launches on the 15th May. Additionally, AMD's new 90-Series will perform the best for this game if you’re a staunch member of Team Red.

The CPU won’t be working as hard here, but keeping it cool is vital, so if your CPU is up to the task but tends to get a little toasty, consider a NAUTILUS 360 RS or TITAN 360 RX to keep your chip performing optimally.

We must also remember here that not only do you need 100 GB of available space to install this game, but it must be NVMe storage. Presumably this is because DOOM needs the data lickety-split to keep up with how rapid the gameplay is. A 2TB MP700 Elite is the correct way to go if your motherboard supports PCIe Gen 5 storage. Otherwise, an MP600 PRO LPX will be great for those on slightly older chipsets.

It’s fast. Really fast. DOOM games of late have prioritised fluidity of movement in a way that reminds us of the older Unreal Tournament games. This means that you have a lot of freedom to outmanoeuvre enemies with your superior speed, all the while pumping them full of bullets from terrifying weapons. While the speed has been reduced a little bit from those games, DOOM: The Dark Ages will still easily outpace most games by a wide margin.

The enemies, by the way, are far more numerous than you usually get in FPS games, and they are varying in design and capabilities, with most being easily dispatched, but some being a little more robust. Of course, you’ll occasionally face mini and regular bosses that will take longer to defeat, but don’t think that this slows the gameplay down. You’ll still get to leap around the level, taking advantage of the considerably higher (ha) level of verticality than you get with most FPS games.

All that is old news if you’re familiar with DOOM games, and what really makes DOOM: The Dark Ages singularly pre-eminent in this franchise is the setting.

This time we are not fighting out outbreak of demons a couple hundred years in the future; no, this time we’re fighting an outbreak of demons a couple hundred years in the past. So, it’s a prequel to DOOM Eternal and DOOM, and this is what has got a lot of people excited.

Instead of sci-fi spaceships and off-world colonies, we’re fighting in a more grounded environment. “Techno-medieval” is the correct term, but you can see from the screenshots what that looks like. Expect towering stone fortresses with big skulls with lava pouring out the eyes as decorations. Ashen post-disaster wastelands will also doubtlessly be present, alongside lordly halls and other gothic-style levels.

And within all of these, plenty of demons to slay with a mixture of firearms, melee weapons, and a chainsaw/shield hybrid. We also see that there will be some mech / vehicle sections, which might be a nice change of pace, if your PC can handle all this of course.