Bungie Confirms PvE Mode in Marathon Season 2, Reveals Future Plans for Extraction Shooter

Marathon is about to head into its second season next month, which will bring a seasonal reset, new content and rewards, and more. Ahead of Season 2, Bungie has revealed major plans for the game's future, including new offerings like a dedicated PvE mode. The studio detailed a wide range of improvements on the way and confirmed plans for new modes that would make Marathon more accessible to players beyond its core fans.

The PvPvE extraction shooter launched in March to critical acclaim, but has since struggled to attract wider appeal. Marathon has, however, struck a chord with hardcore Bungie fans. It is a demanding, tough-as-nails experience, but Bungie is looking to expand the game's player base by making it more accessible. In a blog post shared on its website Thursday, the studio outlined how it planned to do so, detailing what's coming for Marathon in the future.

PvE Mode Coming to Marathon

The most important takeaway is that Bungie will add new modes that favour a more relaxed gameplay experience. The developer said it is exploring pure PvP, PvE, and PvP-lite experiences and will continue tinkering with experimental queues to learn more around such experiences.

These modes will arrive at the beginning and in the middle/latter half of Season 2, which kicks off on June 2. At the start of Marathon's second season, Bungie will add a PvE focussed experimental mode — “with a light touch of PvP.” The second mode will be PvE-only, focused on crews being tasked with completing objectives together, Bungie said in the blog post.

Bungie also said it could experiment with a PvP-only mode in Season 2. At the moment, Marathon is a PvPvE experience, with its maps filled with AI-controlled enemies.

Marathon could also get a PvP-only mode in Season 2
Photo Credit: Bungie

Season 2 Changes

Season 2 will also see the return of Duos mode with a rotating Duos queue. Other major Season 2 changes include a new matchmaking system, expansion of the max vault size, improvements to UI/UX, and more. 

Marathon's Season 2 will launch on June 2. With Season 2, the game will implement a seasonal reset, wiping player inventories and resetting Runner level, ranked level, Faction level and upgrades, credits and currencies, and priority contracts.

Season 2: Nightfall will bring a new Night Marsh zone, a new Runner shell, new weapons, a new “Cradle” system to customize Runner shell stats, faster faction progression, and a host of quality-of-life updates. Full details about the new season will be revealed in the week of May 25.

Beyond Season 2

Bungie is also planning to evolve the game to bring more “mind-bending” sci-fi, reduce the grind and increase rewards, and make the progression system more interesting.

Beyond Season 2, Bungie is looking to add a new zone that leans into alien elements and “mind warping debuffs,” along with new enemies, weapons, and new ways to exfil. In Season 3, the studio will look to improve the onboarding experience to make Marathon less overwhelming for new players. In the third season and beyond, the developer also plans to bring changes to the contract system to improve contract interactions.

Season 4 will see Marathon add more depth into the existing extraction loop, while in Season 5, Bungie is planning to bring the whole ecosystem of (Pv(P)vE) play together and evolving the “weird sci-fi" elements of the game.