When director Hugo Martin explained that the mantra for Doom: The Dark Ages “stand and fought” during the Xbox developer director earlier this year, I was instantly seduced. This is an idea that directly opposes Doom Eternal, the previous game of ID software. This is a shooting game built on hyperkinetic and permanently mobile shootouts. But there will be one eternal enemy forever whom you will demand to “stand and fight.” Perhaps the most controversial enemy ever appeared in the game of destiny, it is hated by many…and I’m loved By me. And the moment I realized that the battles of the Destiny: Dark Ages were responding to bright green light, the exact same thing as the key to killing the looters – I knew I was all-in.
Don’t worry, a dark age will not force you into cage battles with any enemy as fast as the eternal marauder. Certainly, there are Agadon Hunters protected by bulletproof shields and assaulting them in deadly combo attacks, but the legacy of eternal and infamous battles lives on through all enemies, not a single enemy. The ideas behind the rethinked, re-adjusted and renovated marauders have been applied to the core combat designs of the Dark Ages. result? Every encounter has the cleverness of the frustration, either the looter’s showdown.
The looters are a slightly unusual beast. Fighting in Doom Eternal usually runs a loop around a combat arena, cutting down feed enemies and bouncing off among the larger enemies. Eternal has often been called a management game, but it doesn’t just apply to your resources. You need to manage your hordes by using speed, space and shotguns. When the looters appear, everything goes out the window. Why is this tough one, Axe-Swinging Powerhouse, often fought in one-on-one situations, because it requires full focus? On strange occasions, they appear in bigger battles, but the best tactics are to avoid that blow, clean up the deck of mobs, and finally – fight with the stands.
That doesn’t mean it’s literally still. Of course, this is, after all, eternal destiny. Rather, it is to assert control over space through careful positioning. Get too close, the looter will catch you with a fatal shotgun blast that is nearly impossible to dodge. If you fall too far back, he will attack you with a projectile that is much easier to dodge, but you will be out of range of his x shaking. It’s you want He tries to attack you with that x. Because the only time in the entire battle where the looters are vulnerable to damage is during the winding up animation of the attack. His energy shield absorbs every bullet you fire, so you need to put yourself in the sweet spot where he enters to drop and kill his guards. When his eyes flash bright green, that’s your clue: you have a second-second window to blow up his brain.
Bright green flashes are also what you are looking for in destiny: the Dark Ages. Nodding to the first outing of the series, the devil fires a volley of projectiles like a bullet. Within these volleys are special green missiles that can line up with the Doom Slayer’s new shield, which deflects the weapons to their sources. During game opening hours, this is primarily a defensive move. Later, however, unlocking the Shield’s Rune system will make Parry a valuable attack tool, a stunning demon with lightning, causing an automatic targeting gun mounted on his shoulder.
Unlike the battle of marauders, survival is not entirely dependent on responding to these green lights. Using your simpler tools effectively will help you lead to victory. However, the Seal Drune will receive one of the most powerful components of your arsenal and are worth activating as many times as possible. And once you weave it into a combat approach, you will soon find that the foundations of Parry of the Dark Ages share a common position with the battle of eternal marauders. Devils do not fire projectiles at close range, so they need to find the right distance, and once green orbs appear, they need to pilot them in the right position to catch them. And it takes a quick response to get the Parry itself, just like catching the midswing of the malarder. All this requires focus, so travel across the battlefields of the Dark Ages becomes a collage of one battle in pockets with various powerful demons. You stand and fight. Just as you did to the looters.
Perhaps the most cited argument for the marauders was how it interrupted the flow of the Doom Eternal. You cannot use techniques that conquered all other challenges to fight it. This switchup is actually why I love malarders so much. The rest of the game asks you to do ballet, but it insists you break the dance. Doom Eternal is a game based on breaking the rules of first-person shooters, requiring you to think about resources, weapons, and engagement in new ways. The looter poses the ultimate challenge as he breaks the rules of the rule breaker. But as much as I enjoy the challenge, I understand why so many people hate it.
DOOM: The Dark Age overcomes that problem by ensuring a variety of “dances.” All major enemy types have their own green projectiles or melee attacks, so their approach changes depending on the enemy you encounter. For example, Mancubus fires an incredible burst of broad energy “fences” featuring green “pillars” at each end, so they must weave them left and right to gain each parry. Vagary is forced to fire a volley like a secondary band of deadly spheres and sprint towards a line that can deflect as if it were a deadly tennis ball that arrives at the side of the court. Meanwhile, the skeletal Lenavent brings the marauder even closer. It is immortal to damage until you deflect one of the green skulls that fire in alternating patterns from the shoulder launcher.
All demons require different kinds of footwork, so when new enemies are introduced with the left-wing approach, it is never offensive. Certainly, Agaddon Hunter and Komodo both bring a bit of a difficult spike thanks to a fierce melee combo attack, but you’re already used to constantly adapt your movements and reactions by the time you arrive on the scene. This was not the case with Marauder, as the Eternal ruleset was based on using the correct gun on the right demon rather than the position and response-based tactics needed to defeat this unique threat.
The issue of the marauders was by no means the design. That means it broke the rules and players weren’t prepared for it. DOOM: Dark Ages trains you for something similar by creating your own reaction-based Twitch mechanic that will be the core component of the entire experience rather than the game mid-game curveball. Such a shift means that the challenges have largely disappeared. Shield’s Parry windows are much more generous than the second required to respond to the flash of the marauder’s eye, even if they are higher. But the fundamental concept of the marauder – locking a step with the enemy, waiting for the perfect moment, striking when the light shines green – is all here in every battle. DOOM: The Dark Ages may offer very different views on these ideas, but they are still fully recognisable. You stand and fight.
Matt Purslow is Passthecontroller’s senior feature editor.
