Slaughter Mode, the free endless horde mode for DOOM: The Dark Ages, arrives on November 16, according to Xbox Wire. It is a post-game challenge for players who own the Revelations expansion, and it costs nothing extra.

id Software first revealed the mode in October during a Slayers Club Live broadcast. Game director Hugo Martin and community manager Joshua Boyle presented it, and the studio has now given the release date as part of Xbox’s 25th anniversary coverage.

What is Slaughter Mode?

It is a single player, round based mode where you fight escalating waves of demons and try to beat your own records. Here is what the sources report:

  • Randomized enemies, bosses and arenas, with modifiers that raise the difficulty as you go
  • 19 arenas, according to PlayDay
  • The Doom Slayer starts fully unlocked and powered up, according to the same report
  • Tracking of rounds survived and total score, plus permanent personal bests

Martin described it as a way to “tear through escalating rounds” as you carve out personal bests, as GameSpew quoted him.

How do checkpoints and rewards work?

GameSpew reports that checkpoints appear every ten rounds, so a single death does not wipe out everything. PlayDay adds that at a checkpoint you can cash out your current rewards or keep going and risk losing them if you die.

Rewards are cosmetic. PlayDay lists weapon skins and songs by IDKFA, and GameSpew also mentions weekly challenges. Gameswelt reported leaderboards for best runs, though the other outlets do not describe them, so treat that as unconfirmed.

Do I need the Revelations DLC?

Yes. Slaughter Mode is free, but PlayDay and GameSpew both say it is tied to the Revelations DLC, so owners of only the base game are left out. PlayDay says id Software built the mode entirely in house, with no outsourced code or art.

Prices

Slaughter Mode itself is free for Revelations owners. None of the sources we read gives a price for Revelations, and no country or currency is stated for it. Check the store listing for your region before you decide.

Who it suits

Players who finished the campaign and Revelations. This gives you a reason to return without a new story. The mode is built around replaying arenas and improving a score.

Score chasers. Tracked rounds, total score and permanent personal bests are the draw, and weekly challenges give a reason to check in regularly, according to GameSpew.

Cosmetics collectors. Weapon skins and music tracks are the stated rewards, so the mode offers no gameplay advantages elsewhere in the game as far as the sources say.

Base game players. The mode needs the expansion, so you would have to add Revelations first. That may not be worth it if you only want the horde mode.

What is still unknown

The Xbox Wire post is short, and the sources do not say which platforms the mode will run on. The base game is listed for PC, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, but whether Slaughter Mode reaches all of them on the same day has not been confirmed in what we read. The scoring system and the exact cosmetic list are also not detailed. For the full announcement and any patch notes, read the Xbox Wire post and the Slayers Club page from Bethesda.