Today, Bungie released a gameplay video for Marathon’s upcoming Symbiosis update that reveals some huge new game modes, features, and updates that’ll be coming December December 8th!
Expedition - New Roguelite PvE Mode
The first major feature we’ll be getting come December is the dedicated PvE mode Bungie is calling Expedition. This will be a full on, co-op, Roguelite mode where you’ll be fighting through escalating challenges each run.
From the gameplay we’ve seen, it appears you will work alongside other friendly crews of Runners, and need to extract a few times in a row to enter a “Challenge Run” at the end for extra rewards.
During your runs, you will find new Flash Boosts, which many Roguelite fans will be familiar with. These will augment your shell and provide new and interesting gameplay styles for the remainder of your run - it remains to be seen if these will carry on throughout the entire Expidition or not. In any case, these look pretty damn fun!
I personally think Roguelite is a perfect direction to take for an extraction shooter game like Marathon, and the way they seem to have built it, where extracting is super important still to continue on to higher difficulty runs, keeps that high stress, “extract-or-lose it all”, feeling without being as punishing as the classic PvPvE mode. As a Marathon and Roguelite enjoyer, I can’t wait to dive in!
Limbo - Social Space, Firing Range, PvP Arena?
We will be getting a social space in Marathon called Limbo, which will presumably work similar to The Tower in Destiny, where you’ll be able to walk around and see other Runners.
This will also include the much requested Firing Range, allowing you to test out all the weapons in game prior to hopping into a run. This is huge, as it can be difficult to actually find all these weapons in the first place, let alone use them enough in runs to get a true feel for how they operate.
It also looks like there may be a mini PvP arena in Limbo? Not sure on this one but that would be pretty awesome!
Perimeter Zone Revamp
Perimeter appears to be getting a major overhaul, and it appears that fungi, a Tick Queen, and more has began to take over!
The zone itself has been expanded with a new Burrows area (home of the Tick Queen?), and Reservoir area. Perimeter is my favorite zone aesthetically and map-flow wise, so seeing this glow up is so cool.
New Shell: Bishop
A katana wielding, high jump, hack and slash Shell known as Bishop is arriving with the update, and I gotta say the aura of this frame is top tier. It appears their ult will be a heavy charge ability with a large AOE slash, which may not be that great for PvP but could be extremely strong in PvE situations. We’ll have to see what the rest of their kit looks like before we make a final determination on how good this new Shell will be.
New Boss Encounters
The trailer also made a bold claim that Tau Ceti is evolving, and showcased some of the new bosses that will be spawning into our runs. A Husk looking boss was first, with heavy shields, charges, and missile barrages:
Then they showed the Compiler making a terrifying entrance to a map that is definitely not Cryo Archive. Making the Compiler fight, or a version of it, more accessible is a welcome change and could introduce a larger population of the player-base to a true Marathon Boss encounter.
And finally we were shown the new Tick Queen encounter, which we assume will take place in the Burrows area of the update Perimeter zone:
The boss fights in Marathon are truly the pinnacle events in the game, and having more and more and more of these is going to make every run feel so muc
Other Notable Changes:
Team Deathmatch PvP Mode
We will be getting our first taste of a dedicated PvP Team Deathmatch mode. It’s worth noting that the mode is being labeled as a Beta mode, so similar to previous experimental modes it may not be permanent or it may change heavily over time, but an arena shooter mode built on Marathon gunplay sounds nuts!
New Weapons & Gear
Three new weapons are being added to the game.
- Maverick: hand-cannon style revolver with possible AOE damage?
- Throwing Knife: the classic throwing knife that heavily resembles CoD
- Hack Grenade: an AOE grenade that seemingly stuns all robotic PvE enemies in it’s radius and most likely affects opposing Runner’s HUDs
- V17 Flamethrower: I mean…. ya, this thing is bad ass.
