With the second season of Marathon set to commence in a few weeks in early June, Bungie has begun to look ahead to the future of the extraction shooter, laying out ideas and expectations for what the Destiny 2 developer has in-store for the game. Long story short, there seems to be an inclination to make the game less demanding and even a greater emphasis on building PvE experiences, which surely isn't a great sign for the struggling and rather directionless Destiny 2...
In a lengthy X article, Bungie notes that it's looking to make "the game less grindy, more rewarding" all while looking to improve and enhance the UI/UX, matchmaking, end game meta, and solo/duo experience. There are aims for a smoother onboarding setup, and plans to add additional "fun and mind-bending content" that spans new Runner shells, updated and new zones, new enemies, and additional weapons and loot to hunt for. Beyond this, expect better progression, a wider array of modes that can cater to whether you want to go "full sweat or lean back and chill", all while also "exploring more PVP, PVE, and PCP-lite experiences" and further playing around with "experimental queues".
The article also explains some of the pain points that Bungie has noticed its fans struggle with, including the fact that the game is "overwhelming to learn" and needs to be streamlined a tad to feel like less of an "overwhelming experience." Similarly, the developer knows that the game isn't the easiest to enjoy if you don't have a "consistent crew, or are not super skilled." To this end, it's still experimenting with the endgame setup, and as mentioned above, exploring ways to add gameplay where you don't have to sweat over the game.
As for the PvE element that Bungie keeps addressing, we're told that this will begin its journey in Season 2, where we can look forward to two experimental modes, one at the start of the season and the other in the latter half. As for what to expect, Bungie notes: "The experimental mode at the beginning of the season will focus more on PVE, but with a light touch of PVP. The second experimental mode will be a PVE-only mode that's focused on crews being tasked with completing objectives together and making some progress across matches."
Lastly, Bungie lays out some overarching aims for the game for the months and perhaps even years ahead, explaining that in Season 3 we should expect "a lot (and I mean a lot) of revisions to our early experience, including big updates to Perimeter, alongside a new Runner shell, and additional (no spoilers) content." Season 4 will then focus on "building more depth into the existing extraction loop." Finally, Season 5 will look at "bringing the whole ecosystem of (PV(P)VE) play together and evolving our weird sci-fi world in new ways."
Sure does sound like the vision for Marathon is to somewhat emulate another sci-fi game conveniently also made by Bungie...
<social>https://x.com/MarathonTheGame/status/2055016173008486552</social>