Stick it to those Marathon-likers… like me
I hear that some of you aren't playing Marathon yet. Maybe extraction shooters aren't your jam, or there's not enough about Bungie's game to draw you away from your shooter of choice, or maybe you're just sick and tired of a certain portion of the internet yammering on about Marathon like it's the bee's-freaking-knees of multiplayer games. Now, if you fall into that latter camp, I have particularly good news for you. For one week only, you will be able to drop into Tau Ceti and wipe the smile of those yammerers' faces without buying the game.
Bungie are kicking off Marathon Season 2 with a free week. Importantly, that free week coincides with an account wipe for all players, so even though you will be going up against people who have had a couple of months in Marathon already, they won't be packing any of their best loot or top level skills.
(It's also a great chance to try a really very good shooter that you might have been interested in.)
"When Season 1 ends, all the assets in your Vault and personalized Armory access will be wiped, and your shells will be reset to factory standards to put everyone at the same starting line," Bungie explain in the post announcing the Marathon free week. "It’s important we give players a chance to explore the new season together and not have to worry about going up against fully kitted out crews right out of the gate."
And, while veteran players will know the lay of the land in most of the maps, there is enough changing that they will be at least a smidge wrongfooted. For one, the Dire Marsh map is returning in a pitch black night variant, featuring new anomalies on the map and enemy locations, all of which create opportunities to be ambushed.
The free week kicks off on June 2nd and runs through to June 9th.
As Oisin covered earlier this week, season 2 looks to be moving Marathon more into the horror game territory – perhaps taking some pointers from extraction shooter veteran Hunt: Showdown 1896. Though, Jeremy Peel did make the argument that it's already effectively a game where every enemy player is basically the xenomorph in Alien: Isolation.
Bungie say the new map, where you have to make use of a flashlight to see the ground around you (while also revealing yourself to anyone who may be watching, "plays more like a survival horror experience, with slightly fewer players and extra environmental challenges with navigating the darkness and threats within." As well as flashlights, there are new toys like vector bullets, grenades, and flares that you can use to light up the night.
While there will be fewer players, the AI enemies have an increased presence. Narratively, the UESC are pushing back against you and other runners, and better defending their facilities which dot the maps. They've realised an operative part of the word 'locker' and have now locked their cargo down. You'll need to kill a certain number of UESC troops to acquire the decryption keys to open up the lockers and snaffle the loot.
While the new night map is the most interesting change in Season 2 for me – as I want to see how much of a genre shift it really introduces – the new character class will also change the game up. The Sentinel is a defender, armed with an ultimate that shoots down any incoming missiles and grenades for a short time. There are a couple of UESC troops that can properly bombard you if you aren't careful and the Sentinel will be able to nullify that first wave of attacks all while boosting their teammates' weapon handling.
The Sentinel also has a proximity activated snare mine, which pins in place any enemies that trigger it. They also have a prey tracker which lets them see enemies when they're in motion. Great for seeing people trying to sneak up on you, less good for spotting someone laying in wait in the dark.
There is a lot more coming in Season 2, and Bungie break it down in a new developer diary:
Last week brought the news that Bungie are ending their work on Destiny 2 – something that was apparently news to people still working on the long-running live service shooter. While some staff will be moving across to Marathon, it's also reported that the studio will be making significant layoffs across the studio. So much about Destiny 2 and Marathon seems to have been mishandled, with years of rumours and admissions from Bungie that they didn't know what direction to take Destiny 2 in its future, and Marathon having a troubled development. It's amazing that Marathon has turned out as good a shooter as it has, and if you've any interest in trying it out, this free week will be a good opportunity. But there is a cloud of last week's news hanging over Marathon's future.