What Bungie Will Add To ‘Marathon' After Its Announced Delay
Marathon
Marathon isn't cancelled. I do not believe Marathon is going to be cancelled. Even if yesterday, Bungie announced that Marathon would no longer hit its September 23, 2025 release date, with no new date given, that's not what's happening. The game is too far along and too important for both Bungie and Sony to just throw in the towel now.
As such, Bungie has now written a list of what is being worked on during this Marathon delay period, and I thought it was a good time to go through and analyze each point. Let's get going:
More challenging and engaging AI encounters – This is something Bungie already touched on during the Alpha itself, testing out more intense enemy AI, and they reiterated that in the last livestream. A robust, more pervasive AI presence is something that could differentiate it from competitors and at least fulfill some PvE wishes from sections of its potential playerbase. We also have to remember more AI factions are coming, like the Pfhor, and they may be here by the new release date, perhaps.
More rewarding runs, with new types of loot and dynamic events – We were always getting 'new types of loot' with the Alpha holding a lot back, but I'm wondering if this means things like extra high-end, special perk gear, or even something like new equipment slots. And more rewarding gear would perhaps help you to take more away even with shorter runs. More dynamic events could be things like weather or enemy drops or more things to engage with, like supply drops, all welcome.
Making combat more tense and strategic – I very much take this as leaning into the harder core aspects of the extraction genre, moving away from feeling like a slower Apex Legends and more into 'tactical' engagements. Bungie has touched on this already, talking about moving the gap between super-geared players and lower-geared players together so it's less of an auto-stomp. Still, I do not take this as an effort to make the game more casual, but the opposite.
Marathon
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Increased visual fidelity – I mean, this one was obvious. The Alpha did not look great because it was unfinished, and a lot of stuff, mainly exteriors and player models, needed tons of work. I will be curious to see where it ends up.
More narrative and environmental storytelling to discover and interact with – There is currently very little of this in the game at all. Most narrative is contained to some vendor conversations but on the maps themselves? Adding lore there would be nice. That said, it's difficult to make dedicated PvP players care much about lore, and it's likely not enough to drag PvE players in to experience it, is my guess.
A darker tone that delivers on the themes of the original trilogy – I'm a little confused about this one as I do think the lore we do have is dark and has themes of the original trilogy. The main complaint about Marathon not feeling like 'Marathon' is the fact that it looks and plays completely different and is an entirely different genre of game, which I can't imagine changing. And you're not going to make it look like that image three paragraphs above this, certainly.
Marathon
A better player experience for solos/duos – Possibly the biggest complaint about Marathon to date has been that there is no dedicated solos playlist, meaning you have to load in by yourself against teams of threes. However, the way this is phrased does not at all confirm that's what's coming. Rather, Bungie did already talk about making it feel better to be solo or duo in a game. Maybe they will make solos or duos playlists, but that is not what this is necessarily saying.
Prox chat, so social stories can come to life – Everyone was pretty stunned when they realized that Bungie was making an extraction shooter without proximity chat, which is an obvious staple of the franchise. I am willing to bet the issue here was some sort of thing with Sony, given how its other games don't have the feature either, and I don't think it's really a technical issue. Still, it's allegedly coming. I remain skeptical this is as big a draw for Marathon as people make out, given how it will function in its non-Tarkov combat loop, but yes, obviously, the game should have the option, at least.
I'm trying to be a bit more positive here than normal, but I'm not changing my ultimate conclusion that all this won't be enough. We'll see.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
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