Since the original playtests for Bungie’s next title – Marathon – weren’t getting a positive reception, forcing the studio to push the title back, new playtests have begun, which have seemingly already brought in improvements to the title. Destiny 2 dataminer Colony Deaks took to social media platform X to reveal some of these improvements, which have unfortunately since been taken down due to DMCA takedowns by Bungie. According to GameRant, these improvements include a host of changes, including the addition of an entirely new character – Icon.
The new character, originally codenamed Thief, brings in some of its own new gameplay mechanics, including bringing in more dynamic gameplay to combat thanks to abilities like a grappling hook, as well as an X-ray vision mode that can outline enemy combatants and highlight loot containers. Along with the addition of Icons, the playtest also had improvements to how the in-game factions were presented, complete with new cinematic intros.
The newer playtests also seemingly featured revamps to the Outpost map, with the addition of environmental hazards. A new map that takes place on the UESC Marathon – the eponymous spaceship that served as the main setting for the original 1994 shooter Marathon – which also featured puzzle elements as well as other gameplay systems prompting players to further explore the areas available to them in order to access more of the map. However, the UESC Marathon map was noted as still being unfinished.
Bungie had started sending out Invitations for the third Marathon playtest towards the end of August. The playtests themselves took place earlier this month, while a 30-day user research study has just started and is set to go on until October 7. The research study involves participants needing to play Marathon for at least one hour every day, and requires them to fill out daily and weekly surveys. The end of this research study will reward participants with a $500 gift card if the participant is able to hit the required play time.
Shortly after Marathon was delayed, some screenshots for the extraction shooter made their way online, giving us a look at some of the improvements that were being made to the title. Among the improvements described in the report included better lighting and higher density. The Black Market materials exchange also got a host of new icons, along with a new sniper dubbed the V99 Channel rifle, which was described as being similar in gameplay terms to the sniper rifle from Team Fortress 2.
Marathon was originally slated for release on September 23. However, negative reception to previous playtests prompted the studio, along with owner Sony, to push the extraction shooter back to an unannounced new release date. The extra development time afforded to Bungie is noted as being used to get more feedback from alpha build playtests to make further improvements to the title.
Marathon is being developed for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The title is slated to use the same setting as the original Marathon trilogy of shooters from the 1990s. If you’re curious about those classic titles, you can get them for free on Steam.
