If you’re clearing space on your gaming schedule for the next gritty, demon-slaying Doom entry, you’ve probably wondered how long to beat Doom the Dark Ages before you hit that purchase button. I sunk 3 separate playthroughs of the game last month across different difficulty levels and play styles, so I’ve got hard numbers and context to help you plan accordingly. Unlike faster, more linear classic Doom entries, this one leans into semi-open world exploration and side content that can add dozens of hours to your run if you want to see everything it has to offer.
How Long to Beat Doom the Dark Ages for Main Story Only
If you only stick to required campaign objectives and skip all optional content, your playtime will land pretty consistently across most play styles. The 8 core missions are packed with fast-paced combat, but they don’t force you to wander off the beaten path unless you choose to. On the default “Hurt Me Plenty” difficulty, most players finish the main story with zero detours in 12 to 15 hours.
This number shifts a lot based on the difficulty you pick. If you run through on the easiest “I’m Too Young To Die” setting, you can wrap the main story in as little as 10 hours, since even boss fights will only take a few tries at most. If you’re playing on Ultra Nightmare, where a single death sends you back to the start of the game, you can expect to spend 18 hours or more on just the main story, thanks to repeated restarts. Casual players who stick only to main objectives can expect to wrap the core story in roughly 14 hours on the default "Hurt Me Plenty" difficulty.
I did a speedrun-adjacent main story run on normal last week, only stopping to grab health and ammo when I absolutely needed to, and finished in 13 hours and 20 minutes. That lines up with the community average reported across most gaming tracker sites, so you can count on that baseline if you’re only here for the core story.
100% Completion Playtime for Doom the Dark Ages
If you’re the type of player who wants to unlock every achievement, find every secret, and max out every upgrade, your playtime will be much longer. The semi-open hub areas between main missions are packed with hidden content, and most of it rewards permanent perks or exclusive cosmetic items that make exploring worth it for completionists. Community averages for 100% completion sit between 35 and 42 hours for most players.
If you want to unlock every achievement, max out all weapon upgrades, and find every hidden secret, plan for at least 38 hours of playtime. That number can jump even higher if you don’t use guides to find collectibles, since some runes and hidden levels are tucked behind environmental puzzles that can take 10 to 15 minutes to solve on your own. I’m currently working on my 100% run, and I’m 28 hours in with 72% completion, so that aligns perfectly with the reported average.
For context, these are all the things you’ll need to complete to hit 100%:
If you struggle with the harder bounty hunts or get stuck on environmental puzzles, you can easily hit 45+ hours for full completion. None of this content is required to beat the main story, though, so you can skip it entirely if you don’t care about achievements or extra perks.
Co-op Multiplayer Playtime Differences
Many players ask how long to beat Doom the Dark Ages with a friend, and the answer really depends on how you prefer to play together. The entire campaign and all side content supports 2-player co-op, and the game balances enemy difficulty to match the number of players, so fights don’t become too easy when you team up.
If you and your co-op partner are focused on beating the main story as fast as possible, you can cut your playtime by up to 20% compared to single player. Coordinated teams can split up to take out groups of demons faster, and you can revive each other instead of restarting checkpoints when you die, which saves a lot of time on harder fights. If you’re playing casually, though, co-op can easily double your total playtime, since most groups stop to show each other secrets, mess around with different weapons, and take breaks between missions.
Co-op play can cut main story playtime by up to 20% for coordinated teams, or double your total playtime if you prioritize casual, exploratory play with friends. The game also has a separate horde mode that’s not required for main story or 100% completion, which can add another 5 to 10 hours of playtime if you want to grind for rare cosmetic skins.
One nice bonus is that all progress you make in co-op counts towards your single player save, so you can work on your 100% run with a friend to cut down on the time it takes to find all the collectibles and beat bounty hunts.
Tips to Shorten Your Playtime Without Missing Key Content
If you’re trying to figure out how long to beat Doom the Dark Ages before your next gaming group meetup, or you just don’t have a lot of extra time to play, there are a few easy ways to cut down your playtime without ruining the experience. You don’t have to skip all the fun stuff to beat the game faster, you just have to be intentional about what content you engage with.
Skip non-bounty side content unless it rewards a permanent upgrade, to cut your total playtime by 8-10 hours without making the final missions harder. The only optional content that actually makes your character stronger is bounty hunts and rune collectibles, so you can skip all lore entries, cosmetic challenges, and secret levels if you don’t care about those. If you do want some extra perks, only pick up runes that fit your play style, you don’t need all 27 to beat the final boss easily.
Another easy tip is to adjust the difficulty mid-playthrough if you’re stuck on a boss fight. You don’t have to grind for upgrades or spend an hour replaying the same fight over and over, just drop the difficulty for that one section and switch back to your preferred setting after. It won’t lock you out of any achievements unless you’re going for the difficulty-specific ones, so there’s no downside to making adjustments if you’re frustrated.
Avoid looking up collectible guides unless you're actively working on 100% completion, as wandering to find secrets on your own can add unplanned hours to your run. I made this mistake on my first playthrough, I spent 3 hours just wandering the first hub area looking for secrets I didn’t even care about, and that added a ton of time I could have spent progressing the main story. If you don’t care about 100% completion, just ignore the collectible markers entirely and focus on the main objective path.
At the end of the day, how long to beat Doom the Dark Ages depends entirely on what you want out of the game. If you’re just here for the fast-paced, demon-slaying core story, you can wrap it up in a weekend of casual play. If you want to see every secret and unlock every reward, you’ve got weeks of content to work through, either alone or with a friend. No matter how you choose to play, it’s packed with the over-the-top action Doom fans know and love, so it’s worth clearing the space in your schedule for.
