Play Doom: The Dark Ages on a PC that's the cat's meow.
Hardware capability is one thing, but how a bit of kit looks is just as important to me. Unfortunately, that means I tend to burn my retinas on an awful lot of very ugly GPUs. Still, every now and then I’ll happen across something I’d be happy to give pride of place in my rig—and if it’s cat-themed, then it’s simply meant to be.
Dave has already pointed out Colorful’s incredible feline-themed Colorfire Meow range, but what made our intrepid Computex 2025 reporters stop by their booth this year was the way the company chose to showcase their kitty-cat-kit. Let’s pretend you’ve not taken a good look at the header—which game do you think such a soft, fluffy PC hardware range would leverage to pitch itself to its target audience? A nice cozy farming sim like Stardew Valley? Fashionable gacha game Infinity Nikki? No, they went with Doom: The Dark Ages.
The more I think about it, the more obvious it is that this was the right choice; not only does this prove Colorful’s cute hardware can keep up, but it also demonstrates that the company understands its target audience very well. Let me explain: On my first point, even the minimum system requirements for Doom: The Dark Ages are fairly demanding, so it’s an obvious showpiece pick.
As for my second point, I was there for the unexpected power couple of the Doomslayer and Isabelle from Animal Crossing. Owing to New Horizons’ and Doom: Eternal’s shared 2020 release date, Doom fans were even modding Isabelle into the game as a helpful companion. In other words, I am the target audience—not only as a tech journalist, but as a committed PC gamer who contains multitudes.
And within those multitudes, I’m both drawn to the gorgeous colourway of Yeston’s ‘Atlantis’ RX 9070 XT graphics card, while also being utterly repulsed by how the company chose to market it. Pro tip: don’t attempt to dunk your GPU in saltwater at home. Also within those multitudes are tastes more elegant than my front-loaded cat obsession may suggest. For example, I’ve been pining after the Japan-exclusive commemorative ‘skeleton’ hard drive disc from Buffalo… if for no other reason than longing to smear my fingertips all over its transparent face.
Colorful also contains multitudes, additionally announcing a range of laptops themed after their kitty-cat mascots last year. Beyond that, there’s been little new from the Colorfire Meow range. But you know what they say: while the cat’s away, I’m going to go play with the fake one we have in the office for some reason.
Catch up with Computex 2025: We’re stalking the halls of Taiwan’s biggest tech show once again to see what Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and more have to offer.