Another major overhaul of the game is now planned for March.
Bungie has a busy week. After the gaming studio shared its overall strategy for satisfying gamers with its two main franchises, the team went into a little more detail about the next phase of its latest shooter, Marathon. Following the previously announced Nightfall refresh in October, Bungie offered more information on the new game modes coming in December and revealed that another big update is planned for March.
The team said the December Symbiosis update would add a team deathmatch mode as well as an always-available PvE mode. Details are still being finalized for the latter, but the goal of the PvE mode will be to allow players to experiment with their builds and refine their skills without being attacked by other players. Bungie will also overhaul the Perimeter zone, which is the first that players see, to give it a more unique visual identity and new gameplay encounters, including a boss nicknamed the Tick Queen. For experienced players, a new hull archetype is coming. The Bishop is billed as a “high-performance samurai robot,” which certainly sounds fun. For less experienced players, Marathon will add a social space with a shooting range to facilitate integration.
As for 2027, the March update hasn’t been given a name yet, but Bungie says it will be “considerably larger than Symbiosis.” Additions planned for this patch include “an interconnected system of permanent PvE, PvP and PvEvP experiences”, more integration improvements, a new zone and new alien enemies. The game will also add deeper progression to the shell system and “more focused questlines and storytelling.” This represents a fairly large set of changes that Bungie believes will lay the groundwork for Marathon continue to grow over the course of 2027. That’s a lot of big promise for a game that’s already received a lot of scrutiny right out of the gate.
