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hen you hear descriptions about superficial complexity in gaming, the most common one to come up is, “Wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle.” But what about the inverse? What does “deep as an ocean, wide as a puddle” look like? Call me crazy, but I think that’s Marathon in a nutshell.It’s something I called out in my review, way back when. Those who sought a hardcore extraction shooter experience with exceptional polish and excellent gunplay would be best served. As punishing as matches could feel due to the UESC bots and the smaller map size, which made it easier for players to collide; as non-social as playing solo felt, instead likened to a survival horror experience (especially if you’re Rook); and as awful as the menus felt, it occupied a niche between ARC Raiders and Escape From Tarkov. It felt as focused and confident with its gameplay as its setting did with all the moths and fonts. There was depth to build on – new directions that it could go in.
And none of it has meant a damn thing for the game’s actual player numbers.
Over four months later, we’ve arrived at the middle of Season 2: NIGHTFALL. You’ll probably recall our post-mortem report, two weeks into the season – how it reached 40,686 concurrent players during its free week, and quickly plummeted right back down…is what I want to say. In reality, it fell even further, dropping below 7,000 concurrent players on Steam.
However, the new PvE mode is here: Vault Breaker. In a way, this is Bungie addressing multiple criticisms at once. It gives solo players and teams who don’t want to deal with others rocking end-game loot a chance to immerse themselves in the genuinely great Cryo Archive. Progression is bespoke and relies on a roguelike formula. You enter the map with a special Sponsored Kit, pick up a Vault Key Card, locate said vault, find the terminal with the corresponding symbol, and voila. All the while, you’re dealing with UESC troops, who can quickly overwhelm you.
Once you’ve gone inside and gathered Vault Indexes, you can choose to exfil or proceed to the next Vault, repeating the process. The catch is that things get even tougher as you go along. Meanwhile, the timer is still in effect, and if you don’t leave before it runs out, you get nothing.
Any loot found can be used in that run alone. So while it may be an uphill climb to gain a foothold against the UESC, it follows the roguelike pattern of becoming stronger as the run progresses. This works especially well in Marathon’s case, not just because of different weapon rarities but due to how attachments work. Find enough higher rarity barrels, scopes, and mods, and you can turn a Common weapon into something more potent.
As soon as you leave, say goodbye to that precious loot because it’s not going with you. Instead, any Indexes collected can be converted into Tier 1 Vault Data. This is used to upgrade your Sponsored Kit and make that starting loadout decidedly less terrible. Henceforth, you stand a better chance at the start, wiping out the UESC in quicker fashion, and gaining access to superior items. The fact that you can start with an Enhanced Shield, and not be at the mercy of RNG when it comes to something better, is a huge advantage unto itself.
Maybe you’ll be able to push deeper into the Archive and eventually go up against the Compiler, the toughest threat in the game. Maybe you’ll retreat and attempt it with better odds. And maybe you’ll play just enough of Vault Breaker to purchase weapons that can be used in other modes. All we need now is for it to be offline and – what’s that? PlayStation says no? Well, if it was worth a try.
So with all this glowing praise for this mode, limited-time as it may be – and leaving aside all the PvP balance changes – there’s just one problem: Player numbers remain pitiful. Presently on Steam, Marathon peaked at 14,809 concurrent players in the past 24 hours. Less than half of Season 2’s start. In fact, these are pretty similar Destiny 2 numbers, which led to its end of support, and the irony of it offering a much bigger PvE experience by comparison is not lost on anyone.
But hey, surely Destiny 2 isn’t doing fantastic numbers either, especially since it’s been over a month since its final content update…aaannddd it’s currently peaked at 55,602 players on Steam. Don’t get me wrong – the peaks are becoming lower, and enthusiasm is definitely starting to wane, but this is also a game that’s been on Steam since October 2019. Marathon is fresher, and even if it’s not going to convert all those veteran Guardians into would-be Runners, you would think a larger number of people would want to check out this new PvE mode.
Heck, with this lull in ARC Raiders’ player base, thanks to Embark changing its plans to two major content updates every year, you would think that now would be a great time to try Marathon, especially since the former lacks a dedicated PvE mode. The latter is even discounted, costing $28 instead of the usual $40. At this stage, what else could Bungie possibly do?
More importantly, what does PlayStation expect at this point? Is laying off over half the studio and focusing only on this singular project meant to prove less of a loss over time? Sure, it’s not incurring as many expenses from keeping the lights on in Bellevue, but has Marathon broken even in terms of costs, assuming reports of its $200 to $250 million budget are true? Is it able to sustain current costs?
To top all of this off, just days before the mid-season update went live, game director Joe Ziegler announced that he’s leaving Bungie. Such departures in the middle of a live-service title’s life cycle aren’t unheard of – see Joe Blackburn leaving months before the launch of Destiny 2: The Final Shape. But even if Ziegler has been on Marathon for years and is pursuing greener pastures (hopefully), losing your director mere months after launch isn’t the best look, no matter how you slice it.
Others were already in place to take over, and the ship will likely keep running as usual, but right now, it feels like we’ve already seen the best that Bungie could offer in this space. Even leaving aside the top five most-played games in the world, or how crowded the genre is already, its direct competition has secured some runway for the future. Can the same be said for Marathon? Should fans be concerned that its current roadmap is only up to Season 3, which begins on September 22nd?
Does the development team have anything else beyond a reworked Perimeter, a new Runner Shell, and some new loot to chase? Or some new gimmick that could put an interesting spin on the current gameplay? What about new maps or an expansion to Cryo Archive?
Hardcore players may stick around to see how this years-long story plays out, but as Destiny has proven multiple times, Bungie is capable of driving them off, sometimes permanently. It’s almost like the mistakes made with its biggest franchise, and perhaps the most important live-service game of all time, have continued to haunt the studio, except with even fewer avenues to bring new players into the fold, and much less room for failure.
There’s another famous saying about history, and how those who don’t learn it are doomed to repeat it. Bungie could very well break the cycle and kill its troubling past, opening up new horizons of success, but I fear, more tragically, that regardless of what it does, Marathon is ultimately doomed. And all that’s left for everyone left in this rapidly evaporating puddle is to enjoy its depths while it lasts.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
