Outdated identify, new recreation

You would possibly simply keep in mind that earlier than Future, and earlier than Halo, Bungie had Marathon. Virtually 20 years later, Marathon is again, as Bungie is reviving the franchise for its new PvP sci-fi extraction shooter.

Revealed throughout right this moment’s PlayStation Showcase, Marathon is a very new challenge for the group. It’ll pit gamers in opposition to one another as cybernetic mercenaries referred to as Runners, battling for riches and fame.
The query of “how does this relate to the unique Marathon” is legitimate, and just a little obscure. Over on the PlayStation Weblog, recreation director Christopher Barrett expands on how this pertains to the 1994 to 1996 Marathon sequence.

“We have now an amazing quantity of respect for the unique Marathon video games and, from the very begin, we’ve needed to honor that, particularly the mythology, story, and themes of the world,” Barrett mentioned. “On the identical time, our imaginative and prescient for this recreation is one thing new. It’s not a direct sequel to the originals, however one thing that actually belongs in the identical universe and that seems like a Bungie recreation. Discovering these alternatives to nod to the universe’s lore, whereas additionally getting to construct one thing completely different and new has been among the finest elements of growing this recreation to date.”
So it’s new, however previous; impressed by the traditional, however creating one thing new with it. As Barrett goes on to say, Bungie is making one thing for each new gamers and people which have been ready years for extra tales within the Marathon universe. There’ll apparently be references and “deep cuts,” too.

It’s a marathon

Barrett and basic supervisor Scott Taylor affirm a couple of extra issues about Marathon within the PlayStation Weblog. It’s in growth for PlayStation 5, Xbox Collection X|S, and PC. It’s a PvP-focused recreation, and gained’t have a single-player marketing campaign. Nevertheless, Marathon can have a alternatives for “player-driven tales” to unfold. It feels like these are the types of tales that evolve out of tense firefights and extractions, the “share across the water cooler” fashion of story.

However additionally they wish to have gamers have an effect on the persistent zones and bigger world because of their actions. They provide the instance of a crew discovering an undiscovered artifact, that would open a brand new space of the map for gamers to discover. “In essence, we’re making a recreation the place the actions of gamers can have ramifications for the world and gamers with every unfolding season,” Barrett says.

There’s no particulars when it comes to a launch window or something like that, although Taylor says that the subsequent time we hear about Marathon, Bungie will be capable of present gameplay and be “a lot nearer” to launch. We’ll see what Bungie has in retailer for its old-new shooter round then.

Eric Van Allen

Senior Information Reporter – Whereas Eric’s been writing about video games since 2014, he is been taking part in them for lots longer. Normally discovered grinding RPG battles, digging into an indie gem, or hanging out across the Limsa Aethryte.

Extra Tales by Eric Van Allen