Bungie has announced that the major Marathon update that was supposed to be launching on September 22nd will now be rolled into the December 8th Symbiosis update. The reason for the delay is that the development team needs additional time to polish what was going to be released next week. That means on December 8th players will be getting a social space/firing range, an experimental team deathmatch mode, and improved played onboarding, as well as a new Runner shell, permanent PvE content, and a changed Perimeter zone.
However, before the December 8th Symbiosis update there will be a smaller update on October 6th to refresh the Nightfall content. The refresh is going to reset progression and the game economy, add a new Rewards pass, and bring in some improvements and balance changes. Vault Breaker will also be returning.
Bungie has also stated that it will be changing its approach to updates, moving from a strict seasonal schedule to a more fluid situation allowing the development team more flexibility to build and test features ahead of pushing them into the live game. While more details have not been shared yet, Bungie will be releasing a blog post later in September giving more depth as to what this change means in terms of Marathon’s long term development.
Marathon Review – What did we extract from its first month and Season 1?
In our Marathon review, Jim said, “Oozing with style and buoyed by Bungie’s consistently slick gunplay, Marathon has already carved out a small fiefdom in the fickle world of extraction shooters. Unforgiving but rarely unfair, that risk/reward gameplay loop will prove endlessly enjoyable to some, though casual FPS fans who want to see guaranteed progression in exchange for the time they put in will find themselves well out of their comfort zone. Marathon’s staying power hinges entirely on post-launch support and the allure of new content. If the maze-like, puzzle-filled Cryo Archive is anything to go by, we could see Bungie rolling out a creative gauntlet of new gameplay experiences.”
Source: Steam
