Copyright forbes
The current Marathon NDA-ed technical Alpha may be under a legal blanket, but that has not stopped people from offering up their opinions on the current state of the game, both online and to me, with this being its largest test in some time. As someone who has not applied to play the Marathon Alpha and therefore is not under NDA, I can report what’s being said. And hey, you know what? It’s mostly positive. These are, of course, opinions, and some may dispute the points listed here. The highlights: Previously, Marathon seemed like it was having an identity crisis when it came to whether or not it would try to cast a wide net, perhaps too wide, to snag casual players, or whether to lean more significantly into being a harder core extraction shooter. Given that the extraction shooter genre at baseline is pretty hardcore (you will lose all your loot on death), Bungie decided, probably correctly, to lean more into that side of things. The result of that is lower TTK, meaning you will kill and be killed faster than previous versions of the game, which is closer to the risk/reward concept of the genre. The UESC NPC enemies have been beefed up to be more of a threat, similar to what Arc Raiders has recently done. Some believe this has taken them to a good place now, but others think that they’re a bit too intense, and it’s too easy to get third-party when taking them on. Also, they serve as a big ammo and healing burn, perhaps too much so. There’s also the same refrain as before, that people want to see a PvE mode with just UESC. There are still no real indications that’s happening, however, as Bungie is focusing more on other additions like Solo play and prox chat. The much-derided visuals of the last publicly-viewed Marathon Alpha have been expectedly cleaned up months later. With at least 3-4 months still to go, at minimum, this is likely not going to be a negative in the end with Bungie polishing the originally well-liked art style to work better in-game, not just in cinematics. There is still criticism about the hero shooter aspect, including skills like invisibility still not really having a place in a game like this, with some heroes and some specific abilities elevated above the rest. But this aspect of the game is not changing. People keep saying that they should just make everything custom instead, but it is way too late for that. The overall takeaway is that there are significant improvements to the game since we saw it last, and even if perhaps things have been pulled a bit too far in the hardcore direction in some places, it is likely the right call for the genre, as it’s going to be just too hard to casual-ify an extraction game at its core. Still, it comes off as more accessible than most, perhaps even its current rival, Arc Raiders. There are two separate questions here; whether or not the game will be good, as if it’s bad, that’s game over from the starting gun. But if it is good, whether or not the interest is there after the “bad vibes” of the last few months, is the bigger potential issue. It is good that Alpha feedback is largely good here, but these are people interested enough to apply in the first place. The biggest test will be whenever an open alpha or beta finally arrives and all manner of players can hop in. Arc’s open tests have made interest in that game soar, along with wishlists and pre-purchases. Marathon will need to do the same in a few months’ time. on TwitterYouTube, Instagram Herokiller series The Earthborn Trilogy. MORE FOR YOU Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions
