Doom: The Dark Ages Takes Eternal's Marauder Cues

When Hugo Martin, director of Doom: The Dark Ages, described the game's core philosophy as "stand and fight" during Xbox's Developer Direct, I was immediately hooked. This approach directly contrasts with Doom Eternal's philosophy of hyper-mobile combat, except for one key enemy—the Marauder. Arguably the most debated foe in Doom history, it’s loathed by many… yet *adored* by me. The moment I noticed The Dark Ages also emphasizes reacting to bright green flashes—just like defeating a Marauder—I knew this game had me won over.

A Refined Marauder Legacy

Don’t panic—The Dark Ages doesn’t toss you into an arena with a foe as demanding as the Marauder. Enter the Agaddon Hunter: shielded, combo-heavy, but far from a carbon copy. Rather than locking you into frustrating one-on-ones, the essence of the Marauder’s design has been reworked into the DNA of The Dark Ages’ core combat. The result? Every encounter carries the strategic depth of a Marauder duel, minus the frustration.

The Marauder was a unique beast in Doom Eternal. Most fights involve frenetic arena traversal, crowd control, and prioritizing targets. That all changes when the Marauder appears—a relentless, shield-bearing berserker that forces you to stop, read its moves, and strike when its eyes flash green. Get too close, and it blows your head off with a shotgun. Stay too far, and it pelts you with hard-to-counter projectiles. Position is everything: find the *perfect* mid-range sweet spot, wait for that telltale green glow, and land the killing shot.

Stand and Fight—With a Twist

That same principle—reacting to bright green cues—is central to The Dark Ages. Here, demon swarms unleash bullet-hell barrages, some marked by slow-moving green projectiles that can be parried with your new shield. Early on, this is defensive. But as you upgrade the shield’s runes, deflecting attacks triggers offensive boosts—electrifying stuns or auto-targeting cannon fire. Master this, and each battle becomes a rhythmic duel against demonic elites.

Unlike the Marauder, survival isn’t entirely tied to parrying. But weaving it into combat reveals its brilliance. You must position carefully—too close, and demons won’t fire deflectable attacks—then react lightning-fast when the green projectile appears. Sound familiar? It’s a retooled version of the Marauder’s dance, now woven into every major fight.

Learning from Eternal’s Lesson

Many hated the Marauder because it disrupted Eternal’s flow, demanding wholly new tactics mid-campaign. I loved it precisely for that—it forced mastery of *all* your skills. The Dark Ages sidesteps that friction by baking its version of that system into combat from the start. Every elite demon has unique green attacks: the Mancubus fires staggered energy fences, the Vagary hurls deadly orbs, and the Revenant mimics the Marauder, requiring deflected skulls to break its invulnerability.

This prevents jarring difficulty spikes—you’re *always* adapting. The parry window is more forgiving (good news for critics), but the principle remains: stand your ground, wait for the signal, and strike. It’s the Marauder’s essence, refined and spread across an entire combat system. The Dark Ages doesn’t just ask you to stand and fight—it makes every fight *worth* standing for.