Lost Soul/Doom 3

The Lost Soul in Doom 3 looks vastly different from its classic counterpart. It is a flying demon consisting of a human head mounted on a flying rocket engine contraption with jaws torn apart to allow it to open its mouth wider than a normal human could and its teeth have mutated into long, pointy, needle-like fangs. When alerted, they make a high-pitched shriek, accompanied by the sound of the rocket engine that powers them.

The first appearance of a Lost Soul occurs in a grotesque cutscene with Theresa Chasar, one of the few female UAC employees. When the marine approaches, she whispers "help me", then her facial skin starts to shrivel inwards while acquiring a horrible pale color, and a Lost Soul bursts out of her head, ripping out her spinal cord in the process. It could be possible that a Lost Soul needs to manifest itself within a body; this is supported by the cutscene and the rest of the Lost Souls could have come from the bodies with the damaged faces as well as the ones without heads.

Combat characteristics
In contrast to it's appearance, the Doom 3 Lost Soul behaves almost identically to it's iteration. They usually come in swarms and hover through the air at moderate speed, and abruptly charge by rocketing in a straight line towards the player. Unlike the classic Lost Souls, however, Doom 3 Lost Souls can cover a larger area and can change course if necessary.

Tactical Analysis
While the Doom 3 version of the Lost Soul only has 20% health compared to it's classic version (a single punch or 2 pistol bullets therefore can take them down instantly), it's a much more difficult target to fight against. Their smaller size and the lack of space for the player to dodge their charge attacks make them potentially more dangerous than the classic version. If a Lost Soul survives the first shot, it grants them a perfect opportunity to retaliate against the player.

The general strategy is to maintain a reasonable distance away from these enemies as their charge attacks will allow them to quickly close in on the player to attack. The Shotgun is ideal against fighting an individual Lost Soul at point blank range. However, it's low rate of fire and reduced effectiveness at long range makes this weapon unviable when fighting a horde of them. The Machine Gun or the Plasma Gun are more efficient for taking down a horde of them, thanks to their high accuracy and rapid rate of fire. A skilled player can also rely on the Pistol, only if they are in a safe distance from a horde of Lost Souls. But if they close in, switch to either the Machine Gun or Plasma Gun.

The Resurrection of Evil and The Lost Mission expansion packs replaced the Lost Souls with a new monster called the Forgotten One, which bears a closer resemblance to the classic Lost Soul.

Alma perdida (Doom 3)