The Guardian is very large, muscular and robust Crocodilian-esque creature, armed with a burst-fire Mortar, and the fifth and final boss encountered in The Facilities.
Appearance
He has a very muscular, robust and tall figure, with his head resembling the skull of a crocodile. His purpose as the name implies, is guarding the portal to Episode 3, which takes place in another dimension, maybe even hell itself. It's right hand is replaced with a sort of Cannon or Mortar.
Tactical Analysis
The grenades which upto 15 in one salvo can be fired and function similar to the player's Mortar. They either explode on contact, or explode after a short duration. Due to the small room where the fight with him takes place, it is quite hard to dodge them all without taking any damage, and you will most likely die in one salvo. That means you have to use the teleporters on the side of the room. Both of them teleport you to significantly larger environments. He is very tanky, possessing largest amount of HP from all enemies in the game, with 17,000HP.
Gallery
Trivia
- The Crocodilian appearance of The Guardian is likely a reference to the Inhabitants of The Nameless City, from H.P Lovecraft's 1921 short story The Nameless City, which were described as
"They were of the reptile kind, with body lines suggesting sometimes the crocodile, sometimes the seal, but more often nothing of which either the naturalist or the palaeontologist ever heard. In size they approximated a small man, and their fore-legs bore delicate and evident feet curiously like human hands and fingers. But strangest of all were their heads, which presented a contour violating all know biological principles. To nothing can such things be well compared - in one flash I thought of comparisons as varied as the cat, the bullfrog, the mythic Satyr, and the human being. Not Jove himself had had so colossal and protuberant a forehead, yet the horns and the noselessness and the alligator-like jaw placed things outside all established categories."
-- H.P. Lovecraft describing the Inhabitants of The Nameless City
- Originally the Guardian was meant to be the "introductory boss variant" of smaller "Crocmen" enemies which were to be found in Episode 3, however they were referenced as cut by 500_pts pre-release, most likely due to balance issues.