DOOM: The Dark Ages Slaughter Mode arrives Monday, November 16, as an endless horde mode with randomized enemies, bosses and arenas. It’s a free update, with one condition: you need the Revelations expansion, the Premium Edition or the Premium Upgrade. Owners of the standard game alone won’t see it.
id Software and Bethesda announced the date on November 12 during Xbox’s 25th anniversary FanFest, and the Slayers Club post spells out how it works.
DOOM: The Dark Ages Slaughter Mode Is Free With Revelations
Slaughter Mode lives inside DOOM: The Dark Ages | Revelations, the campaign expansion that launched July 7 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. On Steam, Revelations is $19.99 on its own. The Premium Upgrade is $24.99 and bundles Revelations with the digital artbook, soundtrack and Divinity Skin Pack. The base game is $49.99 on Steam.
So if you own the standard edition and want the new mode, the cheapest route is the $19.99 expansion, which also brings its own campaign, the Chain Spear and three extra Ripatorium maps. On PC, The Dark Ages is sold on Steam, Battle.net and the Xbox app. It isn’t on GOG, which does carry DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal if you want DRM-free copies of the earlier games.
Secure Your Skulls or Risk It All
Every run strings together random encounters, bosses and arenas, and the heat goes up the longer you last. Clearing rounds earns Skulls, the mode’s currency.
The hook is the checkpoint gamble. When you reach a Round Checkpoint, you choose between two options:
- Secure banks your current Skulls, so dying won’t cost you them.
- Risk It raises your Skull Multiplier for a bigger payout, but if you die while it’s active, every unsecured Skull is gone.
Dying doesn’t send you all the way back, either. Each Round Checkpoint you clear becomes a new starting point for future runs, so you can jump into later encounters faster.
Slayer Skins and IDKFA Tracks for Your Skulls
Skulls unlock rewards you earn by playing, not by paying: Slaughter Mode-only Slayer skins, weapon skins that work in every mode, and profile icons. You can also unlock tracks from Andrew Hulshult’s IDKFA soundtrack, then play them in both Slaughter Mode and the Ripatorium. Weekly challenges add more ways to earn.
id Is Already on the Next One
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma used the same announcement to confirm that id Software’s next game is in development, with Hugo Martin back as game director and the Texas and Frankfurt teams on it. MachineGames’ Wolfenstein 3 was confirmed the same night.
Slaughter Mode is the kind of extra that keeps a single-player shooter on your drive. If you skipped Revelations in July, Monday makes a better case for picking it up.
In the Games Database
DOOM: The Dark Ages news and where to play