Marathon's Rescue Mission Begins with This New Roguelite Mode, Playable Solo or Co-Op on PS5

This actually sounds cool! Odd choice to make it temporary.

Really looking forward to giving this a good ol' college try again!

@JoDoMac Honestly I have to agree with you, I hope for their sakes they can pull it off!

They should make an offline solo campaign. That would pull me in!

Typical bungee give you something and take it away in no time

@Oram77 same here obviously. I don't need to tell people how much I like marathon. What it really needs is a dedicated pve mode that uses all the maps on a rotational method. The UI still needs work even though its far more accessible than launch. I'm hoping marathon can become something better than it already is and I'm hoping they can create something that appeals to the casual player (I count myself as a casual marathon player) and entice more people in.

They add PvE but make it roguelite? LMAO

@Northern_munkey Also needs a TDM mode. Gunplay is too tight to squander.

@ear__wig That would be fantastic, but would take a huge investment and months, if not years, of dev time. Not sure Sony is interested in investing that much more into a game that lots of people have already made their mind up about.

@wildcat_kickz I agree. It could do with a whole suite of multiplayer options. Free for all would be pretty epic. How about a hunt the rook mode?

@Chaotic_Goat why? What's funny about that pray tell? I think it's a great idea and would really help those players who are struggling to collect epic gear gain a better foothold in the games main mode.

I'm officially in, already have it installed and waiting for the update to try it out.

@wildcat_kickz they could make episodic content I guess with each season.

@Northern_munkey Yup I know you are a huge fan of the game, I honestly wished I liked extraction shooters, but different strokes I guess.

@wildcat_kickz People can say whatever you like about Destiny/Marathon but people who have played the games know just how god tier their game play is!

@Northern_munkey It's tough. Seasonal could work, but it would still take an insane amount of effort. The game just wasn't designed for single player in mind. You know how much I love Marathon, but I can't for the life of me figure out how they managed to spend so much making it. They must have had people paid to literally light dollars on fire in the office instead of installing a proper HVAC system.

This sounds great, not had nearly enough time recently to be on Marathon but intend to give this a go this week and next.

@wildcat_kickz well I guess plagiarising somebody else's artwork and having to settle probably contributed to the high costs (just getting that in before somebody else does 🤣.) Seriously though I can't for the life of me begin to fathom out where all that money went. We don't know how many versions were scrapped before they settled on what we have.

@GuttyYZ yes I will definitely make a point of getting a few sessions in with you which reminds me a quads option would be a must. I always feel bad when you jump online but I'm already in with those 2 other reprobates.

Ill be willing to try it with a friend, is it still free for ps plus members?

@Northern_munkey

reprobate

@wildcat_kickz you knows it brother 🤣

@wildcat_kickz off topic here I know but I checked out that uss constitution and that is a mighty impressive ship.

Not gonna lie, for a second I thought that "Marathon's rescue mission" is about rescuing the game itself from being shut down.

This game would have sold better if it would have been a single player/co-op FPS roguelite without any of the PvP elements at all. Guaranteed.

@Northern_munkey She's a beaut!

@Dalamar same. I don't see marathon making in into 2027. I think the release schedule on the last third of the year kills what little player base this game has left.

@dwayne91 I don't mean this disrespectfully, but is there a reason the timeline matters to you? How would you feel if Marathon shut down this year? How would you feel if it lasted through 2028? What do you think is an appropriate amount of time for a live-service game to be active?

So just to add some context here for those who are not deep into Marathon and how things come / go + Season 3 stuff.

Marathon has done several experimental modes like this that become permanent the very next season. For example Duo's queue and sponsored mode both started out as 2 week experiments.

From a game / product development standpoint, this is pretty common - release a new thing, learn from it, then put it back the in "oven" to fine tune so that it can last as a permanent game from a balance perspective. This allows them to make changes without impacted a new mode that is live in the wild.

They also said Season 3 (August) will introduce a permanent PVE mode, if that is the same as this... TBD

I’ll be installing for the PVE modes. Looking forward to playing. Absolutely beautiful game.

Solo, eh? I'll have to check this out.

Sounds intriguing, love the look and feel of Marathon just like Destiny but the extraction aspect just isn't my thing. Will wait for a sale and check this out

@wildcat_kickz oh I don't care if it lasts or doesn't. I just think the games coming out through the last few months of 2026 will take away what little player base marathon is maintaining, and Sony/ Bungie will pull the plug. I could be totally wrong, but just basing this off what we've seen in the past. I think even the big live services will take a hit to player count when GTA launches. Marathon can't afford that hit like Fortnite.

Still not interested in buying that crap

Who cares.
Can't really elaborate further.

Solo and rogue lite now I'm interested

As an occasional Marathon enjoyer I love the sound of this. However, very weird choice not to make it permanent. Maybe there will be a cyclical return of the mode throughout each year?

@SEVENTEENSOILS as somebody else already said they bring these modes to the table to see how it works out and then make them permanent in the next season if they generate interest.

I’m a big fan Marathon PVP but I’m really excited for this. It can be frustrating when you have limited gaming time and it doesn’t feel like PVP games are going your way, so it’ll be nice to have something to jump into to make the most of time I have after having all my kit taken by sweats. Also, from a business point of view, the upcoming PVE mode in season 3 makes sense for Bungie as they have a product that’s easier to sell over several years regardless of player numbers.

@SEVENTEENSOILS full PVE is slated for Season 3

@dwayne91 I’ve been loving my time with Marathon but the grind requires constant engagement. As soon as I play something else I can see it being hard to make up the lost ground. I’m all for the PVE modes as it feels like something much easier to return too.

They've just gotta make it free to play and make the battle passes and cosmetics A LOT more appealing.

@Northern_munkey @idiotthechef

Thank you both for filling me in 🫡
Wait...

@dwayne91 I think GTA6's impact on other games is a bit overstated. For example, I'm probably not buying it at launch and it certainly wouldn't consume all my gaming time, even if I did.

But getting back to my original point, if you don't care one way or the other and aren't invested in the ecosystem of the game, why even estimate on its demise? Do you understand how the constant barrage of drive-by shots at Marathon can be really frustrating to people who are playing the game? I recognize that the audience isn't really showing up the way everyone wants, but having people who don't have anything to do with it constantly discouraging newer players from giving it a try is really annoying. We want new blood in the game. We want people to see that it's actually a really good time, but we're constantly fighting against bystanders who just want to dunk on a game for the sake of it. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because folks think they get status points for randomly assigning a "death date" to the game without having any stake in it.

@wildcat_kickz I understand what you're saying, but I'd argue if the survival of the multi hundred million dollar game comes down to internet comments , it's already dead.
I remember playing crimson desert at launch and there was a huge amount of people not playing it who bashed it in every comment section. There was a huge amount of negativity due to them not releasing base ps5 footage. But that game went on to sell a few million copies and earn a lot of players good will despite that.

@dwayne91 I think multiplayer games are a different beast entirely. Multiplayer games rely on word of mouth to get new players in and rely on people playing the game at the same time. If comment sections are filled with people hating on the game, it does affect how apprehensive new players are. If people were complaining about the quality of the game itself, it would be one thing, but folks just keep talking about how the game is "doomed" or "dead" without even addressing if its any good or not - just completely uninformed takes only relying on one data set (Steam concurrents) to make broad-sweeping declarations about the future of the game.

This isn't unique to Marathon, but I find it very disappointing how people have made a sport out of watching games fail.

Again, I ask, if you don't care one way or another and aren't invested in the game, why bother talking about it at all? Why have any impact, no matter how small, to the future of a game you don't care about?

A game should fail on its own merits, not because its a victim of spectator sport. And I'm not saying that Marathon can't fail on its own merits, but fighting against spectators who just want to dunk on it because its fun doesn't help.

@wildcat_kickz I read gaming news and comment my opinions , idk what to tell you? Sorry it offends you I guess ?

@dwayne91 not offended. just frustrated

I've put around 200 hours into the game so far so I was quite looking forward to the PVE mode but I just find it awful. I don't usual play Cryo and both games my team mates ran on ahead of me and the map is just confusing I couldn't keep up with them. Worst map design I've ever played in a multiplayer game.

Make it F2P and I'll consider trying the game...