Doom: The Dark Ages Redefines Combat with Marauder-Inspired Mechanics

During Xbox’s Developer Direct earlier this year, director Hugo Martin revealed that Doom: The Dark Ages embraces a “stand and fight” philosophy, a stark contrast to the frenetic, movement-driven battles of Doom Eternal. This shift immediately grabbed my attention. In Eternal, one enemy—the Marauder—forces players to halt their relentless pace and engage head-on. A polarizing figure in the Doom series, the Marauder is divisive yet thrilling. When I learned that reacting to bright green cues—a hallmark of defeating the Marauder—drives the combat in The Dark Ages, I was hooked.

The Dark Ages doesn’t trap you in grueling duels like those against Eternal’s Marauder. While the Agaddon Hunter, with its impervious shield and devastating combo attacks, echoes that intensity, the Marauder’s influence permeates every foe. Reimagined and refined, the principles behind the Marauder shape The Dark Ages’ combat system. The result is a series of encounters that capture the strategic depth of a Marauder showdown without its exasperation.

The Marauder stands out as an anomaly in Doom Eternal. Typically, Eternal’s battles involve circling arenas, mowing down weaker enemies, and juggling larger threats. Often likened to a resource management game, it demands mastery of speed, space, and weaponry to control the chaos. The Marauder disrupts this flow, commanding your full attention. Frequently faced alone, it requires a shift in tactics: evade its strikes, clear surrounding enemies, and then stand your ground.

This doesn’t mean standing still in Doom Eternal’s fast-paced world. It’s about claiming control through precise positioning. Too close, and the Marauder’s shotgun blast is unavoidable. Too far, and its projectiles, while dodgeable, keep you out of axe range. The key is baiting the Marauder’s axe swing—its only vulnerable moment during the attack’s wind-up. When its eyes glow green, that’s your signal: a fleeting chance to strike.

In Doom: The Dark Ages, a similar green flash guides your strategy. Demons unleash bullet hell-style projectile barrages, including green missiles that the Doom Slayer’s new shield can parry, redirecting them back to their source. Early on, this is a defensive tactic. Later, unlocking shield runes transforms the parry into a powerful offensive weapon, stunning enemies with lightning or activating an auto-targeting shoulder cannon.

Your journey through The Dark Ages’ battlegrounds unfolds as a series of intense, one-on-one skirmishes with diverse demons. Unlike Marauder fights, survival doesn’t hinge solely on green-light reactions. Standard weapons can secure victory, but parrying enhances your arsenal’s potency. Mastering it requires finding the perfect range—demons won’t fire projectiles up close—and positioning yourself to catch green orbs with precise timing. These encounters mirror the Marauder’s demand for focus, turning battles into a mosaic of tactical duels.

Many criticized the Marauder for disrupting Doom Eternal’s rhythm, as it defies the game’s usual strategies. This disruption is precisely why I admire it: while Eternal encourages fluid movement, the Marauder demands a different approach, breaking the game’s own rules. Yet, I understand why it frustrates others.

Doom: The Dark Ages resolves this by weaving varied combat styles into a cohesive experience. Each demon type introduces unique green projectiles or melee strikes, requiring tailored responses. The Mancubus fires wide energy bursts with green pillars, demanding lateral movement to parry. The Vagary hurls rows of deadly spheres, urging you to sprint toward deflectable ones. The Revenant, nearly invulnerable, mimics the Marauder’s mechanics with green skulls launched in alternating patterns.

With every demon requiring distinct tactics, new enemies feel like natural extensions of the combat system. The Agaddon Hunter and Komodo introduce challenging melee combos, but by then, you’re accustomed to adapting on the fly. In Eternal, the Marauder’s sudden shift in mechanics caught players off guard. The Dark Ages embeds reaction-based tactics from the start, making them integral rather than jarring.

The Marauder’s design was never flawed—it was its unexpected disruption that threw players. Doom: The Dark Ages prepares you by making reaction-based combat a cornerstone. The shield’s parry window is more forgiving than the Marauder’s split-second cue, reducing difficulty but preserving the core idea: synchronize with your enemy, wait for the green light, and strike. The Dark Ages reinterprets these mechanics, delivering familiar yet evolved battles where you stand and fight.