Bungie has outlined what to anticipate from Marathon upon launch, and confirmed plans for seasonal wipes that imply all gamers lose their gear each few months.
Seasonal updates will introduce new gameplay, together with gear, Runner shells, zones, occasions, and extra, Bungie said, and they’ll be free for all gamers to entry or earn, so there’s no expansions or DLC required.
Every season brings a “clear slate for the entire neighborhood,” Bungie defined, with development resets that embrace everybody’s gear, contract development, faction development, and participant degree.
Nonetheless, gamers will preserve their achievements and cosmetics, titles, and different rewards from reaching milestones. Your Codex development additionally carries over. Elsewhere, your liaison contract development carries over, so that you don’t have to unlock the factions each season.
“Seasonal resets imply that the sport stays harmful, loot feels significant, and there’s all the time alternative to get again into the sport or convey a pal in with out feeling behind the curve,” Bungie stated, explaining its resolution. “It’s a approach to say goodbye to the outdated, welcome the brand new, and kick off a journey from zero-to-hero with new methods to play, content material to grasp, and issues to find.”
The extraction shooter launches on March 5 alongside Season 1, referred to as First Step. This features a neighborhood drive to unlock the way in which into orbit and the fourth zone, referred to as Cryo Archive, though Bungie didn’t say what the neighborhood unlock will contain.
“Put together your thoughts and shell to tackle this end-game zone on the Marathon ship, the place you’ll remedy safety puzzles, unseal frozen vaults, and come face-to-face with an entity even the UESC fears,” Bungie stated. Then, in the course of the second half of March, Ranked mode will unlock. We don’t have a lot info on the way it will work, however Ranked mode will provide unique rewards.
Bungie additionally outlined the Marathon launch content material:
- Full faction and contract development
- All six factions, together with Sekiguchi Genetics
- All six launch Runner shells, together with Thief
- Three zones, together with Outpost
- Outpost will unlock the day after launch, giving the neighborhood time to gear up and unlock the zone at Runner Level 12
- 28 weapons, plus mods, implants, cores, and extra to craft your good builds
- Earnable cosmetics, achievements, and storytelling via the Codex
Bungie even went as far to disclose Season 2, referred to as Dusk, which can convey a nighttime model of Dire Marsh, a brand new Runner shell, and new weapons, mods, cores, and contracts. Dusk will introduce the Cradle, a brand new system “designed to present you extra autonomy over your Runner shell’s statistical strengths and weaknesses.”
“As we construct upon every season, Marathon will proceed to develop and evolve,” Bungie stated. “The sport and world immediately and a yr from now ought to really feel meaningfully completely different as we add new options and go on the journey of discovering what occurred to the colonists of Tau Ceti… and what occurs whenever you dig up secrets and techniques which might be higher left buried.”
We’ve obtained a lot extra on Marathon, together with one Bungie developer’s dedication to “fontslop.” Take a look at IGN’s Marathon overview thus far to search out out what we expect.
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You’ll be able to attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.