Bungie has promised a revolutionary experience with Marathon. The only caveat is that the portion that will allegedly take every player by storm will be available after launch: a map set in the Marathon ship.
The developers stated that Marathon, a "premium experience" that according to game director Joe Ziegler has a strong foundation to justify its price tag, will initially launch with only three maps, focusing on extraction shooter mechanics and gameplay.
Content creator Luke Stephens revealed that Bungie believes the work they've put into the Marathon map, which will be aimed at those players looking for an endgame challenge, will be "revolutionary."
The fourth map that comes after launch, that they [Bungie] are very excited about, this was one of the things they thought was going to be revolutionary, it's a map set on the Marathon ship that is targeted toward endgame players. So you're probably only going to start to engage with that after 60, 70, 80 hours when you have like purple gear and you're really kitted up. They [Bungie] said the survival rate on that is going to be even lower [than previous maps], like 20%
The meat and bones of Marathon will be its PvP elements as an extraction shooter that will pit several teams (or rogue solo players) against one another on an expansive map as they try to collect loot and resources. Having said that, other content creators have added fuel to the proverbial fire by stating that Marathon is hiding PvE elements that Bungie wants to keep under wraps.
Skarrow9, a popular Destiny 2 creator, explained that Bungie is keeping dungeon-like PvE encounters as a big secret for players to discover, describing it as the game's "secret sauce."
click to enlargeIf all these rumors do end up coming through, it stands to reason that Bungie is extremely excited for players to discover what the Marathon ship has to offer.
Sadly, not being something available right from the start could potentially hurt players' initial impressions of Marathon. Even if it's something available only for those who want a true hardcore experience, not having a concrete goal right from the get-go could sour the experience.
Marathon is set to be released on September 23 for PC, Xbox Series, and PlayStation 5. Bungie confirmed that you won't need a PSN account to play on different platforms. There's also a Closed Alpha happening this April, check out how to register.