id Software and Bethesda have announced that in a few days, on November 16, the Slaughter Mode of DOOM: The Dark Ages will arrive, a new infinite combat mode available as a free update for those who own Revelations, the paid DLC of DOOM: The Dark Ages. The announcement came along with other news related to XBOX, including confirmation that the Texan studio has already put its next title in the pipeline.

To give the news on social media was directly Asha Sharma, CEO of XBOX. The mode was unveiled in October: it is an endless single player experience, in which we will face waves of increasingly fierce and unpredictable demons, moving between different arenas and obtaining cosmetic items and other perks as we progress. A roguelite-flavored setting that aims to lengthen the longevity of the single player component.

No match will be the same as the previous one, because encounters, bosses and arenas are randomly generated and the difficulty increases round after round. By completing the rounds we will earn Skulls, the currency with which to unlock rewards: skins for the Slayer that can only be used in Slaughter Mode, weapon skins valid in all modes and profile icons. Among the rewards there are also some tracks from Andrew Hulshult's IDKFA soundtrack, which we can listen to both in the new mode and in the Ripatorium. There will also be weekly challenges, useful for accumulating additional rewards and showing off our skill.

The heart of the mode lies in risk management. Surviving long enough to reach a Round Checkpoint, we can choose whether to secure the Skulls collected up to that moment, protecting them in case of death, or bet everything on the Risk It option, which increases the Skull Multiplier and increases the Skulls obtainable in the rest of the run. The price to pay is high: if we fall in battle with Risk It active, we will lose all the Skulls not yet secured. Dying, however, does not always mean starting from scratch, since each checkpoint passed unlocks a new starting point for subsequent runs, so as to return more quickly to the more advanced clashes.

Revelations had arrived in July, bringing with it new puzzles, new weapons and up to 12 hours of additional content. In the same month, however, id Software lost about half of its team due to the layoffs decided by Microsoft.

After the fears that arose in the summer about the future of the studio, now comes news that fans will surely welcome. During the announcements for the XBOX 20th Anniversary celebrations, id Software confirmed that its next game is in development, although for the moment we don't know anything about what it is and it will be some time before we know more. The studio commented: "We are incredibly excited about our next project, a new game made by our teams in Texas and Frankfurt, with the direction once again entrusted to Hugo Martin. It will be a while before we are ready to share more, but we can't wait to show you what we are working on".

Hugo Martin has served as game director at id Software since 2018, after working for four years as a creative director. His first project within the studio was 2016's DOOM , but his career in the industry is over twenty years old, with his first credits dating back to 2005.

DOOM: The Dark Ages is already available and is also included in the XBOX Game Pass catalog. We now leave you to the trailer of the Massacre Mode, enjoy!