Dark Ages’ Serrat Should Be a Status Quo Moving Forward

Forgoing claustrophobic corridors almost wholly, Doom: The Dark Ages boasts level designs that are considerably wider and more open with regard to exploration. Not all chapters have maps with immense landscapes to traverse, but those that do feature a ton of secret areas, gold, rubies, wraithstones, collectible toys, and weapon skins, most of which are locked behind passageways that require a color-coded key or key card. Coupled with pinged challenges required for full 100% completion of a chapter in Doom: The Dark Ages, looting sprawling maps is a treat.

This formula may have been fulfilling on its own, but Doom: The Dark Ages takes its gameplay two enormous steps further with sparse rock-’em sock-’em Atlan bouts and flights astride an adorable and ferocious Mecha Dragon named Serrat. The former is mildly forgettable while admittedly epic in scale and a welcome respite from run-and-gun-and-parry combat, though the latter is quite distinct in how it broadens a chapter’s depth of exploration and creates a dynamic synergy with ordinary gameplay. If possible, future Doom games will hopefully find ways to reprise flying mounts as the gameplay Serrat provides is well worth becoming a new series staple.

Doom: The Dark Ages’ Serrat is a Breath of Fresh Air

Far more than a gimmick, controlling a cyborg dragon and soaring on red Argent energy wings at incredible speeds is a change of pace that immersively bridges regular sections of a level. At its core, Serrat’s gameplay involves flying around a breathtaking vista, firing at turrets while engaging with Dark Ages’ color-coded parry/dodge system, and landing the mount on predetermined platforms before proceeding on foot.

The marriage of dragon flight and ordinary maneuverability makes for dynamic gameplay, which is what the Doom series has prided itself on in its last three installments. If nothing else, a flying mount allows the game’s scale to expand exponentially, and hopping onto Serrat to take to the skies between each ‘dungeon’ map is remarkably fluid.

A Flying Mount in Future Doom Games is Anyone’s Guess

The ending of Doom: The Dark Ages surprisingly leaves room between it and Doom (2016) still, meaning this prequel entry’s events and characters are not in the rearview yet. But, with Serrat dead and no sign of flying mounts in Doom (2016) or Doom Eternal, it’s tough to predict whether a future game will have flying mounts, let alone when the next installment might take place in Doom’s timeline.

Indeed, id killing Serrat could suggest that it’s putting a fork in the concept of flight traversal, and it wouldn’t be all that alarming if that was the case because not a single Doom game since 2016’s soft reboot has adhered too closely to its predecessor’s gameplay. Flight mechanics on a mount would certainly contribute to making The Dark Ages a unique entry alongside parries with a shield and an emphasis on melee combat, too.

Still, debuting such a thrilling, dynamic feature only to never revisit it in the future could be an oversight. It wouldn’t be inconceivable to think that a Doom Eternal sequel could introduce an alien creature the Doom Slayer flies on instead of a dragon, for example, even if that would be reheating Dark Ages’ nachos a bit too unabashedly.

Moreover, it’d be fascinating to see the Slayer ride atop a hideous leviathan creature if Doom returns to The Dark Ages’ Cosmic Realm at some point. Either way, flying mounts add a lot to exploration and progression and deserve to play a larger role in the franchise.

DOOM: The Dark Ages

8/10

Released

May 15, 2025

ESRB

m

Publisher(s)

Bethesda Softworks

Engine

id Tech

Franchise

DOOM

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