DOOM: The Dark Ages
It looks like PlayStation isn’t the best place to play Doom: The Dark Ages, as tech experts have noted that even the PS5 Pro version of the game suffers from frame rate issues and doesn’t have many upgrades from the base PS5 release.
Although May is generally looking a little lighter when it comes to big gaming releases than some of the months we’ve had in 2025 so far, it does have one shining jewel for everyone to look forward to — Doom: The Dark Ages. And when I say everyone, I really mean it as, despite id Software being owned by Xbox, the latest Doom is launching on both PS5 and Xbox Series on the same day.
This is great news (well, for PlayStation players anyway) considering how spaced-out Indiana Jones was from its launch on Xbox, and means that everyone can get in on the Doom Slayer’s latest adventure from the day it launches. If you’ve got a choice between both consoles, though, it might be worth going for Xbox this time around.
Doom: The Dark Ages Seems To Play Better On Xbox Than PlayStation
Even The PS5 Pro Isn't Enough To Win This Battle
Over the past few months and thanks to releases like Assassin’s Creed Shadows, PS5 Pro has started to make a name for itself as the best console to play most games on. That doesn’t look like the case for Doom, though, as the tech experts at Digital Foundry (thanks Push Square) have compared all of the versions and come to some surprising conclusions.
According to Digital Foundry, Doom: The Dark Ages is mostly a smooth experience on Xbox Series X but that takes a bit of a dive on PS5 thanks to frame rate drops during demanding battles and even during some less intensive ones. The frame rate fluidity even reportedly feels lower than Xbox Series S at times. Xbox Series X is seemingly the only console that doesn’t suffer from frame rate drops as much.
Digital Foundry does note that the game is mostly at 60fps on PlayStation, but that it drops into the 50s more often than you’d expect.
You’d hope that the PS5 Pro would have some nice advantages but that isn’t the case either. Digital Foundry notes that the graphical settings are more or less the same and that PSSR isn’t used to upscale the image at all. Performance is better on PS5 Pro than the base PS5 and it does aim for 1800p, but the changes aren’t that noticeable and «Series X remains king» overall.
It doesn’t seem like the minor issues are enough to say that the PS5 and PS5 Pro versions aren’t worth playing, but it is a little disappointing that more wasn’t done with the port, especially when it comes to the PS5 Pro. Here’s hoping some of the frame rate issues end up being patched out across the board.
