Bungie is making changes to Marathon after players complained that matches feel too much like a battle royale. In a post on Friday, October 9, game director Del Chafe III laid out a set of fixes coming in the extraction shooter’s Symbiosis update, due in December.
“One of the things we heard was that spawn rushing and lobby clearing was making extraction sessions play out like a BR,” Chafe wrote in the Marathon team’s post, following a call for feedback the week before. “We want there to be more survival cat and mouse to keep the tension high and make sure stealth is a viable strategy so every run is a unique story.”
Here is what the team is working on:
- A bigger Perimeter. The map is getting a large update in Symbiosis, with more places to explore and more ways to escape and avoid other crews.
- Slower spawn rushes. Bungie is exploring changes to the Level 2 doors that connect spawn rooms to Level 3 on Cryo. The guaranteed Security Monitor in Revival will become random, and that change ships with Symbiosis.
- Quieter “dinner bells.” Sounds that draw players toward a spot, like exfils and locked rooms, will carry about 50% less far, so they mostly stay within their own area. Bungie is also looking at limiting Key Room audio to Gold rooms so stealthy players have a better shot at good loot. Chafe said the audio changes are still being worked out and could change.
- A safer Rook. Rook will keep whatever is in its default 4×2 inventory after death, though anything in its gear slots (weapons, shields, cores and implants) is still lost. Rook can’t use a backpack to expand that space, but a Faction upgrade will raise it to 4×4.
The Rook change is meant to answer complaints about “death spirals,” where losing gear makes the next run even harder. Bungie said the goal is to give players a lower-pressure way to collect credits, materials and gear for future runs, “even if the other Runners in the zone are trying to take everyone’s shoes.”
The team said it will share more Symbiosis details closer to December. Shacknews has more on the feedback that led to the changes.
Bungie has already said Marathon will lean further into survival. Read RCG’s earlier report: Bungie will restore vaulted Destiny 2 content and evolve Marathon into deeper survival.
