Welp! Marathon has been delayed. The writing was not solely on the wall, however on the flooring, the doorways, the ceiling, cripes, how did it hit that one spot? A lukewarm (at greatest) reception combined with a discovery that Bungie had wholesale lifted the work of another artist without permission all led to a reported free fall of morale at the studio, so that is actually the least shocking factor on the planet. In any case, let’s take a look at the post Bungie made explaining their resolution to delay the shooter.
“By means of each remark and real-time dialog on social media and Discord, your voice has been sturdy and clear,” Bungie wrote. “We have taken this to coronary heart, and we all know we want extra time to craft Marathon into the sport that actually displays your ardour. After a lot dialogue inside our Dev staff, we’ve made the choice to delay the September twenty third launch.” Price noting right here {that a} alternative date hasn’t been set, so this looks like fairly a giant one.
Bungie outlined some key areas that they plan to give attention to with this delay too. For one, they plan on making it more difficult and making the AI encounters extra participating. They supposed to make runs really feel extra rewarding with “new sorts of loot and dynamic occasions,” and to make fight “extra tense and stratetigc.”
There are a number of fascinating strains too. They plan on “doubling down on the Marathon Universe” with “elevated visible constancy”, “extra narrative and environmental storytelling to find and work together with,” and a “darker tone that delivers on the themes of the unique trilogy.” A number of the complaints I’ve seen anecdotally have been concerning the presentation of the story, which has felt very unclear.
Bungie additionally fairly vaguely wrote that they will add in additional social experiences, a part of that being a greater expertise for solo and duos, and the addition of proximity chat, “so social tales can come to life.” The solo and duos half might be welcome information to many, as being compelled into trios was offputting to lots of people. I hope that there is one thing akin to a hub space to hang around in too, Future may be very a lot a hang around and vibe sort of sport, and it is why individuals just like the collection.
The publish ends with the studio saying that they will have extra to share within the fall/ autumn, together with the sport’s new launch date. It is fairly clear that Bungie, and presumably Sony/ PlayStation, are afraid of a bomb, one thing all concerned events might be determined to keep away from. The ghost of Concord can nonetheless be felt, in any case.
I do not count on this to be a minor delay. Whereas Bungie did not go into an enormous quantity of specifics, they outlined a whole lot of massive modifications. I am not assured that they will all be fastened in lower than a 12 months. We’ll discover out in due time.
