Marathon, Bungie’s brand new extraction shooter, is currently facing a major crossroads when it comes to the longevity of the game and attempting to rebuild the player-base.
What Went Wrong?
When Bungie announced Marathon, the general consensus seemed to be that while it might be a fun and well-made game, the extraction shooter genre was so niche and so oversaturated that many people wondered if Marathon would simply be dead-on-arrival when it came out.
Early play tests didn't help, with many people complaining that the game was bland, was ugly and just overall wasn't fun. And while Bungie did a phenomenal job spicing up and polishing the game before launch - creating something that in my opinion was extremely fun, very fresh and a new spin on the genre - the overall opinion of the game didn't really change and that's due to the overall opinion of extraction shooters in general.
The casual player does not like hardcore, lose all gear on death, PvP extraction shooters where another player being better than you means you lose a bunch of cool stuff you worked hard to get.
So what can Bungie possibly do to save a game that is in a very small niche? How can you convince players that would never play an extraction shooter to give it a shot?
The First Idea - Roguelite Modes
With the mid-season patch upon us next week, Bungie’s first full-on PvE mode, Vault Breaker, will be released. Since it’s announcement, I started to think about what Bungie could do with Marathon that might legitimately bring a large new and fresh player base into the game.
The only thing I can really think of is completely changing what this game is at its core. Vault Breaker may be the first step in doing so, as it is a roguelite game mode that has you run through the Cryo Archive map until you die, and once you die you lose everything you gained throughout that run. You start with a basic kit that can be upgraded with currency earned during each run, so there is a long-term progression loop, but the general gameplay of this mode is very similar to other roguelite games out there.
The currency earned can also be used to purchase gear that you can bring into the PvP extraction mode still, making a nice cross-over between PvE and PvP modes, but it's not going to be the gear that you earn during a run of Vault Breaker.
This is a drastically different game than what the core of Marathon currently is and I wonder what will happen if this mode is received well by the community. At this point to try to save the game and save the player base, every option needs to be on the team. While I don't think they'll ever completely remove the PvP extraction modes from the game, I do think PVE modes like Vault Breaker are going to become more and more prevalent.
The Big Idea - Largescale Raid Encounters
If Bungie is reading this - here is my proposal to completely change the game and make it something extremely unique, and the first of its kind. Consider adding a straight up raid encounter similar to a Destiny 2 raid, that is pure PvE. But unlike Vault Breaker, I think something that could make this really really work well and fit nicely with the PvP modes, is to to allow players to enter with the gear they have earned via the PvP mode. This would give added incentive to play the extraction modes, grinding to build up your loot pool in preparation for the big raid.
Additionally, the minor bosses across maps, like Wardens, could drop useful items and gear that are specific to helping during the raid.
I realize that Cryo Archive is already similar to a Destiny 2 raid, with The Compiler boss at the end and puzzles to complete before getting there, but the PvP and overall difficulty of Cryo Archive make it fairly inaccessible for most players. A dedicated PvE Raid where you bring all the juicy loot you've gained in Marathon's main modes would be a game changer.
The tricky part…
As far as what happens with your gear if your team wipes in the raid, I think you should lose it all just like in a PvP run. The trick for Bungie to figure out would really be what type of loot they let players leave the raid with.
Maybe it's a currency like Vault Breaker? Maybe you get a few safe pocket slots during the raid and have to pick and choose from the boss drops what you want to bring back to your PvP vault? Maybe that the raid boss drops an item that brings you to a certain location on a PvP map, and successfully getting to that location and extracting gives a huge pile of loot? This would be very important to get right, but I think there is a pathway to get it right.
Oh, and another thing before I sign off on this rant, make this a large-scale, epic encounter. I'm talking a 9 man raid team. Add mechanics that make all Shells feel important and useful in their own way. Make teamwork and build crafting be essential to beating the encounter. THIS is a game mode that would completely shift the extraction genre and make Marathon truly stand out as something unique and worth checking out.
Marathon needs something… maybe this is it?
I’ll see y’all on Tau Ceti!
P.S. Bungie if you like my ideas my emails are open!