Almost exactly a year since it was reported Bungie had delayed its sci-fi extraction shooter Marathon into 2025, the studio has released a gameplay free developer update saying the game is “on track”, albeit a “little early to show” – and that it’ll “reveal a lot more” next year.
The news comes via a nine-minute developer video presented by Marathon game director Joe Ziegler, who took over the role from former project lead Chris Barrett earlier this year, after the latter was reportedly ousted from Bungie due to inappropriate behaviour.
In his update, Ziegler began with a brief overview of Bungie’s Marathon reboot, outlining the extraction shooter’s basic loop (complete quests, find loot to upgrade abilities, then get it out of the extraction zone to keep it), alongside a few other gameplay details. Playable Runners, for instance, are each said to have a “small subset” of abilities that can be further customised with gear, depending on what players want to achieve. That’s alongside promises of “lots of tools, “lots of objectives” and lots of ways an individual run can unfold.
Ziegler also touched on Marathon’s connection to Bungie’s 90s sci-fi shooter series of the same name, saying the reboot uses a lot of “familiar elements” from the original – including the “mysteries, eeriness, and psychological creepiness” – then layers on elements that help “modernise” it, such as a new story and world Bungie can continue to update.