Ready to Slay?

If you've been missing punching, kicking, and of course, rip/tearing the demonic hordes of hell there's some good news on the horizon--Doom: The Dark Ages announced its release date yesterday.  We can all be joyously rip/tearing on May 15!  Well, that is if you can meet the specs (sadly, my CPU does not meet the minimum--check out the specs on the Steam Page).

There's also a new trailer/gameplay video to ogle--give it a looky:

According to info from the devs, The Dark Ages is a prequel that focuses on the DOOM Slayer pre-events in 2016's DOOM and DOOM: Eternal.  Eternal notably drew players into a bit of a storyline involving the planet and culture of the DOOM slayer, so this seems like a logical progression for the series.  Other info also indicates that there will be less platforming/acrobatics in the new game--this was one area that I did see a bit of grousing about--players would much prefer to be on the ground slicing demons into little chunks than navigating platforming puzzles.

The gameplay trailer features a notable new weapon--a chainsaw-like shield that looks like it can be thrown or used in melee attacks.  This is fun (but not anything that new/novel)!  According to this Polygon article, the game will also feature a wide array of other melee weapons to help you slay the demonic hordes.  Undoubtedly the best/coolest part of the trailer is what appears to be the ability to pilot a giant mech to fight a titan.  Can it get much better than that?

One interesting tidbit:  there's not going to be any multi-player.  That's fine with me, and really, DOOM is an excellent singleplayer title.  I'm glad they've decided to focus their energy on that.  The downside...the $69.99 price tag.

On the hardware front, the 5090 reviews are starting to roll out and...they're a bit lackluster.  It sounds like the improved performance between the current gen cards (4090) and the 5090 aren't as good as in the past.  Still, as Paul from Paul's Hardware states--it will be the fastest card on the market.  And, let's be real, the folks who are going to be buying these cards are probably those who simply must have the best and would be willing to drop that money regardless.  NVIDIA made some pretty bold claims about the improved performance (unsurprising) and I'm waiting to see the 5070 reviews.  If you're interested, you can check out Paul's video below: