I am certainly in what seems to be the majority opinion that Bungie’s gameplay reveal of Marathon did not go especially well.
It was a lot of talking rather than showing, culminating in a highlight reel of Twitch streamers blasting through the game and some follow-up streams similar to that. Based on just that alone, it came off like a pretty hard sell and it was hard to really get a true sense of the game.
Now I’ve watched a video that for the first time, is the single best laid-out case for the game, a full run without Twitch teammate screaming but rather calm explanations of what’s happening and more general thoughts on Marathon based on playtesting.
That video is from Skarrow, who Bungie seems to have anointed as the main content creator spearheading promotion of the game (deserved!) and is in collaboration with Polygon’s Ryan Gillam. The video is thirty minutes and shows off what a match may look and feel like. And for the first time, there’s a decent focus on the game’s PvE aspects as well with a lot of UESC marine skirmishes, which some players will no doubt want to see.
I think Ryan’s discussion of the concept of Marathon later in the video is good, especially from the perspective of a big Destiny 2 player, with no extraction shooter experience. He says that if you’re the type of PvE Destiny player that was at least willing to dip into the Crucible to earn rewards there, then this game may in fact be for you, and you don’t necessarily have to be a PvP sweat. In contrast, if you avoided PvP like the plague then no, it won’t be.
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He ultimate concludes that he did not believe Marathon was going to be a game for him based on his gaming history, but says it’s “unequivocally fun” and that he’s been converted through playtesting. I am in the same boat, as I love Bungie shooters and Destiny but an extraction shooter just didn’t seem like it was going to be my thing. I was always going to play anyway, but Ryan has given me some confidence that maybe I can get truly invested with enough time playing and learning the ropes.
We will find out if this is true during the Closed Alpha which begins this week. I’ve seen some complaints about people not getting in, but I’m not positive all codes have been given out yet, even if a lot have been. We’ll see. Otherwise people will have to wait until the Open Beta in August. This is, however, a big moment of truth for Marathon, as a week of gameplay should be more than enough to form an impression, even if it is not yet the full product. Looking forward to it.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
