Summary
Bungiehas recently announced that the originalMarathon Trilogywill be available on Steam soon.Marathonis a belovedBungiefranchise, and old-school fans will be pleased to know that they will be able to play these classics with revamped graphics.
While the studio may be more known for franchises likeHaloandDestinytoday, the originalMarathontrilogy was Bungie’s most important series during the 90s. The firstMarathonwas released in 1994 for the Apple Macintosh. With a story set in 2794,Marathonput gamers in the shoes of an unnamed officer of the UESC Marathon, a large colony spaceship that was being attacked by a group of aliens. Being released soon afterDoom,Marathoncarved its place among the first FPS games and was quite successful. The game’s success led to the release ofMarathon 2: Durandal, andMarathon Infinity, which had similar gameplay elements and continued the story of their predecessor.
Now, gamers will finally have the chance to play modern versions of some ofthe best games made by Bungiein the 90s. TheClassic Marathonremaster is being developed by Aleph One Developers, the same people behind Aleph One, a popular open-sourceMarathon 2engine in which remasters of the three games were originally made. According to the game’s official Steam page,Classic Marathonis powered by the Aleph One engine, and it comes with optional widescreen HUD support, options to play at 60 FPS, positional audio, and 3D filtering. At the moment, the game does not have an official price or release date.
The Classic Marathon Trilogy is Coming to Steam
WhileMarathonfans will probably be pleased with these remasters, gamers awaiting Bungie’s modern take on theMarathonfranchise may have some reasons to worry. Not only wasBungie hit with layoffslast year, leaving the studio with what was described as a “soul-crushing atmosphere,” but the nextMarathonseems to be having a troubled development.
According to recent reports, Bungie made somemajor shake-ups inMarathon’s creative leadershiprecently. The game’s old director Christopher Barnett was replaced by Joe Zigler recently, who originally worked onValorantuntil 2022. Due to these changes, it’s unclear whether Bungie is entirely satisfied with the development of the upcomingMarathonor not, as there are also reports of some gameplay elements being changed. Apart from the change in directors, though, very little is known about the upcoming title, so all rumors should be taken with a grain of salt.
