More than a year after the sci-fi extraction shooter was announced MarathonDeveloper Bungie revealed some new details about its next game on Monday, including a look at two character classes and confirmation of playtests planned for 2025. Marathon was atypical of Bungie's style: Instead of a slickly produced “ViDoc,” as the developer likes to call them, the new video is a straightforward, conversational info dump to game director Joe Zeigler's camera. In some ways, it feels like a proof-of-life video from the embattled Destiny developer.
After Bungie announced Marathon In May 2023, he said he planned to “go dark to focus on the game” and promised to show off the gameplay the next time he talked about his pull-out shooter. Zeigler acknowledged that promise and said the studio isn't ready to show the game yet. Instead, Zeigler presents the concept of Marathon as an “intense” extraction shooter where players fight for loot and then try to survive and escape with their loot. The developer also showed two types of runners: MarathonCyber mercenaries – with Thief and Stealth types.
While showing off concept art for the Thief, Zeigler said, “If you notice the character creepily looking around the corner in that quiet moment before making his move, this is kind of the theme for that character in a lot of ways, and should give you a clue as to what kind of game that character will lead. There are a lot of fun stories that come from it. [the Thief] but also very, very crazy moments that this character brings to the game.”
Referring to the Stealth Runner, Zeigler said he will use deception as a utility trait. “They're really hard to pin down,” he said, “and you can see that they have the tools to stalk the battlefield and appear in ways that allow them to take advantage.”
When discussing the status of MarathonZeigler said Bungie is “on track” and has been “making a lot of aggressive changes to the game” based on early testing with players and content creators. “There are so many people who have contributed by telling us, 'Hey, this sucks' or 'This is great' in a way that has really helped us diagnose, analyze, shape and change the game in a great way.” said.
Players can get their hands on Marathon sometime in 2025, when Bungie will begin expanding its playtesting “more and more,” Zeigler said. That does not necessarily mean that Marathon willpower launch in 2025, but it looks like Bungie is getting closer to showing off the gameplay and allowing a larger group of players to start participating in its follow-up. Destiny 2.
Zeigler, former director of the Riot Games shooter. valorantannounced in March that he had taken over as game director for Marathon. He replaced Bungie veteran Christopher Barrett, who Agency reported had been fired for misconduct.
Marathon will be released on PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Xbox Series X.