Doom Eternal Can’t Start Ancient Gods DLC – How to Fix

The Ancient Gods Part One, the first DLC for Doom Eternal, is finally here, but the launch is anything but smooth. Players across all platforms have been encountering errors and issues of all kinds when attempting to play the new content. For some reason, the game does not recognize that Digital Deluxe owners or Year One Pass owners actually have the DLC, and Standard Edition players are unable to buy the DLC on its own, either. There are a lot of problems and not too many solutions in sight, but there are a few things you can try if you can’t play. Here are some potential fixes if you are unable to start The Ancient Gods Part One in Doom Eternal.

Can’t Start The Ancient Gods DLC – How to Fix

On Xbox One, find Doom Eternal in “My Games and Apps” or on your dashboard. Press the start button to bring up the settings menu and then select “Manage Game and Add-Ons.” Select Doom Eternal and you should see the main game and the Campaign add-on. Below those two should be a small 10.1 MB download for The Ancient Gods Part One. Check the empty box next to it to download the small file and prove you own the expansion. Unfortunately for a lot of players, the game does not recognize that you own the DLC and will send you to the store after checking privileges. If you can’t start the expansion, you’ll have to wait for a fix on Bethesda’s side.

On PlayStation 4, head to the PlayStation Store page for the DLC to check if it lets you download the expansion. If it asks you to purchase the DLC, navigate to your library and select Doom Eternal. The Ancient Gods Part One should appear under your owned downloadable content. Even if you are able to download the latest patch and the small file to grant your account access to the DLC, you still may not be able to play it as a large portion of the playerbase is encountering issues attempting to start the expansion. You will sadly have to wait for Bethesda to issue a fix on their end if you still cannot start the DLC.

Steam players haven’t been reporting many issues downloading the expansion, but there are still a lot who are running into problems actually starting the new content. If you’re playing Doom Eternal on PC and cannot access the DLC, try restarting Steam entirely. The same goes for the Bethesda launcher. Like all other platforms, if you still cannot start The Ancient Gods Part One, you will have to wait for Bethesda to issue a fix.

The Ancient Gods Part One is available now for Doom Eternal on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia. If you’re desperate to start playing as soon as possible, try reaching out to Bethesda support.