Build Your Own Demonic Wave Shooter in the Latest Update of Doom: The Dark Ages, Introducing the 'Ripatorium'
In an exciting development for fans of DOOM: The Dark Ages, the game's latest update, Update 2, introduced a significant new feature: the Ripatorium arena mode. Released in early August 2025, this mode offers players a highly flexible, endless arena experience.
The Ripatorium mode features three unique arenas: City of Ry'uul, Village of Khalim, and Harbor of Souls. Players can customize their combat experiences within these arenas by setting up their own encounters using the Encounter Manager. This tool allows players to select the type and quantity of demons to spawn, including heavy enemies like Pinky Riders and Battle Knights. Players can also set a time limit to challenge themselves or enable an Endless mode for survival. Additionally, an enemy respawn counter is available to shape the pacing and difficulty of encounters.
Moreover, the Ripatorium mode includes a jukebox feature, enabling players to choose DOOM: The Dark Ages music tracks during their custom encounter.
Other updates in the same patch include the addition of two new DOOM Slayer skins. One is a limited-time QuakeCon 2025 skin, while the other can be earned by completing encounters in each Ripatorium arena. A loopable Demo Mode was also added to the Benchmark Mode on PC, along with numerous gameplay improvements such as weapon balance changes, enemy AI tweaks, difficulty slider additions, and widespread bug fixes.
Id Software has plans to expand the Ripatorium in future updates, aiming to dramatically extend replayability by putting encounter customization in the players' hands. This update represents the biggest post-launch content addition to DOOM: The Dark Ages so far.
Rick Lane, who has written for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian, and PC Gamer, has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old. He served as games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net from 2013 to 2022.
For those looking for the best hardware to run DOOM: The Dark Ages, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 is the best high-end option, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the best overall. The Intel Arc B570 is the best budget choice, and the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB offers the best value.
In summary, the Ripatorium mode offers a highly flexible, endless arena experience with three distinct combat arenas, customizable demon waves, timed or endless challenges, and a music selector, alongside several quality-of-life and gameplay enhancements in Update 2.
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