Bungie has outlined what to anticipate from Marathon upon launch, and confirmed plans for seasonal wipes that imply all gamers lose their gear each few months.
Seasonal updates will introduce new gameplay, together with gear, Runner shells, zones, occasions, and extra, Bungie stated, they usually’ll be free for all gamers to entry or earn, so there’s no expansions or DLC required.
Every season brings a “clear slate for the entire neighborhood,” Bungie defined, with development resets that embrace everybody’s gear, contract development, faction development, and participant stage.
Nevertheless, gamers will hold their achievements and cosmetics, titles, and different rewards from reaching milestones. Your Codex development additionally carries over. Elsewhere, your liaison contract development carries over, so that you don’t must unlock the factions each season.
“Seasonal resets imply that the sport stays harmful, loot feels significant, and there’s all the time an excellent alternative to get again into the sport or convey a pal in with out feeling behind the curve,” Bungie stated, explaining its resolution. “It’s a strategy to say goodbye to the outdated, welcome the brand new, and kick off a journey from zero-to-hero with new methods to play, content material to grasp, and issues to find.”
The extraction shooter launches on March 5 alongside Season 1, referred to as First Step. This features a neighborhood drive to unlock the best way into orbit and the fourth zone, referred to as Cryo Archive, though Bungie didn’t say what the neighborhood unlock will contain.
“Put together your thoughts and shell to tackle this end-game zone on the Marathon ship, the place you’ll remedy safety puzzles, unseal frozen vaults, and are available face-to-face with an entity even the UESC fears,” Bungie stated. Then, through the second half of March, Ranked mode will unlock. We don’t have a lot data on the way it will work, however Ranked mode will provide unique rewards.
Bungie additionally outlined the Marathon launch content material:
- Full faction and contract development
- All six factions, together with Sekiguchi Genetics
- All six launch Runner shells, together with Thief
- Three zones, together with Outpost
- Outpost will unlock the day after launch, giving the neighborhood time to gear up and unlock the zone at Runner Degree 12
- 28 weapons, plus mods, implants, cores, and extra to craft your excellent builds
- Earnable cosmetics, achievements, and storytelling via the Codex
Bungie even went as far to disclose Season 2, referred to as Dusk, which can convey a nighttime model of Dire Marsh, a brand new Runner shell, and new weapons, mods, cores, and contracts. Dusk will introduce the Cradle, a brand new system “designed to provide you extra autonomy over your Runner shell’s statistical strengths and weaknesses.”
“As we construct upon every season, Marathon will proceed to develop and evolve,” Bungie stated. “The sport and world at the moment and a yr from now ought to really feel meaningfully totally different as we add new options and go on the journey of discovering what occurred to the colonists of Tau Ceti… and what occurs whenever you dig up secrets and techniques which might be higher left buried.”
We’ve bought loads extra on Marathon, together with one Bungie developer’s dedication to “fontslop.” Take a look at IGN’s Marathon evaluate up to now to seek out out what we expect.
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You possibly can attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
