When director Hugo Martin defined that the mantra for Doom: The Darkish Ages was “stand and combat” throughout Xbox’s Developer Direct earlier this 12 months, I used to be immediately enticed. It is an concept in direct opposition to id Software program’s earlier recreation, Doom Everlasting, a shooter constructed on hyper-kinetic, perpetually cellular firefights. There’s, nevertheless, a single enemy in Everlasting that does demand you “stand and combat” – the Marauder. Maybe probably the most controversial enemy ever featured in a Doom recreation, it’s hated by many… and liked by me. And the second I realised that the trick to Doom: The Darkish Ages’ fight was reacting to shiny inexperienced lights – the exact same factor that’s key to killing a Marauder – I knew I used to be all-in.
Don’t fear, The Darkish Ages doesn’t power you right into a cage combat with an enemy that’s as quick and fiddly as Everlasting’s Marauder. Positive, there may be the Agaddon Hunter, who’s protected by a bulletproof protect and lashes out with a lethal combo assault, however the legacy of Everlasting’s notorious battles lives on not by a single enemy, however each enemy. Rethought, recalibrated, and reforged, the concepts behind the Marauder have been utilized to The Darkish Ages’ core fight design. The consequence? Each encounter has the smarts of a Marauder face-off with not one of the frustrations.
The Marauder is a little bit of an uncommon beast. Fights in Doom Everlasting sometimes have you ever working loops round a fight area, slicing down fodder enemies and bouncing between bigger foes. Everlasting has usually been referred to as a administration recreation, and that doesn’t simply apply to your sources; by the usage of pace, area, and shotguns it’s important to handle the horde. That every one goes out the window when the Marauder turns up. This tough-as-nails, axe-swinging powerhouse calls for your full focus, therefore why it’s so usually fought in one-on-one conditions. On the odd event one turns up in bigger battles, the perfect tactic is to keep away from its blows, clear the deck of mobs, and – lastly – stand and combat.
That doesn’t imply actually standing nonetheless, after all – that is Doom Everlasting, in spite of everything. Slightly, it’s about asserting dominance over the area by cautious positioning. Get in too shut and the Marauder will catch you with a lethal shotgun blast that’s near-impossible to dodge. Fall too far again and he’ll bombard you with projectiles which might be a lot simpler to dodge, however you’ll be out of vary of his axe swing. The factor is, you need him to attempt to hit you with that axe, as a result of the one time in the complete combat that the Marauder is susceptible to break is through the assault’s wind-up animation. His vitality protect soaks up each bullet you hearth, so that you must place your self within the candy spot the place he’ll drop his guard and go in for the kill. When his eyes flash shiny inexperienced, that’s your cue: you’ve obtained a split-second window to blast his brains out.
A flash of shiny inexperienced can be what you’re in search of in Doom: The Darkish Ages. In a nod to the collection’ first outing, demons hearth out volleys of bullet hell-like projectiles. Inside these volleys are particular inexperienced missiles that may be parried with the Doom Slayer’s new protect, deflecting the ordnance again to its supply. Within the opening hours of the sport that is largely a defensive transfer. Afterward, although, when you unlock the protect’s rune system, the parry turns into a useful offensive software, beautiful demons with bolts of lightning or triggering your shoulder-mounted, auto-targeting cannon.
Not like in a Marauder combat, survival isn’t totally depending on reacting to those inexperienced lights. Good use of your extra simple instruments can carry you to victory. However the protect runes make parrying one of many strongest elements of your arsenal – one price activating as many occasions as potential. And should you weave it into your fight method, you’ll quickly discover that the foundations of The Darkish Ages’ parry share widespread floor with Everlasting’s Marauder fights. You’ll want to seek out the best distance, since demons received’t hearth projectiles at shut vary, and when the inexperienced orbs seem, you’ll have to maneuver into the best place to catch them. After which, like catching the Maruader mid-swing, you want fast reactions to attain the parry itself. All this calls for focus, so your travels throughout The Darkish Ages’ battlefields change into a collage of pocketed one-vs-one fights with quite a lot of highly effective demons. You stand and also you combat. Simply as you probably did towards the Marauder.
Maybe probably the most cited argument towards the Marauder was the way it interrupted Doom Everlasting’s stream. You merely can not combat it utilizing the methods you’ve conquered each different problem with. This switch-up is definitely the explanation why I really like the Maruader a lot: whereas the remainder of the sport asks you to do ballet, it insists you break dance. Doom Everlasting was a recreation constructed on breaking the principles of first-person shooters, demanding that you consider sources, weapons, and engagements in new methods. The Marauder breaks the rulebreaker’s guidelines and so poses the last word problem. However as a lot as I relish that problem, I perceive why many hate it.
Doom: The Darkish Ages overcomes that drawback by guaranteeing totally different “dances” are a part of the grand disco corridor of battle. Each main enemy kind has its personal distinctive inexperienced projectile or melee strike, and so your method adjustments with every foe you encounter. The Mancubus, for example, fires staggered bursts of broad vitality “fences” that characteristic inexperienced “pillars” at both finish, and so you could weave left and proper to attain the parry on every one. The Vagary launches an abacus-like volley of lethal spheres, forcing you to dash in the direction of the rows you may deflect as in the event that they had been lethal tennis balls arriving in your facet of the court docket. The skeletal Revenant, in the meantime, replicates the Marauder even nearer; it’s invulnerable to break till you may deflect one of many inexperienced skulls it fires in alternating patterns from its shoulder launchers.
As a result of each single demon calls for a special sort of footwork, it’s by no means jarring when a brand new foe is launched with a left-of-field method. Positive, the Agaddon Hunter and Komodo each pose a little bit of an issue spike due to their intense melee combo assaults, however you’re already used to always adapting the way in which you progress and react by the point they arrive on the scene. That wasn’t the case for the Marauder, as a result of Everlasting’s ruleset was based mostly on utilizing the best gun for the best demon, not the place and reaction-based ways wanted to defeat this distinctive menace.
The Marauder’s drawback was by no means its design. It was that it broke the principles and gamers weren’t ready for it. Doom: The Darkish Ages trains you for one thing comparable by making its personal reaction-based twitch mechanic a core element of the complete expertise reasonably than a mid-game curveball. Such a shift does imply that the problem has largely disappeared – the protect’s parry window is rather more beneficiant than the split-second required to react to the Marauder’s eye flash, even at greater difficulties. However the underlying idea of the Marauder – locking step with an enemy, ready for the proper second, and putting when the sunshine shines inexperienced – is all right here in each single battle. Doom: The Darkish Ages could supply a really totally different tackle these concepts, however they’re nonetheless utterly recognisable. You stand and also you combat.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s Senior Options Editor.
