Following a recent Marathon hands-on event organized by Bungie for Chinese media, new gameplay footage and impressions are now available online. The event reportedly took place in Shanghai earlier this month and was the first held outside North America.
The most impressive aspect reported by attendees was the significant expansion of worldbuilding and narrative depth. The tutorial and faction introductions now provide clear origins and motivations for the playable characters, creating a more coherent story framework for the extraction shooter game. Players can discover Dr. Strauss's will; he's a pivotal figure who connects multiple narrative threads from the original Marathon trilogy.
The PvE experience of this Marathon build proved quite challenging, according to multiple impressions. AI enemies continuously call in reinforcements over time, and environmental hazards are aplenty, including poison gas vents, perimeter turrets, and landmines scattered throughout the maps.
Resource management adds an extra layer of difficulty, as medical supplies and shields are fairly expensive at vendors. By the end of the play sessions, some testers couldn't afford these items without selling all their buffs. The high-risk environment apparently discourages early combat or PvP engagements, which typically result in net losses, pushing players to focus on missions to upgrade base stats instead. At least one map confirmed support for 18 players (6 teams of 3), though there are also smaller maps that support 12 players (4 teams of 3).
Since the Alpha version, Marathon has received a significant visual upgrade. Environments now convey a darker, more mysterious atmosphere reminiscent of Bungie's Pathways into Darkness (1993) and the original Marathon trilogy. The UI has also undergone a major overhaul, though some aspects still feel somewhat awkward according to the event's attendees. Perhaps that's just a matter of getting used to them.
Skill distribution across all classes appears to be well-balanced, allowing flexible team compositions. Several Shells feature movement abilities, enhancing mobility options. Each runner has six base appearances tied to their respective faction.
The weapon arsenal includes 28 guns, each with two or more skins. Some even change the entire weapon model. Every weapon features one charm slot and three sticker slots that unlock through challenge completion. Overall, impressions of the gunplay are very good, but then again, that's an area where Bungie always excelled. The cosmetic shop and battle pass were, unfortunately, unavailable during the event.
The footage is a 10-minute video available on the Chinese video sharing website Bilibili featuring Lockdown, a large scale PvE event that can trigger on the Abyssal Swamp map. Around 15 minutes later, a Point of Interest (POI) may be locked down and surrounded by red bubbles. To trigger this event, players can use the 'HEC' consumable. This allows them to enter the red bubble without taking damage for 45 seconds, during which time they can press a switch to close it.
After activating the switch, three waves of enemies will appear, with the final one featuring a boss. Defeating the boss provides the first wave of loot and a keycard. The locked-down area will then move to another area (it could be 'Algae Pool', 'Isolation Zone', or 'Comprehensive Facility'), and this process will repeat up to 3 times. Each time, Marathon players will need to use a keycard from the previous level to increase the difficulty level.
Bungie Game Director Joe Ziegler was also interviewed by Ali123. In the conversation, he shared the studio's vision for Marathon seasons:
Each season in Marathon will be a fresh start. We envision each season as a months-long "roguelike adventure ." Each season, players will start with limited resources and must gradually grow stronger through various means, forging their own unique path to growth. To implement this concept, each season will incorporate new content and systems, substantially reshaping the seasonal gameplay. That said, some content will be retained at the player account level. For example, cosmetic items acquired through unlocking or purchasing will continue to be retained across seasons.
After several delays, Marathon will be released for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S and X on March 5. In less than a month, we'll know if Bungie turned around the mild reception of the previous testing phases.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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