While there has been quite a bit of controversy surrounding Bungie’s upcoming PvPvE extraction shooter Marathon, the studio has still been holding alpha playtests for the title. Unfortunately, however, we haven’t gotten to see much in the way of these playtests thanks to NDAs signed by players. According to a report by Forbes, however, some leaked screenshots indicate that quite a few improvements have been made to the game, especially in terms of visuals.
According to Forbes, social media platform X user Rocksiza had managed to get their hands on some screenshots and was able to share them in a (since deleted) post on the platform. The user noted that they were able to share these screenshots because they had not signed any NDA, and that they took them down at Bungie’s respect just to be nice to the studio.
While the screenshots can no longer be seen, the Forbes report features descriptions of some of the visual improvements that have been seemingly made. Among the improvements described are to the outdoor areas of Marathon, which seemingly look more finished thanks to improved lighting and more density. One screenshot also gives us a glimpse at a dead player character with pools of blue “blood”.
Other improvements in screenshots include new icons in the Black Market materials exchange, the existence of a new sniper dubbed the V99 channel rifle which has been described as feeling similar to control to the Team Fortress 2 sniper, longer resurrection times, clearer map legends, and a new ability for the medic which revolves around a healing drone that can drop medkits – described as being similar to Lifeline in Apex Legends.
Earlier this month, Bungie had announced that Marathon is getting delayed from its originally-announced September 23 release date. The studio hasn’t yet announced a new release date, but it said that it is focusing on improving the title after getting feedback from the alpha build playtests. Among the improvements being made to the game are “new types of loot”, new dynamic events, and more tension in combat thanks to AI combatants being more challenging.
Aside from this, however, the studio has been relatively quiet about the extraction shooter. Rumours from last month have indicated that several changed were being made to the game internally. This has also reportedly led to the studio having “pulled the plug” on the marketing strategy that Bungie was using for Marathon.
These rumours came after other reports indicating that morale at Bungie for the development team of Marathon was in “free fall”. The report came shortly after controversy surrounding plagiarised assets being used in-game without getting the original artist’s permission. The report said that “vibes have never been worse” across Bungie’s various departments, and that the situation was “actively hostile” surrounding the potential future of Bungie if Marathon were to flop.
Marathon is being developed for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. While it uses the same name as classic 1990s-era shooters and is based in the same universe, it is currently unknown whether the upcoming Marathon will continue the story of the classics.
