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Bungie’s original landmark FPS Marathon is now free on SteamThe Loneliness of the Long Distance Gunner
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Gunner
Image credit:Bungie/Aleph One team
Image credit:Bungie/Aleph One team
Halo and Destiny developers Bungie havereleased their classic shooter Marathon for free on Steam, with sequelsMarathon2 andMarathon Infinityto follow. The Steam ports are the work of the celebrated Aleph One community developers, who’ve kept Bungie’s old Marathon 2 game engine going as an open source project - and who still have PC ports of all three games available ontheir own site, if you’d rather not truck with Steam.
Bungie are currently creating a new version of Marathon, which is rather less faithful to the older games. It’s a PvP-focused looter-shooter with no singleplayer campaign. “It’s not a direct sequel to the originals, but something that certainly belongs in the same universe and that feels like a Bungie game,” game director Christopher Barrett (who joined Bungie in 1999)explained during the announcement festivities last year. “Finding those opportunities to nod to the universe’s lore, while also getting to build something different and new has been one of the best parts of developing this game so far.”
Nu-Marathon appears to be a troubled project - it was pushed back to 2025 last October, with formerValorantdirector Joe Ziegler replacing Barrett as game director this March. Bungie in general are in a tough spot, withlayoffs last yearand the reported threat ofa full Sony takeover if Destiny 2’s forthcoming Final Shape expansion is a disappointment.
