Let's Sperg Marathon 2025 - Bungie's new AAAA Extraction shooter

[Quiritium]

I've signed up for the alpha so maybe I'll try it for free

Same, I'm hoping I get to experience this trash fire first hand soon. Or maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. Not holding my breath though.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Someone has to ask, just what is their plan when it does become concord 2?
Does sony shutter the studio, or sell it off for pennies?

I don't think they have one. Toxic positivity all the way down.

I don't know how Sony is doing right now. However, based on current trends (Hasbro with DnD, Marvel comics, etc) I imagine they'll try the Disney model of being an IP farm where they license out their IP to third parties who assume all the risk. The problem is, what does Bungie own? Halo is MS, Marathon is about to be a dead franchise. Maybe Destiny?

Failing that, sell to the Chinese.

Right, because a game like Concord with an hour-long credits video and half a decade in development time was cheap to make. Don't forget Forspoken, AssCreed SHEEEIT, etc.

I get it. It's just I'd like confirmation. Like the "maps" thing. I saw 3 maps mentioned on the steam forums, but others say it's one big interconnected map. Not being familiar with the genre I don't know which is more likely.

 

[Spaced Outside Cargo]

Someone has to ask, just what is their plan when it does become concord 2?
Does sony shutter the studio, or sell it off for pennies?
With the video is saw from shillup, i could see firsthand that it's not even going to last a couple of years.

Depends how much they spent vs how much they can still recuperate from Destiny. Unless they come out with some comically large number like $1bn for development, I dont see Bungie getting shuttered considering this was only in development for 3 years as opposed to Concord's 6.

EDIT: "But what if it DOES"
If Destiny still makes money the studio will not shutter. At worst they'll fire most of the people in it and you'll probably see future games take longer and look worse. Eventually they'll get restructured into a new company with all the same heads. This is what happened to 343 starting at Halo 5 release.

 

[BradeRunna]

I doubt it will do well. People are already bitching about the characters.

 

[30+GameOvers]

Isn't it ironic that Bungie wanted to make Destiny so bad to get away from constantly making Halo games, only to be stuck doing infinitely less successful and popular Destiny slop for a decade now?
Not that many people from back then still work at Bungie, but still, I appreciate the irony.

 

[Tablet County]

I doubt it will do well. People are already bitching about the characters.

The criticism over the character design isn't nearly as universal as it was with Concord. I see more people complaining about how the graphics look like a mobile game and the gameplay looks like ass.

 

[Thiletonomics]

It's crazy how Korean and Japanese coom games have like a billion dollars in revenue and Sony and Microsoft still don't understand that in order to sell skins they have to be nice to look at.

American game companies know that for sure, but the ingrain hate against making attractive characters is so deeply embedded with them that they just keep on pushing the uggo character train, even while it fails again and again and again and again. Not to mention the push for adding IRL political messages into games, it's only a matter of time before a game fully breaks the 4th wall to have a real-life politician like Justin Trudeau, Joe Biden, or Kamala Harris lecture you in-game as to why "REVENGE BAD" and "YOU WILL PLAY THE UGGO CHARACTERS AND YOU WILL LIKE THEM".

 

[Oliver Onions]

I'm willing to try Marathon. I think that alone puts it above Concord, but this is how low the bar has dropped for AAA gaming.

If it has a free weekend on PC like Concord did (and my ancient PC can run it) I'd give it a go, purely because I'm curious how it feels to play since the gameplay trailer looked extremely stiff and amateur.

Someone has to ask, just what is their plan when it does become concord 2?
Does sony shutter the studio, or sell it off for pennies?

Either they're banished back to the Destiny content mines or they'll be tasked with rebooting a more dependable shooter IP like Killzone.

I don't see it being the latter because why would you trust Bungie with another project when they've already had three bites of the apple and fucked it up.

The criticism over the character design isn't nearly as universal as it was with Concord.

Yeah I see most people saying they just don't like the colour palette or the robots, which is worlds apart from how united people were in mocking Concord's insanely ugly characters and bland maps.

 

[Quiritium]

Isn't it ironic that Bungie wanted to make Destiny so bad to get away from constantly making Halo games, only to be stuck doing infinitely less successful and popular Destiny slop for a decade now?
Not that many people from back then still work at Bungie, but still, I appreciate the irony.

Consequence of Jones' flaky nature and direction. Since he never wants to commit to anything long term, they're always looking for a way to run forward. Without considering what hole they're eventually digging for themselves. When they were trying to leave MS, it was because Jones didn't want them to become a sequel house and keep pumping out Halo games.

His brilliant solution was to sign a deal with Activision to make four Destiny games over 10 years. Now why would they do such a thing? Because they only looked at the short term goal, escaping MS, and never intended on fulfilling the contract with Activision. They had already failed to fulfill and renegotiated agreements with MS several times. Which also happened later on with Activision.

The current plan seems to be to have Marathon be enough of a success to hold on until Jones and his cronies end their vesting period after Sony's buyout. Once it's over, they'll cash out and leave with even more money than they already have. Which is more than originally planned during the buyout, because they kicked out several people who also stood to gain from vesting the past year and got nothing, like Smith, Noseworthy and Barrett. Who can all go fuck themselves, they happily participated in burying others like Marty and Joe the same way before, so it's pottery that they got what they fucking deserved.

The criticism over the character design isn't nearly as universal as it was with Concord. I see more people complaining about how the graphics look like a mobile game and the gameplay looks like ass.

The character design is ugly, but they're supposed to be wholy replaceable artificial shells and ultimately it can be a mechanism to promote skin microtransactions, so it's not egregious like Concord's characters. Still disappointing.

Aside from the whole can of worms that are Bungie themselves, the main issues are the gameplay and graphics.

Since they're so obsessed with controlling the narrative, they're failing to show the gameplay in a good light, because they're being extremely stingy with what they show or allow others to show. We can't see how a match flows, what kind of PVE content players will encounter, how different player teams will interact when they find each other. The proximity chat discussion is another major pain point, since it will limit opposing team interaction, making all encounters outright PVP affairs instead of possible cooperation or just agreements to leave each other alone and allow separate extractions.

The graphics are an issue because all teaser trailers have this sleek, sharp style that gives the world a cool look. The game itself doesn't, because it's using a very outdated engine that was already bursting at the seams with Destiny 2. The reason to use the engine and the resulting graphics are understandable once you look at the minimum system requirements for the alpha. They're asking for quad-thread (not core) CPUs, 8 GB of RAM and 1050TIs. In an alpha, which is by definition unoptimized. They're looking to maximize the pool of eligible players, when other similar games are demanding more due to newer, more advanced engines. Whether this will ultimately work in their favor considering the reaction to the graphics VS the teasers remains to be seen.

The alpha will answer a lot of questions. Some of their decisions are logical, but built on an illogical foundation. Which is the genre they decided to bet on.

 

[Warai Otoko]

they're failing to show the gameplay in a good light, because they're being extremely stingy with what they show or allow others to show

I think this no commentary gameplay video is the best representation of what to expect from Marathon.
A lot of it is inspired by Apex Legends, namely TTK, character abilities and movement.

 

[Tablet County]

I think this no commentary gameplay video is the best representation of what to expect from Marathon.
A lot of it is inspired by Apex Legends, namely TTK, character abilities and movement.

It somehow looks both better and worse than I imagined. Only empty reloads? Cringe.

 

[Tablet County]

Seems like the only advantage this has over other extraction shooters is that it's going to be available on console. I know Hunt is on console but it's got a high skill ceiling and isn't quite this pseudo-Apex experience.
And what exactly is the lore reason they're fighting the UESC? Are the corporations they work for somehow self-governing? Is that a Marathon lore thing that I missed?

 

[TerranTony98]

Seems like the only advantage this has over other extraction shooters is that it's going to be available on console. I know Hunt is on console but it's got a high skill ceiling and isn't quite this pseudo-Apex experience.
And what exactly is the lore reason they're fighting the UESC? Are the corporations they work for somehow self-governing? Is that a Marathon lore thing that I missed?

I don't think I've seen footage of them killing humans so it could be the Pfhor or a rouge AI (or both) hacked all the UESC equipment and cyborgs. All the different factions could be trying to recover it for themselves.

 

[dltzk]

From the Official Marathon discord server:
# Marathon Closed Alpha Update
*What’s in the Alpha, what's not, and dropping the NDA.*

We’d like to start this update with a big thank you to everyone who has joined us in the Marathon community or signed up for Alpha since our reveal showcase last weekend.

As developers we believe community feedback and dialog is essential to make the best version of Marathon. Up until now, this feedback has come from closed playtest sessions. In the spirit of building towards that future, we’ve decided to remove the NDA from our Closed Alpha Test. Everyone can share their thoughts, feedback, and footage, including streaming starting on April 23.

## HOW WE DEFINE CLOSED ALPHA

This is a true closed technical test of Marathon. What that means is that you’ll be playing an incomplete version of the game. Our primary goal is to test two things: technical capabilities and our moment-to-moment gameplay loop. We plan to break stuff.

Alpha is a curated, limited slice of systems and content. We welcome feedback across the board, but the areas we are most keen to hear your thoughts on are:

* Weapons and gunplay
* Maps and survival gameplay
* Runners, including kits and build-crafting
* Early-game progression, including factions, contracts, and faction upgrades
* PvP engagements against other Runners
* PvE engagements against AI combatants

It’s important to note the Alpha is NOT the complete game. It does not include:
* Final visuals and graphics, including animations and lighting
* Full and polished UI
* All Runners
* All zones, including the Marathon Ship
* Pinnacle and end game content
* All weapons, items, consumables, implants, cores, and mods
* All factions and upgrades
* Long term progression and systems
* Complete narrative and storytelling systems and final shipping content
* Ranked play
* Final balance

We’ll be hosting developer Q+As, streams, and jumping in with other creators all next week. See you on Tau Ceti IV.

## THE IMPORTANCE OF DIALOGUE

Keeping an open dialogue is a crucial part of Alpha and beyond. We’ve been tracking several topics since Reveal and we’re looking forward to seeing and hearing your feedback as you play Alpha. After the Closed Alpha Test ends, we'll be summarizing the major things we heard, our thoughts, and what comes next.

If you haven’t already, make sure to hop into the Discord and sign-up for Alpha for your chance to play. And if you are outside of NA, we will have additional opportunities for you to play Marathon before release later this year. We are still in the process of configuring our global datacenters, and they aren't ready for large-scale public testing yet.

In the meantime, Traxus sends his regards.

 

[regalterry]

The criticism over the character design isn't nearly as universal as it was with Concord. I see more people complaining about how the graphics look like a mobile game and the gameplay looks like ass.

Point is there's almost zero positive buzz about the game. The reactions range from horrified disgust at the obvious troon involvement to an apathetic "meh" for those less concerned with the presence of child molesters among the dev team.

Marathon has already been labeled as another failed Sony live service disaster, on top of the unflattering comparisons to Concord. It's a marked departure from the reception Bungie used to get with Halo and Destiny 1. The last thing you want is for your output to be met with apathy - even virulent, foaming-at-the-mouth hate is preferable because at least then you know people care.

Everyone can tell this is a lazy, uninspired cashgrab drummed up by a clueless leadership with no idea how to steer the ship around, aping superior games, banking on Bungie's reputation to get people to buy it.

What exactly has Marathon to offer? If they were hoping to bait people with nostalgia, the vast majority of their playerbase have no clue what Marathon even is, and those that do never played it. They're trying to barge into an already oversaturated market with an inferior product that somehow manages to alienate booth the milsim autists and the waifu gooners.

I genuinely do not see the point of this game.

I also have to wonder what Bungie employees are doing during work hours, taking into account the number of people working there and the resources available to them, that they're launching this piece of shit with so little actual content. Is all they do inject themselves with HRT and cry when they get their make believe period?

 

[Quiritium]

Point is there's almost zero positive buzz about the game. The reactions range from horrified disgust at the obvious troon involvement to an apathetic "meh" for those less concerned with the presence of child molesters among the dev team.

Considering the pain points I noted in my previous post connected to yours, I'd say they've realized this, since they've just made a massive change (for Bungie) in their game development and reveal/promotion plans:

In the spirit of building towards that future, we’ve decided to remove the NDA from our Closed Alpha Test. Everyone can share their thoughts, feedback, and footage, including streaming starting on April 23.

This is a huge departure from "the Bungie way" of doing things, always deeply secretive with very rare, targeted showcases, which means they're really feeling the apathetic, trending to negative reception. Also of note is their current restraint towards criticism. The D2 Bungie of the last 5 years would have devs and leads shitting on gamers for some of the comments the game has received. This time it's very muted, they're purposefully avoiding having negative engagements. The alpha update of today is very measured and to the point, unlike the usual fart sniffing TWABs they've been releasing weekly for over a decade. They seem to be very concerned and taking the gaming community's reaction to the reveal seriously if we take their current behavior at face value. Whether this results in any real internal change, I don't think so. But they're feeling it.

 

[dltzk]

This is a huge departure from "the Bungie way" of doing things, always deeply secretive with very rare, targeted showcases, which means they're really feeling the apathetic, trending to negative reception. Also of note is their current restraint towards criticism. The D2 Bungie of the last 5 years would have devs and leads shitting on gamers for some of the comments the game has received. This time it's very muted, they're purposefully avoiding having negative engagements. The alpha update of today is very measured and to the point, unlike the usual fart sniffing TWABs they've been releasing weekly for over a decade. They seem to be very concerned and taking the gaming community's reaction to the reveal seriously if we take their current behavior at face value. Whether this results in any real internal change, I don't think so. But they're feeling it.

Yeah I’m kinda shocked how “honest” bungie is being here, I wonder if more layoffs are to come if this game does shit lol.

 

[dltzk]

The first batch of keys got sent out apparently. There’s a way to check if you got one if you sign into bungie.net, and find the redeem codes menu, I don’t think it’s intentional at all.

 

[cybertoaster]

I think this no commentary gameplay video is the best representation of what to expect from Marathon.
A lot of it is inspired by Apex Legends, namely TTK, character abilities and movement.

Now I realize where I seen that style, it looks like the default assets that come with UE and other toolkits, the walls with numbers and grids, this is the laziest design I ever seen.

* Final visuals and graphics, including animations and lighting

Doubt it will make a difference.

* Full and polished UI

They clearly put more work on the UI than the rest of the game.

presence of child molesters among the dev team.

Names?

somehow manages to alienate booth the milsim autists and the waifu gooners.

Practically every western game nowadays. Its funny how we have the most sexless games since the neocon days and at the most coomer gamers ever seen at the same time. If there was a time to bring back Lara's disproportionate T&A it's now.

 

[Tablet County]

Names?

I think he's making fun of trannies in general.