Bungie made the sci-fi-fueled play for Marathon available to the world this weekend. The theater, celebrated for its magnificent first-person combat and ever-expanding game, is venturing into the extraction-shooter music when the match launches on September 23. The Marathon concept is straightforward and alluring: fill up your Sprinter with significant equipment, compete with other players to get more loot, and take it all in an effort to get extra money.
Following this revelation, I had the opportunity to speak with Marathon Game Director Joe Ziegler and decipher more information about Bungie’s upcoming match. We cover lots of surface, including Bungie’s strategy to a new style, tapping into the power of PS5, the show’s strong craft style, and more.
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Congrats on the significant play reveal, Tim Turi! How are you and the crew experience following the event?
Joe Ziegler: It’s quite interesting. The phrase “nerve-cited” is one that I’ve been using a bit. It’s a labor of love we’ve been working on for a few years now, and that definitely comes with the love that we’ve poured into it, iterating with our audiences, and this urge to make something wonderful to enjoy and to see.
It’s thrilling to have it reach the hands of actual players for the first time because we do it in amazing ways to entertain and excite them, but it’s also nerve-wracking. You know, you have many questions about the choices you made. You’re actually hoping that all the points that you’ve thought of are definitely what people care about. And we feel like we’re it, but we’re definitely looking forward to hearing what people have to say.
Were there any particular events or experiences that helped the Bungie team realize they were onto something unique while the development of Marathon occurred?
So many of them are these uncertain times. Times when you initially believed something would happen, but something different happened. You’re entering a strange planet where danger might be lurking all round. Maybe you turn a corner and you’re face to face with the United Earth Space Council ( UESC), these really harsh and dangerous critics inside of our sport. Or you might be cruising across the image while another team is nearby and a bullet is whizzing by. And some of those situations turn out to be very exciting because you don’t believe you’ll make it out, and you turn the tables, or you simply wring by, or you make your way out of the exfil. When you get out, you’re simply shaking with an awesome power that you’re going to consider for a long time.
What is the history of the brand” Marathon”?
The colony ship that the UESC sent out from Earth is known as” Marathon” in the original ( 1994 ) game. They sent it past the approaches of our solar system to create the first town on a program called Tau Ceti. And so the UESC Marathon is sort of a strange ship that is then towed away to make the lengthy trip, built into an asteroid-like sun, and then sent out. If you were to make me think, I’d believe that” Marathon” was a proper title for a very, very long period of vacation because it was a 500-year trip.
We’re using the Marathon name]for this new 2025 game ] because of the reputation of the IP. We’re bringing the UESC Marathon deliver, along with many of those well-known Internet parts, to light today. Supporters of the past will definitely enjoy seeing the ship and Tau Ceti, but we’re also reinterpreting a lot of things.
Bungie is famous for its pitch-perfect gunfights. How can you maintain that tradition while maintaining the experience of Marathon’s FPS activity?
A lot of it comes from the nature of the match, how you want people to make those judgments, and what kind of decisions you want them to create. This activity is very much about life. And you must maintain resources, be dynamic, and be aware of your surroundings in survival-style games. We’re using a lot of the well-known activity center that players love, and we’re adding extreme survival layers to top it off with our gunplay and our systems. For instance, you don’t renew health immediately very quickly, but you have products that help you heal. To make the decision-making process of going into battle or falling again is a part of that. You must consider the assets you have.
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Do you have a concept for any people who are interested in learning about separation shooters but are a little hesitant or afraid of the risk/reward?
I will certainly claim that this sport is challenging and powerful, but it’s very rewarding. You’ll start to feel superior as you learn it, and you’ll start to develop life skills that you might not otherwise had experienced. Additionally, we created a game that feels very natural on devices. There are a lot of Computer recovery shooters where mouse and keyboard are a little bit more popular, and so in designing for that what we’re trying to do is get the software and game finickiness out so you can enjoy it naturally. We want you to be able to concentrate on learning those survival techniques needed to create memorable runs.
In a particular match, it is obvious that players are risking their valuable loadouts. Can you tell us about any persistent progression elements?
We want to ensure that every game the players are treated to a reward for their efforts. Some of that will be based on experience. For example, leveling your runner level in any given season. Some of that will be related to faction-provided upgrades. You’ll be able to raise some of your overall character stats as you gather resources or obtain currency. So you might get a little bit more stamina, or you might be able to loot boxes a little bit faster. Some of it will also increase the choices you can make from a store called the Black Market for in-game items. Based on what you find in the upgrade tree, you can purchase various weapons, implants, and upgrades using the money you collect in the game. So as you play the game you’ll see a lot of your options grow.
How does Bungie make use of PlayStation 5’s technology for Marathon?
When you enter some of those gunfights and feel feedback on your fingertips, we undoubtedly have haptic support for [ DualSense wireless controllers], which is a lot of fun. We’re also supporting the Tempest 3D Audio engine, so you’re going to hear a lot of immersive audio.
Additionally, a lot of the PS5’s rendering technology, and especially the PS5 Pro, is really awesome. We’re therefore planning some fantastic PSSR ( PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution ) use as well as some additional upscaling and resolution support. So if you have a PS5 or PS5 Pro you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how we deliver on the console.
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The art style of Marathon is not quite like anything else on the market right now. Can you walk us through what makes it so striking and unique?
Our style is incredibly influenced by graphic design and a lot of contemporary product design pitfalls. However, I believe that when I look at a]Marathon ] image, I go” I think I understand it,” or” I think I don’t… but I really like it.” There’s something really enticing about visuals that look so bold and graphic like something you’d see in print but also pulled onto the screen and mixed with this technological sci-fi shaping. That, combined with a very organic background, really makes the contrast pop.
We’re really excited about it because it brings together all those visual contrasts and conflicts that contribute to the game’s true paranoia. It’s a combination that I don’t think we’ve seen a lot of before. It’s about intensity. It’s about not knowing the truth, looking for it, and getting lost in a rabbit hole of information all the time. You are unsure of whether something is true or false. So all those things kind of come together really nicely through the art style as well.
Do you have any suggestions for how you can ensure that this big reveal’s PlayStation audience benefits?
If you really enjoys getting into survival experiences. If you’re a person who really enjoys testing your mettle with other players inside of that space trying to do the same. And if you’re a player who only wants to take a thrilling journey that you can’t predict the outcome of, I believe this game is for you. especially because we’ve put so much effort into creating a platform experience that works across platforms really well. I’m especially excited to see PlayStation players come in and experience the genre and our offering inside of it. We’ve put a lot of love and passion into [ Marathon], and we’ve also played it a lot for fun. So we’re happy to have them join our community, demonstrate what is good, and demonstrate how good they can be.
Marathon launches September 23 on PS5, Steam, and Xbox Series X|S.