Marathon’s Season 2 is live right now and available to all players. When I say all, I really mean all, because as part of their celebration for season 2’s launch, Bungie is making Marathon free to play from right now until June 9th. This makes the game available to download with no purchase necessary on Steam, Playstation 5, and XBOX Series X and S.
I hope more people get a chance to check out Bungie’s new extraction shooter. It’s been the talk of the town for the last few weeks as the industry speculates on the studios survival after the sunsetting of its live service game: Destiny 2.
Marathon launching with a purchase price rather than a subscription or micro-transaction based revenue stream always ran the risk of seeing discourse about the game gradually drift further and further away from the reality of playing it. We’ve seen this in spades throughout May. Despite significant backlash and a sizeable crowd salivating over the prospect of Marathon’s failure, by and large the reception has been glowing amongst its player base, who’s strongest retort to the drama so far has been to encourage people to actually try the game. What better opportunity than right now while it’s free to play.
As well as free to play, naturally, the launch of a new season comes with plenty of new content for experienced players. Runners will be able to explore a new night version of Dire March, featuring new mechanics, combatants, and environmental challenges that push Marathon into survival-horror territory. New equipment has been introduced to suit the night time environment, including flashlights, night vision, or “darksight” scopes, signal flares, and more.
A new runner shell, Sentinel, will bring more defensive capabilities allowing players to lock down positions and protect teammates. The Sentinel’s kit will include an automated laser platform that provides point defence against incoming grenades and missiles, as well as improving weapon handling for nearby crew. For more close range engagements, the kit will include a proximity mine that snares rushing enemies, and a short range motion tracker to spot enemy movements nearby.
A brand new “Cradle” system has been introduced that will majorly affect progression. Upgrades will now be shared across all runner shells, and can be configured at any time with no penalty. Additional perks will be unlocked at key thresholds, giving players more personalisation over their progression throughout the season.
Season 2 also introduces Sponsored Survival. Just an experimental mode running for one week during the free to play window, this is an asymmetric mode in which a single crew infils with Sponsored Kits into the new Dire Marsh night time environment. There will be new enemies to face and a long period in which you can loot up in a PvE only experience, until eventually Rooks will enter your match to compete for the single final exfil.
Devs have teased that there will be more experimental game modes available later in the season, as they continue to explore more laid back and PvE game modes to attract more casual players.
If you’re interested in giving it a try, you’ll be glad to hear that any progress you make during the free-to-play period will carry over if you purchase the game, which is available right now at 30% off on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation.