Doom: The Dark Ages – All secret key locations

While you can play Doom: The Dark Ages as a fairly straightforward shooter, every level has a bunch of secrets for you to find, and in many levels, those secrets will be behind locked doors that require the purple secret key to open. As the name suggests, the secret key isn’t always easy to find, so we’ve gone through every chapter in the game that has one to show you where to find them.

With these keys you'll be able to find a bunch of cool secrets like all weapon skins in Doom: The Dark Ages.

Chapter 1: Village of Khalim secret key

As you’d expect for the first level of the game, this secret key is pretty easy to find. You’ll see it on a cliff as you enter the area where you need to close four hell gates. When closing the one on top of a cliff area, head left of the gate onto the smaller cliff surrounding a large rock, and you’ll find the key on the cliff’s edge.

Chapter 6: The Siege Part 1 secret key

You’ll find this secret key in roughly the center of the siege map. From the upgrade shrine next to one of the portals, head directly down the small path, and you’ll see the key on a ledge above you. Continue past it and head around to the left to find the path up to the key’s location.

Chapter 7: The Siege Part 2 secret key

When you enter the main courtyard, you’ll see the secret key on a broken ledge above, but you won’t be able to reach it yet. Instead, continue through the chapter until you reach the upper level. Once there, you’ll find a wall to smash through on that level, which will reveal a passage on the opposite side. Come out onto the broken balcony, and there’s a jump pad that will launch you to the side with the key.

Chapter 9: Ancestral Forge secret key

From the main entrance to the area with the heart, turn right and follow that area around. After a combat encounter, you’ll be able to head to the back of that area and up a passage. You’ll then need to defeat a Leader before the small passage to the key opens up.

Chapter 10: The Forsaken Plains secret key

Roughly halfway through the chapter, you’ll find a compact area with a tall tower surrounded by pools of lava. The key is on the ground level, but it’s locked on all sides. Look to the side of the tower, and you’ll spot a glowing green spot where you throw your shield to launch yourself up the tower. After progressing up a couple of layers, you’ll find an unlocked section where you can get it and drop down to ground level to grab the key.

Chapter 12: Sentinel Command Station secret key

Once you get to the end of the upper level in this chapter, you’ll need to drop down a broken elevator shaft. You can instead jump across to a ledge with a golden chest. Once there, turn around and use your shield to smash into the room with the secret key. If you miss the jump, then don’t worry, as after getting the Shield Rune and clearing out the demons, a bouncepad will activate at the bottom of the shaft to launch you back up.

Chapter 17: Temple of Lomarith secret key

This key is in the final section of the chapter, right before you reach the endpoint. In this area, climb up the cliff face until you reach the large wrecked ship on the highest level. Go up the stairs towards the exit, then turn left and you’ll find a path that leads onto the deck of the ship, with the secret key all the way at the far end, behind a combat encounter.

Chapter 22: Reckoning

Despite being the final level of the game, this is one of the easier secret keys to find. Complete the entire first section of the chapter, where you must navigate through the bowels of a castle in hell, completing a couple of simple block-pushing puzzles along the way. Eventually, you’ll unlock an elevator that takes you up to just before the final encounter. When this elevator reaches its destination, turn around 180 degrees, and you’ll see the secret key, with a gate taking you back to the first section of the level so you can retrieve all of the secrets you’ll have missed up until then.