After Doom Eternal's intense acrobatics, Doom: The Dark Ages will focus on simplified, ergonomic controls: 'You shouldn't be fighting the controls, you should be fighting the bad guys'

Doom: The Dark Ages art.

There are two key things to take away from Doom: The Dark Ages' showing at today's Xbox Developer Direct. The first: a release date. id Software's prequel story will be with us in just a few months, on May 15. The second: a mission statement. "In Doom Eternal, you felt like a fighter jet. In Doom: The Dark Ages, you'll be an iron tank," said game director Hugo Martin.

Since the 2016 reboot of Doom, players have been challenged to jump around arenas in a constant acrobatic showcase—always moving, often jumping, always cycling through a tool suite designed to replenish resources and keep you in the fight, constantly on the attack. In Doom Eternal this combat loop was taken to the extreme. For some this was a natural progression. For others it was all just a bit too much.