If you just rolled credits on Doom the Dark Ages after 20+ hours of slaying demons, collecting runes, and maxing out your combat abilities, you’re probably wondering does doom the dark ages have new game plus to keep the chaos going. I finished my first run on Ultra Violence last month, and spent three days digging through hidden menus, community posts, and test playthroughs to answer that exact question for anyone who doesn’t want to start completely from scratch. This guide breaks down exactly what’s available, what carries over, and whether the extra playthrough is worth your time.
Does Doom the Dark Ages Have New Game Plus, And How Do You Unlock It?
The short answer is yes, the mode does exist, but it’s easy to miss if you don’t stick around for the full post-credits sequence. Most players assume it’s not included because there’s no mention of it in the in-game menu before you beat the final boss, and the launch patch notes only referenced it in a tiny, easy-to-overlook bullet point. I missed the unlock prompt the first time I beat the game, because I closed my app immediately after the final boss cutscene ended to text my friend about the ending twist.
To unlock it officially, you need to beat the final Annihilation Protocol boss, sit through the entire 3-minute post-credits scene, and you’ll get a pop-up asking if you want to start your NG+ run or return to free roam in your original save. You don't lose your original save file when you start NG+, so you don’t have to worry about erasing 20 hours of progress to test the mode out. If you skipped the pop-up already, you can access NG+ any time from the main menu under the “Playthrough Options” tab, as long as you have a completed save file on your device.
What Carries Over to Your New Game Plus Run?
The biggest perk of NG+ is that you don’t have to regrind all the upgrades you spent hours unlocking in your first run. Almost all of your permanent progress transfers over to your new save, so you can jump into the first level with all your best gear right from the opening cutscene. The full list of carryover content includes:
- All fully upgraded weapons and weapon mods, including the hidden crucible and unmaker you found in secret levels
- All permanent stat boosts: max health, armor, ammo capacity, and rune upgrades you unlocked during your first run
- All collectibles you found, including lore pages, action figures, and cheat codes you can activate at any time
- Your mastered difficulty progress: if you beat the game on Ultra Violence, you can keep that difficulty for NG+ without re-unlocking it
There are a few small things that don’t carry over, so you don’t want to waste time hoarding them before your final boss fight. Story-specific quest items, level keys, and temporary power ups like berserk or invulnerability pickups you collected in individual levels get reset when you start NG+. Your extra ammo and health stashes you had saved before the final boss don't transfer over, so I recommend using all of them during the final fight instead of saving them for later. I made that mistake on my first run, and lost 15 large health packs I’d been hoarding for no reason.
Exclusive New Game Plus Features You Won’t Get in Your First Run
NG+ isn’t just a rehash of the base game with your existing upgrades. The devs added a ton of exclusive content to make the second playthrough feel fresh, even if you already know every secret room and enemy spawn point in the base game. Enemy difficulty scales 30% higher than your chosen base difficulty, so even if you play on Hurt Me Plenty, enemies hit harder and have more health than they did on a standard Ultra Violence run in your first playthrough. That makes even familiar levels feel like a new challenge, especially if you found the base game too easy on your first go.
There are two exclusive secret levels only available in NG+ that tie up loose ends in the main story, including a mission that explains what happened to the slayer’s old squad before the events of the main game. These levels have unique demon variants you can’t fight anywhere else, including a flying archvile type that can summon multiple waves of enemies at once. The exclusive Eternal Slayer rune can only be unlocked by completing the first three NG+ secret levels, and it lets you regenerate 1 armor per second when you’re below 20 armor, which makes higher difficulty runs way more manageable. You also get 2x the experience points for every kill in NG+, so you can unlock any remaining upgrades you missed in your first run way faster.
Is Starting New Game Plus Worth Your Time?
Whether NG+ is worth it depends entirely on what you liked about the base game. If you played Doom the Dark Ages exclusively for the story and didn’t care much about the combat loop, you probably won’t get much out of it, because the main story cutscenes are exactly the same as your first run. But if you loved the fast-paced, brutal combat and want more of a challenge, it’s one of the most rewarding NG+ modes I’ve played in a modern FPS.
If you’re planning to play the upcoming DLC, completing NG+ first gives you a permanent 10% damage boost that carries over to the DLC content, which is a huge bonus if you plan to play the DLC on higher difficulty settings. I spent 12 hours on my NG+ run, and it felt completely worth it to me: the exclusive levels added a lot of context to the story, and the higher difficulty made even levels I’d played 3 times before feel tense and exciting. If you’re a casual player who only played on the easiest difficulty, you might want to skip it unless you’re looking for a bigger challenge, because the scaled enemy health and damage can feel frustrating if you don’t want to focus on perfect dodge and parry mechanics.
At the end of the day, the answer to does doom the dark ages have new game plus is a resounding yes, and it’s one of the most well-executed NG+ modes I’ve seen in a modern FPS. It rewards players who put time into mastering the first run without forcing unnecessary grind, and adds enough new content to make a second playthrough feel worth it even if you know every secret in the base game. If you’re on the fence about starting it, give the first level a try: you can always go back to your original save file if it’s not for you, and you might be surprised how much fun it is to tear through demons with all your best gear right from the start.
