On August 7, 2025, Bethesda and id Software released the highly anticipated second major update for Doom: The Dark Ages, introducing the Ripatorium—a customizable endless arena mode that allows players to battle demon hordes with tailored difficulty settings. This update follows player feedback from the first major patch, focusing on refining combat mechanics and expanding gameplay options.

The Ripatorium, showcased during QuakeCon 2025, offers three dynamic arenas: the City of Ry'uul, the Village of Khalim, and the Harbor of Souls. Players can customize enemy spawn rates, respawn timers, and choose between timed or endless modes. Additionally, Update 2 accelerates weapon-swapping, refines the Dragon and Atlan mechanics, and introduces new Slayer skins, including a limited-time QuakeCon 2025 design.

Key gameplay adjustments include faster weapon-swap cancellations via Shield Saw parries, rebalanced enemy encounters in Acts 2 and 3, and a new PC benchmark mode. The patch also resolves PS5 crash issues and introduces quality-of-life fixes like checkpoint optimizations and combat readability improvements.

Patch Highlights

• Ripatorium Mode: Customize demon waves across 3 arenas with a jukebox for in-game music.
• Benchmark Mode: PC players can test system performance with loopable flythroughs.
• New Skins: Earn the Perfection Slayer skin by completing Ripatorium arenas.
• Combat Tweaks: Adjusted weapon damage (e.g., Rail Spike Impaler headshots deal more damage), faster Atlan Stomp electrical stuns, and Dragon empowerment extensions.

The update addresses crashes in Harbor of Souls and Spire of Nerathul, fixes PS5 combat crashes, and corrects AI behaviors (e.g., Battleknight axe collisions). Lighting and audio glitches in levels like Hebeth and Ancestral Forge were also polished.