This week, Doom: The Dark Ages director Hugo Martin confirmed that the upcoming prequel has an enemy called the Agadon Hunter that is “the new Marauder.” That’s bad news for many Doom fans, but I’m excited to see my boy return once again.
The Marauder was controversial in Doom Eternal. The enemy looked like a stereotypical demon, with long horns, ashen skin, red eyes, and skeletal nostrils, but in green armor that looked a whole lot like the Doom Slayer’s. That doppelganger aesthetic was fitting because the Marauder kinda was the Doom Slayer from hell, a worthy opponent that matched the player’s toolset more closely than any other demon.
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Remembering The Marauder’s Unique Challenge
Introduced as an extremely demanding one-on-one fight that required players to maintain a Goldilocks distance from the boss, the Marauder demanded precision in a way that few of Eternal’s enemies did. As the in-game tooltip informs you:
“The Marauder is a defensive powerhouse. Stand too close, he uses his shotgun. Stand too far away, he throws projectiles. Keep him at mid-range, counter his attack when his eyes flash green; otherwise he blocks your shots.”
As the tutorial indicates, it’s all about finding the right distance then waiting for his eyes to blink green so you can counter him with a shotgun blast. Though the tooltip talks about the Marauder sending projectiles, the projectiles in question aren’t arrows or lasers. They’re actually ghostly demon dogs that chase you around until you dispatch them.
It’s a tough fight, even though when you first meet him, he’s the only big bad you need to worry about. Easy-to-kill ads are summoned throughout the fight, but those are mostly there for your benefit, since Doom requires that you glory kill enemies in order to stock up on healing items and ammo refills.
But if that was always how you encountered the Marauder, he likely wouldn’t be controversial. Unfortunately, the Marauder kept showing up — and often when you were already contending with a battlefield filled with enemies. Imagine having to make your way through a tough section in a Soulslike, where merely dealing with the regular enemies is taxing. Now imagine that Margit has been let loose in the area, too. All your attention would shift to the boss, right? But those tough enemies didn’t go anywhere. You have to deal with them, too.
This balance rubbed many fans the wrong way. Doom Eternal was all about fast, balletic combat. With an increased focus on traversal over Doom (2016), you were often soaring across the arena in seconds, using your grappling hook to grab enemies and zip speedily from side to side. The Marauder disrupted that flow. You had to stop flying with a devil may care attitude, and start caring about the devil who may kill you. It was an entirely different challenge from the rest of the game’s monsters, demanding precision play as you focused on your timing and spacing.
So Why Did I Like It?
But I liked it for the challenge that it represented, and the way it allowed you to see your growth as a player. To bring in another Souls comparison, you know when you first start a game like Bloodborne, and making it through an early area like Central Yharnam without dying takes all your attention? Then over time, you learn how to tackle the horde of enemies without getting overwhelmed, and you level up so you can dispatch them all easily? It’s a good feeling.
And it’s how I felt about the Marauder. The first fight against him was genuinely difficult in a game where most enemies were designed to be knocked off in rock-paper-scissors-style, simply by selecting the right gun for their weakness. Marauder made you think, pay attention, and get better. You still finished it and thought, ‘I hope I never see that guy again,’ but you had gained new skills by going toe to toe.
Then when id brought the Marauder back as just one enemy among a horde, it was a great “oh sh*t!” moment. When I saw the Marauder making his way toward me, I thought, “There’s no way they’re actually asking me to do this.” But there was no easy way out. You just had to learn to balance the horde and the boss, all together. Learning to do that, to handle the big bad, while also managing to fight other enemies was very satisfying.
If id Software is resurrecting the Marauder in altered form for Doom: The Dark Ages, I can only imagine it’s because the studio has found a way to close the gap, delivering an enemy that doesn’t make its fans want to smash the controller while preserving the challenge and precision I enjoyed. Okay, I can imagine other reasons. But I’m hoping it’s this.
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