Bungie has revealed the first non-PVP, fully PVE Marathon game mode, and folks, it sounds like the perfect way to introduce that kind of gameplay into the extraction shooter without breaking the loot economy or putting PVP lovers at a disadvantage.
On June 23, Bungie posted a shortish update blog from the Marathon dev team about what to expect from the sci-fi FPS over the next few weeks and months. The big news is that later this season, on July 21, Bungie is adding Vault Breaker to the game. This is a whole new PVE-only mode set within Cryo Archive, Marathon‘s best and biggest map, and it is designed to be playable solo, with a buddy, or in a trio.
Vault Breaker, which Bungie is calling experimental, will allow players to explore the Cryo Archive map while taking on a “progressively challenging series of vaults.” In Vault Breaker, you don’t bring back the loot you find after you finish a match, with one exception: Vault Data, a new currency that is exclusive to this new mode. As you play more Vault Breaker, you can bring back that data to upgrade your Vault Breaker Sponsored Kit, helping you take on harder vaults in the mode. This data can also be exchanged for gear that can be used in the rest of the game, though what that gear will actually be, we don’t know yet.
The whole idea behind Vault Breaker is to offer players, even solo players, a PVE mode that is “low risk, high-power” and which lets everyone experience Cryo without “flooding the economy” with endgame gear and weaponry. Though it might already be flooded…
Personally, I think it sounds like a brilliant way to add some variety to Marathon and bring in more players who might be put off by the PVP-only action and sweaty extraction shooter gameplay. And it doesn’t break the game’s economy or disrupt the experience of other players. Smart stuff.
What else is coming to Marathon later this year?
Elsewhere in the new blog post, Bungie promised an evolution of its Cradle system to allow players to earn new cosmetic rewards and offer more reason to keep grinding. The Marathon dev team also promises that, come the mid-season update in July, players can expect more “quality-of-life, tuning, and other changes,” including player profile stats.
Beyond Season Two’s mid-point update, Bungie also teased the game’s next season. Marathon season three is set to launch on September 22 and will bring with it “big changes” to the early game experience. This includes a revamp of the starting map, Perimeter, that will add “major new areas, encounters, and gameplay.” Players can also expect a new Runner shell to be added next season as well as new weapons and gear, and “lots of other content and surprises.”
One of the year’s best video games just gets better and better.