Bethesda 40th anniversary sale knocks 50% off Doom: The Dark Ages – Revelations just a month after launch

Bethesda is currently running a 40th anniversary sale on Steam until August 13, just in time for this year’s QuakeCon. The sale covers the studio’s entire catalogue, including the offerings of subsidiaries id and Arkane.

That’s where the real heat is, if you ask me: The recently-released Doom: The Dark Ages expansion, Revelations, is on sale for 50% off, 10 bucks to a typical 20. If you’ve missed out on the main game as well, Dark Ages itself is 67% off, or $23.

It’s been a month since Revelation’s July 7 release, and it’s a beast of a shooter. Former PCG guides writer Rory Norris awarded it a 90% in his review, while staff writer Morgan Park, who was more cold on Dark Ages’ base game, argued that Revelations redeems the whole endeavor.

Aside from Revelations, there’s bound to be something in here to strike your fancy⁠—it’s hard to argue against 10 buck Skyrim, if you somehow don’t already have it. I’m a huge Arkane freak, personally, so the studio’s whole catalogue for $54 gets a hearty recommendation from me.

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is weirdly not discounted in this sale, possibly related to its publishing and copyright situation, but it’s also only $10. So taking the plunge on the bundle probably comes out in the wash versus buying things piecemeal.

The sale is an undeniably great opportunity from a customer perspective, but comes at a fraught time for Bethesda. The studio and its subsidiaries were hit hard by Microsoft’s “reset” at Xbox: Layoffs at Bethesda Game Studios, Zenimax Online, and id Software, while Arkane is getting spun off with an uncertain future. It also makes me nervous to see a game as good as Revelations get a 50% off discount after just one month⁠—you’d think Bethesda would have protected its value with a more token discount if it was selling really well.

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