Doom: Dark Ages Inspired by Eternal's Marauder

When director Hugo Martin described the core philosophy behind Doom: The Dark Ages as “stand and fight” during Xbox’s Developer Direct earlier this year, it immediately caught my attention. This mantra stands in stark contrast to the relentless momentum of Doom Eternal, a game defined by high-speed movement and constant repositioning. Yet, there’s one enemy in Eternal that already embodies this idea—the Marauder. One of the most divisive foes in FPS history, widely criticized by many but passionately loved by me. The moment I realized that The Dark Ages builds its combat around reacting to bright green visual cues—the very same mechanic essential to defeating the Marauder—I knew I was fully on board.

Let’s be clear: The Dark Ages doesn’t trap you in a frustrating, high-twitch duel with an enemy as fast and unforgiving as Eternal’s Marauder. While the Agaddon Hunter comes close—protected by a bulletproof shield and armed with a punishing melee combo—the true legacy of the Marauder isn’t carried by any single foe. Instead, it’s woven into the DNA of every enemy encounter. The core concepts behind the Marauder—precision timing, spatial awareness, and reactive combat—have been reimagined, refined, and integrated into the foundation of The Dark Ages. The result? Every battle feels as strategically intense as a Marauder showdown, but without the frustration.

The Marauder was always an outlier in Doom Eternal. Most fights in that game are a symphony of motion—dodging, dashing, and managing waves of enemies with speed and weapon switching. But when the Marauder appears, everything changes. He demands full attention, often forcing one-on-one duels. Even in larger encounters, the best strategy is to clear the field first, then engage. It’s not about constant movement; it’s about control. You must position yourself perfectly—close enough to provoke his axe wind-up, but not so close that his shotgun obliterates you. The key moment? When his eyes flash bright green. That’s your opening: a split-second vulnerability during his attack animation. His shield blocks all damage otherwise, so success hinges on precise timing and positioning.

That same green flash returns in Doom: The Dark Ages, but in a new form. Paying homage to the original Doom, demons unleash chaotic barrages of projectiles—bullet-hell style—but among them are special green projectiles that can be parried using the Doom Slayer’s new shield. Early on, this is a defensive tool. But as you unlock the shield’s rune system, parrying transforms into a powerful offensive mechanic, capable of stunning enemies or triggering your auto-targeting shoulder cannon.

Your journey across The Dark Ages becomes a series of intense, focused duels with a variety of powerful demons. Unlike the Marauder fight, survival doesn’t rely solely on reacting to green cues—standard combat tools still carry weight. But shield runes elevate parrying into one of your most effective strategies, making it something you’ll want to use constantly. As you integrate it into your playstyle, you’ll notice a familiar rhythm: finding the right distance (demons don’t fire green projectiles up close), positioning yourself to intercept the green orbs, and executing a well-timed parry—just like dodging in and blasting the Marauder mid-swing. Each encounter demands focus, turning the battlefield into a sequence of intimate, one-on-one confrontations. You stand. You fight. Just like before.

One of the biggest criticisms of the Marauder was how it disrupted Doom Eternal’s flow. It forced players to abandon the mechanics they’d mastered throughout the game. For some, that was jarring. For me, it was exhilarating. While the rest of Eternal feels like a choreographed dance, the Marauder forces you into a different rhythm—like switching from ballet to breakdancing. Doom Eternal was built on subverting FPS norms, and the Marauder subverts even that. It’s the ultimate test. I love it for that, but I understand why others don’t.

The Agaddon Hunter may be the most Marauder-like enemy in The Dark Ages, but every demon carries a piece of Eternal’s most feared foe. | Image credit: id Software / Bethesda

Doom: The Dark Ages solves this by making varied combat rhythms a core part of the experience. Every major demon has a unique green projectile or attack pattern, requiring different movement and timing. The Mancubus fires wide energy "fences" with green "pillars" on the edges—parry them by weaving side to side. The Vagary launches abacus-like volleys of spheres, forcing you to sprint forward and deflect them like tennis balls. The skeletal Revenant comes closest to the Marauder, becoming vulnerable only when you parry the green skulls it fires in alternating patterns.

Because each demon demands a different kind of movement and reaction, introducing new mechanics never feels disruptive. Enemies like the Agaddon Hunter and Komodo bring a spike in difficulty with their aggressive melee combos, but by then, you’re already trained to adapt on the fly. In Eternal, the Marauder felt like an anomaly because the game’s rules were built around weapon selection, not real-time reaction and positioning. Here, reaction-based combat is the rule, not the exception.

The issue with the Marauder was never its design—it was that it broke the game’s established rules without preparing the player. Doom: The Dark Ages fixes that by making reactive, timing-based combat a fundamental pillar from the start. The parry window is more forgiving than the Marauder’s split-second cue, even on higher difficulties, which softens the challenge. But the essence remains: locking rhythm with an enemy, waiting for the perfect moment, and striking when the green light appears. Every battle carries that DNA.

Doom: The Dark Ages reinterprets those ideas in a fresh way, but the inspiration is unmistakable. You stand. You fight. And this time, the whole game is built for it.