Doom: The Dark Ages finally loses Denuvo anti-cheat DRM

Doom: The Dark Ages (read our review) was released in 2025 as a prequel to 2016's Doom. Developed by id Software and published by Bethesda Softworks, the game launched with the Denuvo anti-tamper DRM. Now, reports say that it has been removed.

According to the X user, Pirat_Nation, Denuvo was removed from Doom: The Dark Ages on July 7, the same day that the new campaign DLC, Doom: The Dark Ages| Revelations, was released. PCGamingWiki also attests to this on the game's wiki page, and adds that the size of the executable has reduced drastically. This can be confirmed on SteamDB, which shows the size of the executable has been reduced by 259.12 MiB.

With the removal of Denuvo, it is expected that the game's performance will improve, but a report by Game GPU says otherwise. According to the publication, a comparison of the updated version and earlier benchmarks, shows that average game engine performance remained at 30 fps, while there's a drop in minimum frame rates from 27 fps to 24 fps in demanding scenes. 

Notwithstanding, the removal also means that the game can now be played offline. There are also speculations that with the removal, Doom: The Dark Ages will be available on GOG, the digital game store is known for its DRM-free PC games, which includes previous entries in the Doom franchise.

The new Doom title is available on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. There are reports that the game is being ported to the Nintendo Switch, but there's no official confirmation yet. However, it is highly likely, considering the 2016 entry and its sequel, Doom Eternal are both available on the Nintendo eShop.