Now that Bungie has moved on from Destiny 2, it’s more important than ever for Marathon to take off.
Bungie is working hard on Marathon, but this hasn’t resulted in a sudden increase in players. Season 2 is shaping up similarly to Season 1. Despite critical acclaim and a small but dedicated player base, Marathon continues to struggle to attract the number of players practically essential for commercial success in multiplayer titles. However, if Bungie can further develop and refine Marathon, it wouldn’t be the first, nor the last, multiplayer game to achieve success long after its release thanks to the developers’ determination and commitment. The second half of Season 2 is Bungie’s latest step toward long-term success with the upcoming fully PvE mode, Vault Breaker.
Vault Breaker launches on July 21 and transports players to the Cryo Archive, the endgame level that arrived shortly after the game’s release. It required a community-driven ARG to unlock. Players can choose to play solo, in a duo, or in a trio. Once they enter, they’ll face a series of increasingly difficult vaults as they try to reach the creature that dwells in Marathon’s toughest level. In the meantime, we can pass the time with Marathon’s PvE-lite mode, Sponsored Survivor. This mode drops our team into a match and incorporates Rook players who are online at the time. We can team up with these Rooks or take them out, unless they band together against us first.
In addition, there’s Nightfall, the nighttime version of Dire Marsh; the release of the new Sentinel Runner Shell, which we can try out; and, of course, all the progression changes that accompany the introduction of The Cradle. These changes will also occur midway through the season, on July 21. Bungie will introduce the Cradle Evolution System at that time, allowing players to reset their Cradle to zero and gain an additional maximum energy point. This unlocks unique cosmetic items, including several runner shell styles.
Now that we’ve passed the halfway point of the second season, Bungie has announced that the third season of Marathon will officially begin on September 22.
