Doom: The Dark Ages - Revelations launched on July 7, 2026 across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S - and by most accounts it is exactly the kind of sharp, focused expansion that the modern Doom series does best. The problem is that the week of its release has been dominated by a very different story: the gutting of its developer, id Software, as part of Xbox's sweeping restructuring.
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What Revelations adds to The Dark Ages
Players explore a total of six vast new levels set around an expansive hub called Purgatory, brimming with secret passages, collectibles, and special encounters. The single-player campaign is estimated at 10 to 12 hours, paced across 60 percent core story and 40 percent endgame content - a runtime the developer claims makes it larger than both Doom Eternal expansions combined.
The centrepiece new tool is the Chain Spear. The Chain Spear makes pincushions out of foes at range and also reels the Slayer in at high speed for up-close treatment, offering new vectors for both platforming and combat. The Verge's reviewer found the weapon shifted the whole combat rhythm away from the base game's shield-first aggression: where the shield encouraged brute-force parrying, the spear rewards timing, distance management, and punishing counterattacks - turning fights into something closer to a dance.
The level layout uses a Metroidvania-style design, requiring players to backtrack through zones to solve puzzles, find hidden secrets, and access new pathways as they upgrade abilities. A major feature includes modernised, fully playable versions of classic Doom 2 maps built directly into the engine, framed as the Slayer's memories. The expansion also updates the enemy roster with mechanical jousting variants called Buzzsaws and marks the return of the Archvile, rebalanced to summon fresh demon waves rather than resurrecting dead targets.
Alongside Revelations, the Ripatorium 3.0 update ships free for all Doom: The Dark Ages players, adding deeper customisation, improved pass-code generation, and personal preset options to the arena challenge mode.
Pricing and availability
Owners of the Doom: The Dark Ages Premium Edition or Collectors Bundle get Revelations at no extra cost. Base-game players can purchase the standalone expansion for USD $19.99, or upgrade to the Premium Edition for USD $34.99. The base game and expansion are available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Steam, Battle.net, and PlayStation 5 - and are playable via Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, or PC Game Pass.
Pick up Doom: The Dark Ages - Revelations from €13.61 and start slaying today.
| Edition | Includes Revelations | Standalone price |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | No | $19.99 add-on |
| Premium | Yes | $34.99 upgrade |
| Collectors Bundle | Yes | Included |
A celebration overshadowed by layoffs
The Verge's review captures an uncomfortable irony at the heart of this launch. Revelations demonstrates exactly what makes id Software special - its ability to strip a formula down to its most thrilling core and iterate on it over decades - right as that studio is being hollowed out.
Microsoft's mass Xbox layoffs hit id Software just one day before the release of Revelations. The cuts came as Xbox prepared to "reset" its video game division by eliminating 3,200 roles across the company. A WARN Notice filed in Texas confirmed that Xbox subsidiary ZeniMax Media laid off 158 people in the state, with 96 of those redundancies made at id's Richardson, Texas office. A further 40 remote workers at the studio were also let go. That puts the confirmed total at 136 id Software employees cut.
id Software itself responded with a statement quoted by Game Developer: "We still have the crew we need to build the games and tech we're known for. The team today is about the same size we were when making Doom (2016)." Microsoft, in a separate statement, pushed back on reports that the id Tech engine team had been reduced to a single person, saying that "there are dozens of people working on id Tech across multiple locations."
Bloomberg reported that as part of the Xbox reset, ZeniMax Media will be focusing going forward on its biggest franchises - including The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, and Doom. A source familiar with the situation confirmed Bethesda will be laser-focused on those franchises and noted that it does not intend to shutter any existing studios.
Our take
Revelations is a tight, well-constructed expansion that reminds you why the modern Doom trilogy has been one of the most consistent action franchises in gaming. The Chain Spear genuinely changes how you engage with the arena, and six meaty levels is a fair ask for the price. Whether id Software - significantly reduced in size - can sustain that quality into a future entry is the question that now hangs over everything. For fans who want to support the work that remains, getting the expansion at the best available price is a good place to start.
